2008 IFT Annual Meeting Presentations/Hilton New Orleans Riverside
Posted: May 5, 2008

Pre-Annual Meeting Short Course: Recalls: Best Practices in Prevention, Management and Crisis Communication
Friday & Saturday, June 27 & 28, 2008, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Melanie Neumann, Vice President of Crisis Management and General Counsel for RQA, Inc.
Angie Lawless, Director of Crisis Management for RQA, Inc.
Quality assurance is paramount to preventing a food crisis situation, Food safety issues, however, can still arise, and when they do, risk communication becomes a vital part of your risk management plan. Various crisis communication strategies are appropriate for different circumstances. Learn about the approaches needed to prevent food safety issues and effective strategies for communicating about a food safety emergency, including pre- and post recall. Gain an insider's view into what to consider when building communications around a food safety crisis. More...

You will be able to:

• Identify best practices in crisis/recall management and media relations management
• Apply information learned to a "real to life” simulated product incident event
• Describe what to consider when building communications around a food safety crisis
• Identify approaches needed to prevent food safety issues

IFT Symposium #106: Managing the Recall Crisis
Monday, June 30, 2008, 4:30 - 4:55 PM in Room 293
Lawrence E. Platt, President of RQA, Inc.
If the food processor is to survive a recall crisis, there must be in place a functional management, information handling and operations programs. This session discusses the necessary infrastructure and decision making processes that must be in place. It will define the appropriate roles of both internal and external resources and provide a case study of how food processors manage recalls for the minimum damage to the enterprise. More...

IFT Symposium #146: Food Forensics: Solving the Mysteries of Food Contaminants
Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 8:30 - 10:00 AM in Room 391
Melanie Neumann, Vice President of Crisis Management and General Counsel for RQA, Inc.
Contamination is a threat to product integrity and a common cause of consumer complaints. Timely, accurate identification is the single most important piece of intelligence required when determining the response to product contamination. Three known industry leaders will lead this session, providing information on product contamination and identification services. This program will offer a unique opportunity to learn new and innovative ways to handle contaminated products. Participation will offer a highly effective response process for you and your company to follow in case of a contamination incident. More...

IFT Symposium #190: The Embedded Consumer: Using the Consumer as a Team Member Throughout the Brand Development Process
Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 2:00 - 3:35 PM in Room 394
Judy Lindsey, Vice President and General Manager for Product Dynamics, a Division of RQA, Inc.
The marketplace continues to become more and more consumer-centric. The food industry has been excellent at getting consumer feedback on brand/product ideas as they go through the early and end stages of the brand development process. Generally it has been at an arms length and has been singularly focused – either for the use of the product developer (guidance testing, CLT, HUT) or for the use of the marketer (ethnography, focus groups, ad research). New methodologies and thinking are challenging the traditional approach and putting the consumer on the team. This session will explore case studies of methodologies which actively incorporate consumers into the development process – in the lab, with the team, translating insights of other consumers and more. Explore how each interaction with the consumer can have duality of focus and offer opportunity to all components of a brand in its development. A variety of methods and perspectives will be presented, offering each attendee the opportunity to find an element which they can put into practice. More...

Judy Lindsey, Product Dynamics' Vice President and General Manager to Speak at Conferences
Posted: February 18, 2008

Portland, OR
Food Ingredient Expo (FIX – formerly called the Oregon Suppliers' Night) on Monday, February 25:
2:00-3:00 p.m. "Moms, Kids and Health – Is a Meeting of the Minds Possible?"
More information > www.ift.org/sections/oregon/2008%20Suppliers%20Night.pdf

Seattle, WA
Puget Sound IFT Section Symposium and Suppliers' Night on Tuesday, February 26:
1:45-2:30 p.m. “Trends & Fads:  Their Impact on Your Development Approach”
More information > www.ift.org/sections/puget/newsletter.html 

The Research Chef’s Association Annual Meeting and Conference on Thursday, March 6:
12:30-2:00 p.m. "Tools and Tricks to Speeding up the Design and Development Process"
More information > www.culinology.org/annualconference/program_details.html

Rosemont, IL
IFT's Food Technology Presents on Wednesday, February 27:
2:00-3:00 p.m. "Applying Insights Gained from Obesity Trends to Effect Product Development"
More information > www.ift.org/ftpc

INFORMATION TO ALL RQA CLIENTS ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RQA AND STERICYCLE
October 5, 2007

RQA, Inc. and Stericycle, Inc. have entered into a strategic alliance in North America to service the Consumer Product Industry in the Food & Beverage, Pharmaceutical, and Medical Device categories. Stericycle brings complimentary services to the strategic alliance in the form of notification services, crisis call center capabilities, and reverse logistics services. As part of our strategic alliance, Stericycle has invested in RQA’s Consumer Complaint Retrieval and Product Retrieval Services. Over the course of the next three years, RQA will continue to support this strategic alliance under the RQA name with the day to day operations for the Consumer Complaint Retrieval and Product Retrieval Services managed by Stericycle.

Stericycle has also invested in a limited segment of RQA’s Recall/Withdrawal Services for selected client categories and to expand the business into the Pharmaceutical industry. The strategic alliance does not apply to RQA’s Recall/Withdrawal Services for RQA’s current Client Companies, where the management and operation of these projects as well as all other RQA businesses will remain the same.

In October of 2010, Stericycle has the option to fully invest in the remaining portion of RQA’s Recall/Withdrawal Services and RQA’s Brand Integrity businesses. Both RQA and Stericycle believe this strategic alliance provides the best operating platform to support our existing clients as well as to build the infrastructure for future growth opportunities.

As of October 20, 2007, Bill Platt will have completed the transition of his current role as Director of Operations for Consumer Complaint Retrieval and the Product Retrieval business to Susan Modrzejewski, as the new Director of Operations for Stericycle. Susan has over twenty years of operational leadership experience in the consumer products and medical device industries and will report directly to Jennifer Bowman, Vice President of Operations, Stericycle. Brian Giannini, RQA VP Sales has transitioned to Stericycle as their National Account Manager and is looking forward to continuing to service your account for the Consumer Complaint Retrieval and Product Retrieval businesses.

Bill will continue to manage RQA’s Recall/Withdrawal Services and support RQA’s Food Forensics business. Both RQA and Stericycle look forward to a smooth and productive transition period, as well as growing these business units to support our clients!