Harnessing the Power of New Technologies to Tackle Emerging Issues

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

7:00 AM

Registration Opens - Krutch Theater Foyer - Continental Breakfast Provided Program is scheduled to begin at 8 AM

Keynote Address:

Betsy Jean Yakes, Ph.D. U.S. FDA CFSAN FDA’s work in food safety surveillance and research into novel detection techniques to further food screening and safety.

Session 1: Next Gen Tools for Pathogen Detection and Identification in Food Safety

Kristy Kubota, MA, Program Manager for PulseNet, Association of Public Health Laboratories
- Public health perspective when employing next generation identification technologies.
Morgan Wallace, PhD, Rheonix, Inc.
- What environmental monitoring processing facilities need and what should they prepare to do with the results.
Peyman Fatemi, PhD, Vice President of Scientific Affairs, The Acheson Group
- Food producers are in the cross hairs. How do they proceed if they find something?
M. Elizabeth Palmer, PhD, Quality Manager, Morton Salt
- Looks at the Food Safety Modernization Act and Gourmet Salt — what do they have in common?
Round Table Discussion with Industry Experts

Lunch will be provided.

Session 2: Emerging Approaches to Ensuring Food Safety, Quality and Authenticity

Agustin Pierri, PhD, Technical Director, Weck Laboratories, Inc.
- “What is the risk of environmental contamination by PFAS?”
Selina Wang, PhD, Research Director, UC Davis Olive Center
- “A global view of edible oil (especially olive oil) research regarding quality and authentication covering current methodology/challenges and future directions.”
- Look forward to the olive oil tasting!
Jenny Nelson, PhD, Adjunct Professor, UC Davis
- “Elemental profiling to establish authenticity of wines.”
Chris Cunningham, Research Chemist, Constellation Brands, St. Helena, CA
- Tools to assess wine quality — analysis of smoke taint, pesticides, and glyphosate.

Immediately following the last speaker: PRESIDENT’S RECEPTION

Celebrating the fifth anniversary of the rejuvenation of the Pacific Southwest Section

Thursday, February 22, 2018

7:00 AM

Registration Opens - Krutch Theater Foyer Continental Breakfast Provided - Program is scheduled to begin at 8 AM

Session 3: The Future is Now — Issues and Challenges in Cannabis Testing

Gordon Vrdoljak, (CDPH-DFDRS-FDLB) California Dept. of Public Health
- “The challenges of regulating cannabis.”
Food and Drug Lab Branch Frank Kero, Field Application Scientist, Perkin Elmer
- “Overcoming matrix suppression for pesticide analysis of cannabis.”
Brian C Smith, Chief Technical Officer, Big Sur Scientific
- “Spectroscopic Measurement of Cannabinoids and Terpenes in Cannabis using Mid Infrared.”
Oleksii Motorykin, PHD Senior Chemist, SC Laboratories
- “Pesticides and Residual Solvents in Cannabis. Challenges and Improvements.”

Lunch will be provided.

Session 4: Laboratory Information Management Systems — Benefits and Challenges

Sarah Skellenger, Associate Director Project Management Office, Covance Food Solutions
- Application of LIMS: Management, Maintenance and Efficiencies through LIMS
William A. Pingpank, VP Client Services, Ethosoft, Inc.
- Integrating Remote Data — The Tools to Streamline Field Information
David Riese, Director of Sales, Promium LLC.
- “Building a digital bridge with your clients using online web portals and self-service informational applications.”
Michael Brechmann Laboratory Director, BSK Associates
- “Lessons learned from implementing LIMS.”
Panel Discussion: Question and Answer