Personal Injury Law

Who's Minding the Store? - The Current State of Food Safety and How It Can Be Improved - Friday & Saturday, April 11 & 12, 2008

By Bill Marler, Esq.

"Seminar in Seattle" - Registration Below.  Few subjects draw more immediate attention or concern than the safety of the food we eat. Recent years have included a plethora of food warnings and recalls, raising new questions about the quality and integrity of our existing system for assuring food safety. Seattle was the epicenter of the Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak that sickened 600 and killed four 15 years ago. In addition to explaining how our present system works, this program is intended to discuss how changing consumer preferences are affecting the development and distribution of food, examine whether Federal, state and industry oversight roles are changing, and discuss how the regulatory and judicial processes can be most efficiently balanced. Participants include international, national and local representatives of government, the food industry, consumer organizations and scientists.

FRIDAY, April 11th
 
8:30-9:15 AM                 Opening  Remarks:  Dean Kellye Testy - Opening Speaker:  David Acheson

9:15-10:45 AM               Defining the Problem:  How the concerns about food safety are viewed by physicians, disease experts, state regulators, and consumers.

Barb Kowalcyk
Carlota Medus
Richard Seigler
Tom Billy
Sandra McCurdy

11:00-12:30 PM             How the Regulation of Food Safety Works:  The roles and responsibilities as seen by Federal and State regulators, industry and consumers.

Bob Brackett  
Mansour Samadapour
Christine Bruhn  
David Goldman  
Bala Swaminathan
 
12:30-1:45 PM               Lunch Speaker:  Governor Christine Gregoire

1:45-3:15 PM                 Zones of Responsibility: Grower/Producer; Seller; Government; Consumer.

John Munsell
Craig Wilson
Scott Rickman
Caroline Smith DeWaal
Andy Benson
Devon Zagory  
 
3:30-5:00 PM                 Roles of the Civil/Criminal Justice Systems: Perspectives of plaintiffs, respondents, and prosecutors.

Sarah Brew
Neal Fortin
Al Maxwell
Denis Stearns
Brad Sullivan
 
6:30-8:30 PM                 Dinner Speaker:  Richard Raymond
                    
SATURDAY, April 12th

8:30 -9:00 AM                Opening Speaker:  Patricia Griffin

9:00-10:30 AM               How is Food Protected Overseas?  International Perspectives on Food Safety.

Chris Griffith
Deon Mahoney
Canice Nolan
Jørgen Schlundt
Ge Zhirong

10:45-12:15 PM             Role of the Media in Public Health and Food Safety:  The contributions of media and science writers to Food Safety.

Phil Brasher
Steve Hedges
Doug Powell
James E. Prevor
Andy Martin

12:15-1:30 PM               Closing Remarks:  John Kobayashi

Do not miss this.  For more information and to register or PDF (Titles for all speakers, who frankly do not need them, to be added).

Full post as published by Marler Blog on February 05, 2008 (boomark / email).