This marked the first time ICoMST has been hosted in Australia for 30 years and with an excellent program featuring guest lectures, social functions, tours and partner events, it was a standout success.
In attendance from AMPC was Senior Manager for Member R&D, Brad Mathers; Program Manager for Quality, Hygiene & Meat Science, Matt O'Bryan; Membership Services Coordinator, Taylor Bobovsky; Manager for Industry & Government Relations, Stella Lee; and AMPC CEO, Peter Rizzo.
The AMPC coffee cart provided a relaxing space for conference attendees to network on subjects of shared value and priority, such as labour and retention, provenance and process control, and next generation technologies. It was encouraging to see that the red meat industry representatives and researchers at ICoMST were committed to a knowledge economy and collaboration rather than competition.
AMPC staff met with many research organisations to build stronger relationships and discuss potential future research projects to address our members' priorities, including Danish Meat Research Institute (Denmark), AgResearch (NZ), University of New England (AU), Murdoch University (AU), Texas A&M University (USA), German Institute of Food Technology (Germany), University of Sao Paulo (Brazil), and Nofima (Norway).
The Congress also gave our team the opportunity to catch up and consult with AMPC members including JBS, Midfield Meats and Gundagai Meat Processors.
ICoMST 2018 was an incredibly beneficial experience for all involved. New connections were made and familiar ones were further strengthened, with a common purpose of ensuring a sustainable and prosperous future for the red meat processing sector and the wider red meat industry.
Our thanks to the other sponsorship partners, the Grand Hyatt Melbourne, YRD Event Management, and to the ICoMST Congress Committee, particularly Congress Chair, Robyn Warner, and Congress Co-Chair, Frank Dunshea.
We look forward to next year in Berlin!