Our web guru sent me a report on our analytics with numbers that seemed impressive enough to me, and then I realized it was only for the Washington D.C. metropolitan region not the entire world. The fact that Washington D.C. is now reading Food Safety News in numbers greater that I once would have accepted for the world is a testimony to the fact that we’ve far exceeded my personal expectations for this venture. We are now counting millions among our readership and we’ve built a solid presence in at least ten countries: U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, China, India, Germany, Philippines, France and Japan. My purpose in bringing this up today is not to brag, but to just give you some factual basis for considering the offer I am about to make. In each of the three years we’ve been publishing, Food Safety News has owed much of its success to those offering guest articles usually offering opinion and commentary. As evidenced above, Food Safety News offers you a large readership on the world stage in return. We think that’s why many of the top food safety leaders from government, industry, and consumer groups have been among our contributors. Most of the guest commentaries we’ve published deal with the intricacies of the food safety system. Some have been on the related hot issues of the day such as child obesity, genetically modified organisms, antibiotics and many others. But you don’t have to write about a “hot” issue or express your opinion on the food safety topics that become federal issues. It’s always best to write about what you know about. Here are some general ideas: -Being responsible for company food safety, you opted to make changes in sanitation practices and want to share your decision making process with readers. -As a country or regional health official, you’ve experienced cutbacks in personnel and want to reveal how that’s really working out. -As a state health official recently involved in a multi-state outbreak involving CDC, you want to express some observations about being “on the team.” -As a scientist or researcher, you keep seeing mistakes made in the media about your area of expertise and want to set the record straight. I offer the above examples only to spur your own thinking. If you are interested in becoming a contributor to Food Safety News, just drop me an email at dflynn@foodsafetynews.com. The first thing we do is set up an author account for you. It’s simple, just your picture and a one-paragraph biography along with your email and twitter contact if you have one. Then if you can produce 500 to 1,000 coherent words on your chosen subject, we’re good. Citizen contributors are also welcome. I am often amazed information provided by those commenting on our stories. Parents often have the most to say about food safety, and we are open to hearing from anyone with something to say. I thought I would end this open-ended invitation with a specific request. There must be someone who was familiar with then Gov. Romney’s food safety or public health record in Massachusetts who can share it with us and express an opinion on it. Please step forward and share it with us!