 |
United States Department of
Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service Washington, DC 20250-3700 | |||||
| ||||||
| |||||||||||||
Evaluation Report
|
 |
Conference content, facilities, and future conferences (yellow sheet) |
|
Morning session – September 6 (white sheet) |
|
Afternoon session – September 6 (green sheet) |
|
8:00 a.m. break-out session – September 7 (orange sheet) |
|
10:30 a.m. break-out session – September 7 (gold sheet) |
Surveys were completed on-site after each session of the conference. Response rates for the five different surveys varied from 19 to 31.
Almost 90% of respondents rated the conference either very or somewhat effective for providing information on APFS education activities and learning how to collaborate their own APFS activities with others. Over half of respondents rated the conference either very or somewhat effective for providing information regarding APFS research activities. Conference attendees reported three main ways that they would use the information they received: (1) To aid in the development of on-farm strategies, programs, and practices; (2) To transfer knowledge of current APFS activities and future direction of APFS activities to others; and (3) To make valuable contacts.
Approximately 90% of respondents declared that the September 6 morning session topics will likely have an influence on animal production food safety practices. Approximately 80% of respondents made the same declaration about the September 6 afternoon session topics. Recommendations were made to continue to provide industry knowledge and perspective on APFS activities with a focus on quality assurance programs, and information on the latest APFS research and techniques. A number of respondents stated that presenting the future role of government in APFS activities is a necessary addition to the agenda. Also suggested was that the agenda provide adequate time for each speaker to cover his/her topic and answer participants’ questions. Requests were made to enlist more speakers and participants from industry, specifically producers, and academia, and to hold the conference annually or every two years in St. Louis or any major central U.S. city.
Almost 90% of respondents rated the conference either very or somewhat effective for providing information regarding APFS education activities.
Almost 90% of respondents rated the conference either very or somewhat effective for providing information on how to collaborate their own APFS activities with those of others.
Approximately 63% of respondents rated the conference either very or somewhat effective for providing information regarding APFS research activities. Two respondents commented that not enough information on research was shared. One stated that food safety research needs have fallen far behind where they should be and resulted in a less than adequate amount of information to share.
To aid in the development of on-farm strategies, programs, and practices.
To transfer knowledge of current APFS activities and future direction of APFS activities to others.
To make valuable contacts.
To understand that most animal production concerns are universal.
To identify questions needing answers.
Examples of APFS activities that are working/success stories
U.S. government’s vision of its future role on the farm
Ongoing APFS research activities
Available USDA funding for education and research activities
Development of a universal food safety headquarters
Aquaculture
Speakers from industry (packers, large food companies, exporters, commodity groups)
Speakers from academia
Speaker to discuss global perspective and issues
Speaker to discuss aquaculture
Secretary of Agriculture
Carol Tucker Foreman
Dr. David Nisbet
More producers
More academics with knowledge of research activities
State and local agency representatives
Consumer groups
Any major city in central U.S. or St. Louis
Washington D.C.
Annually
Once every 2 years
Participants were extremely satisfied with the choice of hotel. No respondents were dissatisfied with any hotel feature they rated. Comments included, "excellent facilities," and "great hotel." A few requests were made to include directions and transportation options to the hotel from the airport in conference materials sent to participants ahead of time.
The importance of addressing food safety at the animal
production level
Where are we with regard to food safety at the animal production level?
Updates of quality assurance activities
Approximately 90% of respondents declared that these presentations will likely or potentially have an influence on animal production food safety practices.
Of the approximately 90%, half felt that the presentations will definitely influence APFS practices. Reasons explaining the expected impact include:
Learning and applying useful information from industry about the latest quality assurance techniques and programs and other on-farm food safety activities. Comments included: "Information from industry groups illustrated what each industry has in place for on-farm food safety."; "The quality assurance speakers gave a ‘how to’ approach that was very applicable."; "Industry updates on quality assurance activities provided useful information."
Harmonizing expectations of different groups and encouraging collaboration.
Of the approximately 90%, half felt that the presentations might influence APFS practices. Their uncertainty centered around their view that although the information presented was very good and useful, follow-up is needed to ensure that the APFS community continues to receive and apply the latest information about APFS activities.
Just over half of respondents felt that not enough time was allotted for these presentations. Three overall issues surfaced in the comments:
Speakers were rushed and could not adequately cover their topics in the time allotted. Timekeeper should have exercised more control making each speaker strictly adhere to his/her allotted time.
Time was not allotted for answering questions at the end of each presentation. Most other respondents felt the time allotted was sufficient.
Continue to provide industry knowledge and perspective on APFS activities, focusing on quality assurance programs.
Ensure that the agenda provides adequate time for each speaker to cover his/her topic and answer participants’ questions after each presentation.
Ensure that speakers strictly adhere to their allotted time.
Proclaim a contact person for each presenter so materials referenced in presentations can be obtained after the conference
APHIS’ supportive role in APFS FSIS’ national residue program Importance of sound scientific research to support APFS decisions Food safety research in support of animal production practices
Approximately 80% of respondents declared that these presentations will likely or potentially have an influence on animal production food safety practices.
Of the 80%, 58% felt that the presentations will definitely influence APFS practices. Reasons explaining the expected impact include:
Learning about the latest research and applying proven techniques in:
antibiotic drug residues pathogen detection and control sampling
Encouraging collaboration and promoting networking.
Of the 80%, 42% felt that the presentations might influence APFS practices. Reasons explaining the uncertainty about the potential influence of the presentations include:
Concern about participants’ ability to understand information presented. Some respondents felt that some of the presentations were too technical for the knowledge level of some participants. Comments included: "[some presentations] would have been okay for a meeting of professional scientists with degrees in chemistry and physiology."; "One of the speakers went into way too much detail on the chemical lab methods he used. That was not useful information."
Concern about the accessibility of the latest information and technology.
The remaining 20% of respondents felt that the information presented from these topics would not influence APFS practices. These respondents stated that too much focus was placed on the U.S. government’s current APFS role and programs rather than in its vision for its future on-farm role and activities.
Approximately half of respondents felt that not enough time was allotted for these presentations. Three overall issues surfaced in the comments:
Speakers were rushed and could not adequately cover their topics in the time allotted.
Time was not allotted for answering questions at the end of each presentation.
Each speaker should be required to strictly adhere to his/her allotted time.
Another 40% of respondents felt the time allotted was sufficient.
Continue to provide information on the latest APFS research and techniques.
Encourage speakers to present audience-appropriate material.
Present the future role of government in APFS activities in addition to its current role and programs.
Ensure that the agenda provides adequate time for each speaker to cover his/her topic and answer participants’ questions after each presentation.
Ensure that speakers strictly adhere to their allotted time.
Comments regarding the impact of information discussed during multiple break-out sessions on a variety of APFS issues were varied and sparse. However, a number of respondents commented on essential steps for implementing a successful break-out session resulting in useful information shared among participants that should prove very valuable to conference planners.
Provide a clear purpose of break-out session to participants. State specific objectives when possible.
Streamline break-out session topics for focused discussions.
Identify and provide to participants relevant, thought-provoking questions related to break-out session topic.
Allow sufficient time for discussion within each break-out session group.
Assign a facilitator to each break-out session to keep the group focused on the purpose and objectives and stay within specified timeframes.
Provide general guidelines (for staying on topic) and strict timeframes for presenting break-out session results to the group at large.
[PEIS Home Page] [Evaluation Articles] [Final Reports]
Send mail to
webmaster with questions or comments about this web site. |
