In Memoriam Ricardo Sobol (4 August 2020)

ICMSF was devastated to hear of the loss of Ricardo Sobol to COVID-19 recently in Argentina.

Ricardo contributed so much to food safety and to the Latin American Sub-Commission of the ICMSF. He was an expert food microbiologist who published and presented on many aspects for microbial food safety such as testing and standards, food hygiene and HACCP.

The ICMSF uses a number of sub-commissions to promote ICMSF activities among food microbiologists in their regions and to facilitate communication world-wide.

The Latin American Sub-Commission (LAS-ICMSF) was formed in 1967 and has been extremely influential in establishing food microbiology as a discipline and helping to promote the use and uptake of the principles and materials of the ICMSF in the region through various conferences, workshops and publications as well as translation of some of the ICMSF materials.

For over 20 years, Ricardo contributed so much to the LAS-ICMSF. He first became a member in 1989 and later became Secretary and Treasurer and then President in 2017. He was a warm, funny and charismatic person who had a passion for food safety and was always generous with his time to share his expertise with students and professionals through the many workshops he helped to organise.

In addition to his expertise in food safety, he was also an award winning photographer and was also equally generous to pass on his knowledge and photography skills if you were lucky enough to spend time with him and his camera.

He was a true gentleman and key driver behind LAS-ICMSF, he will be sorely missed.

Martin Cole, ICMSF President, Adelaide