Attending were: Steve Krut, Rosemary Mucklow, Billy Lloyd, Bill Brown, John Marcy (representing James Denton), Leon Russell, Deven Scott, Robert Zimbelman, Ata Baroudi, Marty Holmes, Joe Harris, Rita Fullem, John Marcello, Curtis Kastner and Russell Cross.

The meeting was called to order by Steve Krut, Chairman.

After a brief welcome and introductions of the Board members and participants, the agenda was reviewed and changed to accommodate travel schedules.

The proposed membership classifications and investment schedule (attached) were presented by Rosemary Mucklow. The following issues were clarified and discussed:

• Targeted funding is subject to a 15% administrative fee. This allows members to target funding for specific projects (i.e., $50,000 for development of a generic model -- $7,500 would be used for administrative purposes). Targeted funding is above and beyond yearly investment amount.

• Small groups, especially state groups, may want to be involved in the Alliance, but unable to pay the proposed $500. Therefore, an umbrella structure that would allow a parent organization to assist small groups was discussed to allow flexibility for small groups.

• .Reiterated that the Alliance wants to be inclusive and that this process needs to address small groups too.

• Educational foundations (i.e., The Educational Foundation of the National Restaurant Association and The Food Processors Institute) cannot meet the proposed investment schedule. Therefore, discussion occurred on how to include these educational foundations. It was agreed that the contributions of these foundations were very important to the Alliance and that this process must allow for their inclusion. It was agreed that an additional membership category was needed for Educational Foundations and that these would require a Board approval before they can join. The educational foundations will be required to have defined deliverables for in-kind contributions.

A motion was made, seconded and carried to accept the following six membership categories:

1. Industry Associations

2. University Members

3. Professional Associations

4. Government Cooperators

5. Third Party and Private Companies

6. Educational Foundations*

*Requires board approval.

Discussion returned to the methods for allowing small groups to participate. Several options such as Affiliate, Active Affiliate or Subscription were discussed. It was finally agreed that the issue of including small groups required further discussion. Therefore, the board referred this back to the ad hoc committee on membership categories and investment schedule, chaired by Mark Thomas. The committee is charged with developing recommendations that would allow for small members to participate.

After further discussion, a motion was made, seconded and carried that gave the Executive and Associate Directors authority to approve/reject educational foundations submitted for membership on behalf of the board (rather than requiring all request to go through the entire board) and that request can be referred to the board as needed.

The next area of discussion centered on the proposed investment schedule from the committee recommendations. Again, a major point of concern was the small business area, as well as the Third Party and Private Company schedule. Therefore, the schedule was adjusted to include an additional category and the Third Party and Private Company schedule was modified to include only one group at $500. It was agreed that the Educational Foundations would be responsible for in-kind contributions that would need to be defined for each individual foundation and on an annual basis.

A motion was made, seconded and carried to accept the following investment schedule for industry associations:

Total Annual Budget		Investment per year

$<49,999		        $100

$50,000 - 99,999	        $500

$100,000 - 499,999		$1,500

$500,000 - 999,999		$2,500

$1,000,000 - 9,999,999	        $5,000

$>10,000,000			$10,000

A motion was made, seconded and carried for the Third Party and Private Company investment to remain at $500 per year.

The ad hoc committee on membership categories and investment schedule recommended that board structure (attached) should be reviewed before nominations are taken for new board members. Discussion on this topic included the following:

• Importance of Board maintaining farm-to-table representation.

• The board structure is very strict and options for eliminating categories were discussed. One option was to eliminate the commodity categories; another one was to eliminate all categories.

• It was re-emphasized that the board was originally designed and intended to include the members who were providing the funding.

• Another option discussed included using the newly approved membership categories as the basis for dividing board seats rather than commodities and industry segments. This option was favored, and discussion continued on the best way to divide seats based on this categories.

A motion was made, seconded and carried that the bylaws should be changed to adopt a new board structure based on the membership categories list above and maintain the current 21 board positions.

Motion was made, seconded and carried that the Educational Foundation of the National Restaurant Association and the Food Processors Institute should be accepted as educational foundation members of the Alliance.

Discussion occurred on the breakdown of board seats among these categories. It was agreed that 2/3 of the board should be from the industry associations and educational foundations and 1/3 from the professional associations and third party and private companies. Motion was made, seconded and carried to accept this breakdown for board seats.

