Food Safety Matters

Dr. Laura Gieraltowski leads the Foodborne Outbreak Response Team in the Outbreak Response and Prevention Branch at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, GA. She leads the team that helps coordinate the national network of epidemiologists and other public health officials who investigate outbreaks of foodborne and other enteric illnesses. ​Laura is a graduate of CDC...

Theodora Morille-Hinds is the vice president of global quality food safety for The Kellogg Company. She is also the 2019 recipient of  Food Safety Magazine 's Distinguished Service Award. Stacey Popham is the head of food safety and quality for the Americas region of Barry Callebaut. Dr. Mindy Brashears is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety. Tim Stubbs is t...

Cindy Jiang is senior director, Global Food and Packaging Safety, Global Supply Chain & Sustainability, for McDonald's Corporation. Her responsibilities include leading global supplier quality management systems and programs, establishing science-based food safety standards and policies, managing food-related emerging issues, and providing guidance on nutrition information, accuracy, and consisten...

Joan Menke-Schaenzer is the chief quality officer at Van Drunen Farms and FutureCeuticals. There, she is responsible for the safety and quality of the company's vegetable and herb growing and processing plants—both conventional and organic—as well as their nutraceutical ingredient business.  Joan's career has also included food safety and quality roles in manufacturing, foodservice, and retail. Sh...

Dr. Robert (Bob) Powitz is the principal and technical director of R.W.Powitz & Associates. There, he specializes in forensic sanitation services to industry, law firms, insurance companies, and government agencies. Bob has dedicated his career to food safety having worked for over 54 years to study, develop, and implement the most effective sanitation practices. Bob has served as director of envi...

Dr. Robert (Bob) Powitz is the principal and technical director of R.W.Powitz & Associates. There, he specializes in forensic sanitation services to industry, law firms, insurance companies, and government agencies. Bob has dedicated his career to food safety having worked for over 54 years to study, develop, and implement the most effective sanitation practices. Bob has served as director of envi...

In this BONUS episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to Jerry Heath (staff entomologist) and Sharon Dobush (director of technical services) from the Industrial Fumigant Company (IFC) about how to set up and utilize a pest management program that is compliant with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and that also works well with a food processor's existing Hazard Analysis and Critical Contro...

Jeff Farber is the director of the Canadian Research Institute for Food Safety and head of the University of Guelph's Food Safety and Quality Assurance M.Sc. program.  Farber's most well-known work is a  1991 review paper on  Listeria monocytogenes . He's also authored an estimated 50 other papers on  Listeria  research and risk assessment. Farber worked at Health Canada for a number of years as a...

At the 21st annual  Food Safety Summit  in Rosemont, IL, editorial director Barbara VanRenterghem sat down with four food safety pros for real-time insight on the Summit sessions, topics, trends, and more. Craig Henry  is a food safety consultant with Intro Inc. There, he specializes in U.S. food safety program development and review for federal regulatory compliance such as the Food Safety Modern...

In this BONUS episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to Fredrik Johansson, manager of separators at Tetra Pak. In this chat, Fredrik discusses dairy separation, its history, challenges, best practices, and how dairy industry clients can increase efficiency and find higher profits while maintaining the highest possible food safety standards.  In this BONUS episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak...

Craig Wilson is the vice president, general merchandising manager of quality assurance/food safety, non-foods quality assurance, environmental services/HAZMAT and merchandise services for Costco Wholesale Corporation. Prior to joining Costco, Craig worked as a special projects director for Frigoscandia Equipment Food Safety Systems for over 24 years. During his time there, Craig published numerous...

Lone Jespersen  is principal of Cultivate, an organization dedicated to helping food manufacturers globally make safe, great tasting food through cultural effectiveness. Lone has significant experience with food manufacturing, having previously spent 11 years with Maple Leaf Foods. Following the tragic event in 2008 when Maple Leaf products claimed 23 Canadian lives, Lone lead the execution of the...

Dr. David Acheson, is the founder and CEO of The Acheson Group and brings more than 30 years of medical and food safety research and experience to provide strategic advice as well as recall and crisis management support to food companies and ancillary technology companies on a global basis on all matters relating to food safety and food defense.   David graduated from the University of London Medi...

