TECHTalks Cover Future of International Standards, COVID-19 Impacts

Written by: Lacie Dotterweich   |   February 12, 2021

IPPE, Worker safety, Coronavirus, Standards

The International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE) Marketplace Week may be over, but the learning opportunities are far from done! IPPE’s TECHTalks, which are short educational presentations that discuss what the latest and greatest is out of the poultry, egg, meat and feed industries, are still available to watch on the IPPE Marketplace until Sunday, Feb. 28.

The American Feed Industry Association offered two TECHTalks that are of interest to members – one on the future of international standards for feed manufacturing equipment and another on what the animal food industry has learned from COVID-19.

Gary Huddleston, AFIA’s director of feed manufacturing and regulatory affairs, lead the discussion on international standards, giving feed equipment manufacturers an update on the progress of ISO technical committee 293. International standards are being developed for feed equipment in the areas of terminology, safety and hygiene (e.g., equipment cleanout). The work was initiated by China, but the United States is participating to help protect the interests of U.S. equipment manufacturers. The presentation will give an update on the status of the work, how U.S. equipment manufacturers can get involved and provide a historical overview of how the work began.

What has the animal food industry learned from the coronavirus pandemic on how to keep employees safe while manufacturing high quality, safe and nutritious feed and pet food? The AFIA hosted roundtable discussions in late 2020 with more than 50 people. AFIA’s President and CEO Constance Cullman detailed what we heard from our diverse group of members on what they did to improve worker safety, how they adjusted their operations and even more importantly, what they plan to do in the future.

You can find these TECHTalks and many, many more on your personal IPPE marketplace guide. Happy learning!