New Strategic Alignment for International Fresh Produce Association
The International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA) is doubling down on food safety with the announcement of a new strategic alignment.
The IFPA announced the reorganization to “enhance and amplify the association’s goals in the areas of produce safety and food safety regulations.”
Under the new structure, IFPA’s regulatory and compliance expert, Dr. Paul Lewis will join the Government Relations Team and report to Chief Global Policy Officer, Alexis Taylor.
Other members of the Food Safety team including Dr. Angie Fraser, vice president of food safety & quality; Dr. Jorge Quintanilla, food safety manager; and Alison Saltzmann, food safety support coordinator, will join the Science and Technology (SciTech) team under Dr. Max Teplitski.
“Food safety is foundational to our industry’s success,” said Teplitski. “Aligning our experts across our Advocacy and Science teams will help us deliver on the strategic imperatives to future proof our industry, garner worldwide influence and create more valuable and personalized touchpoints and resources for our members. Food safety is a shared responsibility across every role and every step of the supply chain; and it’s a central part to all of the work the SciTech team does including the on-going work in packaging, FSMA 204 readiness, regenerative ag, and the Supply Chain of the Future initiative.”
The IFPA is the largest and most diverse international association serving the entire fresh produce and floral supply chain.
IFPA Government Relations Team
The IFPA Government Relations Team will be led by Alexis Taylor.
She is IFPA’s Chief Global Policy Officer and drives the association’s global public policy agenda through leading IFPA’s Government Relations team. Prior to joining the organization in January, she served as the Under Secretary of Trade & Foreign Agricultural Affairs (TFAA) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), where she oversaw the U.S. Codex Alimentarius office. CODEX Alimentarius is the international food safety standard-setting body.
IFPA’s regulatory and compliance expert, Dr. Paul Lewis, will now work closely with Taylor.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Paul officially to the Government Relations team,” said Taylor. “While we’ve always worked across our teams effectively, this alignment allows us to more meaningfully commit government advocacy resources to food safety on the industry’s behalf in DC and in priority global regions. There are growing pressures on how, where, how much and when we grow and deliver fruits and vegetables across the world. This reorganization will help us to discover and advocate for the most powerful solutions and strategies to ensuring our industry is positioned to not only address these growing challenges but find the opportunities in them as well.”
IFPA Science and Technology Team
The IFPA Science and Technology Team will be led by Dr. Max Teplitski.
He is the Chief Science Officer at IFPA, overseeing supply chain, packaging, sustainability, innovation and data portfolios.
Prior to joining IFPA’s predecessor organization, Teplitski oversaw USDA’s $150M investment into food safety and nutrition research and capacity programs at USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. An author of over 100 scientific studies on food safety and ecosystem health, he was a Professor at the University of Florida and a Fellow at the Smithsonian Institution. His discoveries earned him national and international awards.
The SciTech team also includes the portfolios for the supply chain, ag technology, sustainability, and the global intelligence team which delivers on IFPA’s proprietary research and analysis. This team also serves as critical advisors to the Government Relations team at IFPA.
What Changes Can We Expect at IFPA
The IFPA says that while the reorganization goes into effect immediately, this won’t result in any changes to work planned for 2025 or any volunteer leadership activities. This work will continue to be supported by the industry leaders and IFPA volunteer liaisons.
Dr. Teplitski said on LinkedIn that “#FoodSafety has always been a critical priority for IFPA and for the global product industry.”
He wrote that with this reorganization “we’re not just shifting boxes on an org chart –we’re doubling down on what matters: impactful #advocacy, right-sized #training in key language, and smart, secure #dataexchanges that future-proof the supply chain.”
What’s Next for IFPA and Food Safety
Dr. Teplitski says the following five steps can be expected next for IFPA and food safety:
- Raise IFPA’s presence in Washington, D.C. to drive alignment across food safety agencies and stakeholders to ensure that the industry has a strong, science-based point of view.
- Be at every table that matters. “Like it or not, most regulations are conceived at global bodies. They move slowly, but their impact is unavoidable.”
- Create a global-ready training ecosystem, including a “train-the-trainer” framework with trusted partners powered by modern technology, on-demand modules in languages that matter most.
- Build the infrastructure for collaboration. Consumers and regulators need to know about the food safety culture that permeates the industry. IFPA wants to build out its crisis-preparedness toolkit and a confidential, “blind” data-sharing consortium for root cause analysis.
- Double down on the investment into the food safety community of practice worldwide with a goal of where “insights move faster, solutions are co-created, and our shared commitment to public health leads the way.”
IFPA Formed in 2022 in Merger of PMA and UFPA
The IFPA was formed in 2022 with a merger of two produce industry organizations – the Produce Marketing Association (PMA) and the United Fresh Produce Association.
“The association is the result of the combination of two produce industry organizations with significant legacies,” reported Associations Now.
The UFPA was founded in 1904 and the PMA in 1949.
The Packer reported that “the resulting new association from the merger of United Fresh and PMA will combine resources and expertise to enhance member services, increase advocacy before government and the public, help members grow their businesses, and drive consumption of fresh produce and demand for floral products, the groups said.”
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