Subject Matter Expert!! Who? Me?

Yes, me. I was chosen by The National Restaurant Assoc. as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) to review some of the 1175 ServSafe questions posed by the Item Writers.
The first task at hand was to review some online. Lots of back-and-forth ensued between writers and SMEs and after a quickly-moving period of about 4 weeks, all online reviewing ceased. Whatever was left would be reviewed in Chicago.
I took an extra day or two to visit with mid-western friends and enjoy some quiet in ChiTown. SMEs were put up at the J.W.Marriott in the Sloop (South Loop), the financial district, which is nice and quiet on the weekend. The NRA (not to be confused with gun-totin' activists) is only a few streets away.


The National Restaurant Association Offices

My experience as an SME was wonderful. As one of 15 SMEs, I had the opportunity to converse with brilliant people who also spoke the language of pathogens, rubrics and domains and I met some of the most influential individuals in food safety, both past and present.
The NRA certainly made our job easy to accomplish. They provided breakfast and lunch and breaks when we needed them and more experts to debate with. They made sure our needs were met as long as we kept pushing those questions around.
And the job we did is not to be taken lightly. This test affects millions of people, those that take it and those that benefit from food safety education and certification.
It will be interesting to see where this food safety education road leads.