There are at least two ways to generate a crowd at a food safety conference. You can do the panel of opponents model wher individuals who’ve often been on opposite sides speak out from the same podium.

The other, which usually attracts the largest audience is to put the top officials from the various food safety agencies up to take questions from the audience.

At the 21st Annual Food Safety Summit in Chicago last week, it was the latter approach that drew the big crowd. The “interactive Town Hall” bought out Paul Kiecker, deputy director of USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS); Dr. Robert Traixe, director of CDC’s Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases; Steve Mandernach, executive director of the Association of Food and Drug Officials of the United States (AFDO); and Frank Yiannas, FDA’s deputy commission for Food Policy and Response.

Each of these “four horsemen”  had about five minutes speak before taking a seat for the Town Hall Q&A session.

I usually take notes in such sessions, but I was too distracted at the beginning of this session with my won side conversations, that I did not get around to it. Mb bad. But I think it says something for what each of these gentlemen had to say that my memory for what they had to say is pretty good.

First up was Mandernach, who shared the work he’s been doing on recalls, specifically the Class 1 recalls with the potential for causing human illnesses or even death. FSIS and FDA each have their own recall procedures and Mandernach says there are differences between the two.

In the Q&A session that followed, sales of recall food products on such platforms as Amazon came up as an area that needs work.

Kiecker said FSIS plans to make 2019 a year of modernization, especially for swine inspections and may beef in some conceptional form by year-end. He strongly objects to critics of the new swine inspection program that said it privatizes part of the inspection program. Kiecker said nothing could be further from the truth He also acknowledged FSIS is under pressure to manage the Salmonella issue before Congress takes up the task.

CDC’s Tauxe, known for his signature bow tie, mainly addressed the improved investigations marked by Whole genome sequencing or WGS.

It is ostensibly the process of determining the complete DNA sequence of an organism’s genome at a single time, making it possible for CDC to identify outbreak illnesses in the past, present, and future. Tauxe says CDC is finding WGS makes it possible to name the cause of outbreak before that actual source is known.

Finally, there was the FDA’s Yiannas.

He and Acting FDA Commissioner Norman E. “Ned” Sharpless on April 30 announced the “New Era of Smarter Food Safety.” Yiannas told theFood Safety Summit that “Smarter Food Safety” is not a replacement for the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), nor is it just a tagline or slogan.

Yiannas sees that the world is moving at digital speed and “Smarter Food Safety” is about moving fast enough. During the Q&A session, he said just because the FDA delayed the dates for compliance with water quality standards under the FSMA produce rule does not mean there is nothing going on until then.

Water, likely contaminated with E. coli O157: H7 from nearby feedlots is implicated in the recent romaine and leafy green outbreaks. It’s not certain if the outbreaks would have been prevented if the new water quality standards were in place.

According to the deputy commissioners, the Yuma growing region appears to have gotten through its latest season without another outbreak.