IPPE offers free educational programs

The International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE) is offering a variety of free education programs to attendees. The programs will be held in the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, GA, from Jan. 26 ­– 28. These programs will cover a wide assortment of education sessions on pressing feed, meat and poultry issues, including food safety, sustainability, feed production and the veterinary feed directive, regulatory updates, wastewater treatment challenges, export and international issues among other pertinent topics.
The Pork 101 session will review the highlights of ASMA’s three-day Pork 101 conference. The session will cover quality and consistency issues in the pork industry, providing insight on value differences in swine, pork carcasses, pork primals and processed pork products due to quality variation, while the Beef 101 session will provide an overview of the beef lifecycle, address common questions regarding beef production, discuss factors affecting beef quality and offer a unique demonstration of innovative beef cuts. The Process Technology Workshop: Brines, Marinades, and Cook Technologies session will cover the latest techniques and ingredients for improving the use of brines and marinades in your plant and will discuss sanitation best practices. The second part of this session will cover innovative cook technologies and how tried and true practices are being improved.
The Challenges and Opportunities in Meat Product Traceability session will take a look at global meat traceability and the unique challenges faced by U.S. producers. The second half of the session will focus on in-plant traceability and the technologies available to help processors track products and improve efficiencies. The Global Food Safety Initiative: Planning for Success session will cover the top mistakes, and how to avoid them, in achieving or continuing certification from Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) recognized certification schemes. This session will also address the latest changes for two of the most popular schemes, BRC and SQF.
The Poultry Market Intelligence Forum will identify key issues facing the poultry industry and provide understanding into how domestic and international poultry industries are positioned to move forward in 2016, while the Veterinary Feed Directive – What You Need to Know session will detail the changes made to the VFD rule in spring of 2014 and describe the challenges going forward. This will include what to do with old animal drug premixes after the full policy goes into effect in January 2017. The Feed Production – Updates on Issues Impacting Your Business session will update participants on regulatory changes from OHSA and EPA and on FDA activities regarding the new regulatory requirements for the Food Safety Modernization Act and Veterinary Feed Directive. It will also include a presentation on “Energy Management for the Feed Industry.” There will also be a Regulatory Update: What’s Ahead for 2016 and Understanding Salmonella session that will take an in-depth look at Salmonella in the meat industry and its effect on in-plant practices, regulations and public health.
The long-standing Animal Agriculture Sustainability Summit will provide viewpoints from industry and agricultural experts on sustainability and why it matters to the animal agricultural industry, as well as how to communicate sustainability efforts to consumers, suppliers and industry stakeholders. The Wastewater Treatment Challenges – Five Shades of Gray session will characterize the processes and equipment used to treat wastewater generated in poultry processing facilities as well as identify challenges and liabilities that can result from the over use or misuse of sanitation chemicals in processing plants.
The Addressing the Challenges of Family Business session will discuss some of the most pressing concerns facing family businesses in the meat industry, focusing on succession planning and family member employment, along with other related topics. The session also will provide an opportunity for interaction and discussion to facilitate the sharing of best practices and ideas.
IPPE is also offering Tech XChange education sessions every 20 minutes on a variety of feed, meat and poultry topics. Attendees can participate in the free Tech XChange education sessions from 11 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 26 and from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Jan. 27 in Booth A-3347 in the A-Hall and in Booth B-8805 in the B-Hall.
For a complete list of education programs available for all attendees, click here. More information about IPPE is available atwww.ippexpo.org.