Join food safety, foodservice, quality and assurance and risk management professionals for the inaugural NACS Food Safety Conference—the first industry-specific event of its kind for the global convenience retail community—on Saturday, October 1, 2022, the first day of the 2022 NACS Show in Las Vegas.

The agenda is packed with renowned food safety and food safety culture professionals and academia who are experts in their field. This event is tailored to industry professionals who are leading their company’s food safety and safe food-handling procedures and protocols.

The convenience retailing industry’s foodservice category growth is in lockstep with how customers engage with our stores—which makes safe food handling, cleanliness and food safety culture paramount to our industry’s continued success as we meet the needs of the 165 million customers who frequent a convenience store daily.

The conference opens at 9:30 a.m. with remarks by Dr. Jay Ellingson, chief scientific officer at Kwik Trip Inc. The day ends at 3:30 p.m. with the session, What’s Next for Our Companies? A panel of convenience retail food safety professionals will talk about what’s keeping them up at night, followed by audience Q&A.

The full speaker lineup is being finalized, but here are some other sessions you can expect: 

WHY FOOD SAFETY CULTURE?

There are well-established food safety and quality protocols and processes within the convenience retail industry. That said, there is also a need for lead- ership to foster a top-down food safety culture that protects and sustains the future of the business.

Dr. Lone Jespersen, founder of Cultivate and a food safety culture expert, will share exclusive insights on the NACS Convenience Store Food Safety Culture Maturity Model, the first and only global convenience retail industry specific model that advances food safety culture by initially focusing on the leadership level. Dr. Jespersen will also highlight how a company’s food safety culture can support, align and contribute to its vision and mission.

WHAT THE PANDEMIC TAUGHT US

From recalls to managing the food supply, to the role of regulators and in-store food safety training, the global COVID-19 pandemic has had a massive impact on the food safety system. Dr. Ben Chapman, a professor and food safety extension specialist at North Carolina State University, will discuss what the industry has learned since March 2020 and how we can best prepare for the future.

Dr. Chapman is also the project chair of FoodCoVNET, which provides science-based strategies and practices to reduce the public health and economic impacts of COVID-19 on the food sector. He’ll share ongoing research on virus persistence, inactivation and transfer.