Jeremy Zenlea is the director of corporate food safety at Cumberland Farms, Inc. In this role, he oversees all aspects of food safety, including regulatory compliance, retail and commissary food safety operations, and supply chain integrity. Jeremy has worked with a variety of different product categories, including refrigerated, high-risk ready-to-eat foods (meat, poultry, pork, and fresh-cut pro...

Samuel Godefroy is a professor of risk analysis and regulatory policies in the Department of Food Science at the University of Laval in Quebec, Canada. Currently, he leads the development of a Food Risk Analysis and Regulatory Excellence Platform, hosted by the Institute of Nutrition and Functional Foods at the university. Samuel previously led the strategic development of the World Bank's Global...

This BONUS episode of Food Safety Matters is all about Michigan State University's Food Processing and Innovation Center (FPIC). The Center, the first of its kind in the U.S., will be Michigan's leading independent commercial food development, processing, packaging, and research facility. Here, mid- to large-size food companies have access to a real-time production environment to support the creat...

Joe Stout is the founder of Commercial Food Sanitation, a consulting firm that provides food safety and sanitation solutions to food processing plants. Before that, Joe spent nearly 30 years at Kraft Foods. While there, he held a variety of positions related to operations, quality, and sanitation, ultimately leading to his role as Kraft's director of global product protection, sanitation, and hygi...

Sara Mortimer is the vice president of product safety, quality, and regulatory affairs for Land O'Lakes. Over her 30-year career, Sara has worked to ensure the safety and quality of some of the world's biggest brands—Haagen Daaz, Green Giant, Old El Paso, Nature Valley, and many others. Sara has co-authored a number of books on Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) and food safety ma...

Professor Chris Elliott is the founder of the Institute for Global Food Security and professor of food safety at Queen's University Belfast. From 2016–2018, he served as pro-vice-chancellor of the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences in the University, but stepped down from that post recently to concentrate on his world-leading research.   Chris has published more than 350 peer-reviewed a...

As 2018 comes to an end, the Food Safety Matters team, along with Bob Ferguson of Strategic Consulting Inc., sat down to discuss the biggest moments in food safety this year, and what we have to look forward to in 2019. Topics Discussed: CDC's official list of foodborne outbreaks by year   Update since recording:  FDA Narrows Down Contaminated Lettuce Origin to 33 Distributors, Growers, and Farms...

Dr. Maria Lapinski is a joint professor in the Department of Communication and Michigan Ag-Bio Research at Michigan State University (MSU). She served as the associate dean for research for the College of Communication Arts and Sciences. In that role, she facilitated interdisciplinary research partnerships and identification of funding sources for faculty research.  Maria's research examines the i...

Dr. Keith Warriner is a professor of food science at the University of Guelph. He is also the food science graduate coordinator of the department's Master of Science and Ph. D. food science programs. After completing his Ph. D. in microbial physiology at the University College of Wales, he worked for the Department of Medicine at the University of Manchester where he studied biosensors. He also at...

Michael Cramer is currently the senior director of food safety and quality assurance with Ajinomoto Windsor, Inc. The company was formed through various acquisitions (Multifoods, Specialty Brands, and Windsor Foods) and ultimately the purchase of Windsor Foods by Ajinomoto. He will celebrate his 25th year with the company in October 2018. Mike is an SQF practitioner, ASQ-certified quality auditor,...

John Butts is the vice president of research at Land O'Frost. He first joined the company in 1974. His focus there includes the application of scientific principles and quality management technology to develop sanitation process control methods and procedures.  John is mostly known for the development of the "seek and destroy" process controls for  Listeria  which has been adopted throughout the f...

In this BONUS episode of Food Safety Matters, representatives from Neogen and AOAC INTERNATIONAL discuss the benefits of having testing methods and kits independently approved and certified. You will learn all about the beginnings of AOAC INTERNATIONAL, how the organization has evolved, and what it means for a company within the food industry to be an affiliate member.  To help us better understan...