Motion was made, seconded and carried that Government Cooperators and University members should not be included on the board of directors and that universities could be represented by the professional societies.

The length of term carry over was also discussed. It was agreed that 1/3 of the board should have a 3 year term, 1/3 should have a 2 year term, and 1/3 should have a 1 year term. This would allow for continuity each year rather than having the potential for having a new board each year. The current by-laws state that a person can be re-elected for three consecutive one year periods before he/she must sit out for one year before being re-elected to the board. It was agreed that this should remain in the by-laws; therefore, a person cannot serve more than three consecutive years. A motion was made, seconded and carried to accept the term lengths as 1/3 for 3 year term, 1/3 for 2 year term, and 1/3 for 1 year term.

The board gave the Nomination Committee, chaired by Mark Thomas, the charge of developing a slate for electing new board members based on the above changes. The slate should be developed, reviewed by the executive committee and the new board elected by mail ballots before the next board meeting. The new board will elect officers at the next board meeting.

The committee reports and discussions were the next agenda topics.

Training Committee Report, Rita Fullem, Chairman
The Train the Trainer Curriculum was recently approved by the board of directors. Therefore, three curricula are currently approved: Executive HACCP, Introductory HACCP and the Train the Trainer.

The training committee needs to know where to go from here and which areas to address next. It was agreed that the training committee should start addressing the retail/food service and pre-harvest areas.

Russell Cross briefly updated the board on the concerns relating to pre-harvest HACCP and the question of quality assurance programs sufficiently covering the food safety issues. Therefore, this area still has aspects that need to be addressed.

A small ad hoc committee was formed to look at the pre-harvest issues. The committee includes: Rita Fullem, Chairman, Food Processors Institute; Billy Lloyd, National Cattlemen's Association; Don Dalton, Southeastern Poultry and Egg Association; Bob Zimbelman, American Society of Animal Science; John Cravens, American Sheep Industry Association; Joe Harris, Texas Beef Council; Beth Lautner, National Pork Producers Council; and Leon Russell, American Veterinary Medical Association. This committee was charged with evaluating the pre-harvest needs and making recommendations to the board on pre-harvest training needs.

It was also noted that the Executive HACCP Course should be included in annual meetings. The associations were encouraged to incorporate this information into their programs, especially since the executives often attend these conventions.

Accreditation Committee, Bill Brown and Dave Theno
The accreditation guidelines have been approved by the board of directors. Bill Brown thanked his committee for their hard work and time spent on developing this document, especially John Marcello and Kerri Harris.

Discussion occurred on the lead instructor requirements and the train the trainer programs. After much discussion, it was agreed that the Alliance should sponsor the first train the trainer course in cooperation with the Food Processors Institute using Dane Bernard, Ken Stevenson, and other key instructors. Therefore, the charge was given for the Alliance staff to work with Rita Fullem to set-up the first train the trainer session.

A tentative Accreditation Review Committee list was submitted to the board for review and approval. It was noted that the pre-harvest sector was not represented; however, it was decided that representation could be added after a pre-harvest course is developed. Ata Baroudi was added to represent the retail sector. A motion was made, seconded and carried to accept the review list .

Much discussion centered on the issue of retroactive accreditation. Should the applicants be charged $150 application fee? Should the $10 per person fee be applicable. After considerable discussion, a motion was made, seconded and carried that training programs applying for retroactive accreditation would have to pay the $150 application fee, and that retroactive application would apply to courses taught after March 1994 and until January 1, 1996. This will require an addendum to the accreditation guidelines.

It was finally agreed that the $10 per person fee would not be applicable. Any program that applies for retroactive accreditation may submit their class rosters for the participants to be entered into the Alliance registry.

The issue of accrediting semester long university courses was also discussed. Several universities are currently teaching HACCP courses and some have expressed an interest in applying for accreditation; however, the application and participant fees present a problem. Therefore, the board charged the Accreditation Committee with addressing the issue of university courses and making recommendations to the board on this matter.

Marketing and Communication Committee, Joe Harris
Communication efforts to date were reviewed. The Alliance has sent three Alliance Alert newsletters and completed several news releases and feature articles. It was noted that these activities were done by Denise Clarke of DC Communications as part of Texas Beef Council's contribution to the Alliance. However, the Texas Beef Council did not budget to continue this service; therefore, these activities will be picked up by the Alliance and Institute of Food Science and Engineering staff.

Copies of the Alliance Alert and media contacts were distributed. Everyone is encouraged to review this list and contact the Alliance office with additions or changes. Discussion occurred on providing a monthly update of Alliance activities to the members. It was agreed that this should be implemented; therefore, the Alliance staff will start providing routine updates.

A temporary brochure has been used since August; however, the final brochure can now be finalized and sent to the printer. We were waiting on the membership categories and investment information before completing the brochure. Brochures are anticipated to be printed by Thanksgiving, and copies will be mailed to all members for their use and distribution. Additional copies can be requested from the Alliance office or the brochure can be duplicated if needed.

A media kit is currently being developed and is almost ready for distribution. The kits will include information on the HACCP Alliance, background information on HACCP and resources for additional HACCP/food safety information.

It was also noted that the Texas Beef Council is organizing a Food Editors Tour for this spring. The tour will include national food editors and will highlight HACCP/food safety and the Alliance. More details will be provided as the program develops.

Scientific Advisory Committee, Beth Lautner
Report was given by Kerri Harris. The committee did not have any activities to report since the last board meeting. The committee is still in place and ready to provide input to the board on scientific symposia or other issues that develop.

Membership and Fundraising Committee, James Denton
Report was given by Kerri Harris. The committee has been waiting on the ad hoc recommendations from the membership classification committee and board approval of membership classifications before it started recruiting members. The committee will be notified of the board approval, and hopefully have recommendations for the next board meeting.

Joe Cordray and Lou Gast both offered to become involved with this effort. It was agreed that we need to target more service groups, send recruitment letters to suppliers and complete a special mailing to associate members of the industry associations.

The next item on the agenda was to discuss future Alliance activities.

It was discussed and agreed that Consumer Education is an important area that needs to be addressed by the Alliance. The Alliance has the strength needed to bridge the gaps in consumer education by involving industry, academia and government in this effort. It was noted that this effort should also include the media. The board charged the Marketing/Communication Committee with addressing consumer education and media activities and developing an action plan for this area.

One topic of discussion was the lack of support from FSIS. It was agreed that the Alliance would continue to encourage the participation and involvement of FSIS with the Alliance and on Alliance committees. Appreciation was expressed to Canada and Mexico for sending representatives.

Rita Fullem informed the Alliance members that FPI's HACCP manual will be available in French and Spanish.

Information Available in the HACCP Library, Kerri Harris

An updated list of materials available in the Alliance library was disseminated. The list provides information on copyright and appropriate contacts were applicable. Information can be requested from the Alliance office, and the list will continuously be updated. All members were requested to send additional information to the Alliance office, so it can be added to the library.

The information will also be provided on the Alliance home page (http://ifse.tamu.edu/haccpall.html). The home page also provides links to other sources of information. Members are encouraged to notify the Alliance staff if they locate other links that should be added to the Alliance home page.

Future Meeting

A call for recommendations on dates and locations for the next meeting was made. The following dates were discussed: February 15-18 in San Francisco in conjunction with the National Meat Associations 50th Annual Convention; and January 24-26 in Atlanta in conjunction with the International Poultry Exposition.

It was noted that the National Cattlemen's Association convention conflicted with the Poultry Exposition. Therefore, a motion was made, seconded and carried that the next meeting be scheduled for February in San Francisco. Kerri Harris will work with the National Meat Association to confirm a meeting location and time. Details will be provided as soon as possible, but it was agreed that the meeting should start at 8:00 and plan on an all day meeting.

Rita Fullem requested that the ad hoc pre-harvest committee plan on meeting the day before the board meeting.

Other items of discussion.

The board authorized the Alliance staff to operate on the current budget until the February meeting. The 1996 budget will be presented at the February meeting for approval.

Another topic of discussion included the need for liability insurance for the Alliance, board members, staff and all committee members. It was agreed that the potential liabililty should be discussed with Phil Olsson. It was recommended that bids on liability coverage should be obtained and presented at the next board meeting. The staff requested that anyone that had information on insurance should contact the Alliance office so they could use it for obtaining bids.

A special thanks was noted for Phil Olsson who has assisted the Alliance with legal advice.

No further issues were raised, and the meeting adjourned.