Food Safety Matters

Shawn Stevens is an attorney and founding member of the  Food Industry  Counsel , a law firm that provides food safety legal and regulatory consulting services exclusively for food industry clients, ultimately helping them anticipate, navigate, and resolve their most pressing food safety challenges.  As a food industry consultant and lawyer, Shawn works throughout the U.S. and abroad with food ind...

In 2008, Maple Leaf Foods had a devastating outbreak caused by  Listeria  contamination at one of its prepared meats facilities. It resulted in 23 deaths and many serious illnesses. Since this tragedy, Maple Leaf Foods has committed to becoming a global leader in food safety and has invested significant people and financial resources in achieving this commitment. Maple Leaf Foods is a leading cons...

Frank Yiannas is the vice president of food safety at Walmart—the world's largest food retailer. In that role, Frank oversees all food safety—as well as other public health functions—for Walmart, serving over 200 million customers around the world on a weekly basis. His scope of responsibilities includes food safety oversight of Walmart's stores, Neighborhood Markets, and Sam's Clubs. He is also c...

Dane Bernard is currently the managing director of Bold Bear Food Safety where he offers consulting services. Prior to that, he served as the vice president of food safety and quality assurance at Keystone Foods until 2014. That role also included responsibilities over global programs on Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) and food safety. Before that, Dane was the vice president o...

Earlier this month, the  Food Safety Magazine  team gathered in Salt Lake City, UT for the Annual Meeting of the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP). The IAFP Annual Meeting was attended by more than 3,800 top industry, academic, and governmental food safety professionals from six continents. Each year, this premiere event for industry professionals convenes and discusses current...

Sean Leighton is the vice president of food safety and quality for Cargill, based in Wayzata, MN. In August 2018, Sean will be moving into the role of vice president corporate food safety, quality and regulatory for Cargill when Mike Robach retires. Prior to joining Cargill, Sean worked for over 13 years at The Coca-Cola Company in various roles across quality, food safety, and environmental susta...

In this special BONUS episode of Food Safety Matters, we focus on the topic of blockchain and how it can be used within the food industry.  You will learn all about what exactly blockchain is, its history, and how it can be applied to our food supply chain. To help us better understand blockchain's use in the food sector, our editorial director, Barbara Van Renterghem, spoke with two experts from...

Dr. Bob Brackett is the vice president of the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT)  http://bit.ly/2yvT9ck and director of the Institute for Food Safety and Health (IFSH) http://bit.ly/2KbZaiV .  Prior to joining IIT, Dr. Brackett served as senior vice president and chief science and regulatory officer for the Grocery Manufacturers Association.  Before that, he served at the U.S. Food and Drug Ad...

    Mike Robach is vice president, corporate food safety, quality, & regulatory for Cargill based in Minneapolis, MN. Mike joined Cargill in January 2004 to lead the company's corporate food safety and regulatory affairs programs. Since then, Mike has increased the department's scope to include animal health and quality assurance. He continues to refocus the department toward global efforts in lin...

Kathy Gombas is a recognized food safety expert with over 30 years of experience in the food industry specializing in preventive controls, supply chain management, food safety auditing, and regulatory affairs. Kathy retired from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after 10 years of service. She was a senior advisor at FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN). While at CFS...

Bill Marler is the most prominent foodborne illness lawyer in America, and a major force in food policy in the U.S. and around the world. Bill's firm—Marler Clark: The Food Safety Law Firm— ( https://marlerclark.com/ ) has represented thousands of individuals in claims against food companies whose contaminated products have caused life-altering injuries and even death. Bill began litigating foodbo...

Melanie Neumann is the president of Neumann Risk Services ( http://www.neumannriskservices.com/ ), and executive vice president of Matrix Sciences—a firm that focuses on food safety risk management, business and brand protection, regulatory compliance, and industry best practices. Melanie leverages her 19 years of industry experience as a food law attorney along with her Masters of Science in Food...

Don Schaffner is distinguished professor and Extension Specialist in food science at Rutgers University. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed papers on a variety of topics including handwashing, cross-contamination, quantitative microbial risk assessment, and predictive food microbiology. Dr. Schaffner is active in several scientific associations, including the International Association for Foo...

Jorge Hernandez is the chief food safety and compliance officer for Wholesome International, a restaurant company with different concepts and brands in the quick and fast casual foodservice markets in the U.S. He is responsible for food safety, quality, regulatory compliance, and sustainability for the organization. This includes developing structure and reporting lines for the staff, risk-based p...

In this BONUS episode of Food Safety Matters, we will focus on next-generation sequencing and the advantages of using 16S Metagenomics to identify spoilage organisms in your facility thereby reducing the possibility of spoiled products reaching  your  consumers. You will learn about a 16S Metagenomics service and how to join the 16S Challenge that gives you a chance to take advantage of the Advanc...

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,...

  Larry Keener has a long record of involvement, both nationally and internationally, with food industry issues. He is the current vice president and co-chair of the Austrian-based Global Harmonization Initiative ( http://www.globalharmonization.net/ ), an organization founded in 2004 to promote harmonization of food safety legislation and regulations. He is president and chief executive officer o...

William Weichelt is in the newly created position of director, Food Safety & Industry Relations, for the National Restaurant Association (NRA) and has over 20 years of experience in the foodservice and food manufacturing sectors.  The NRA is the largest foodservice trade association in the world by membership—supporting over 500,000 restaurant businesses. They represent and advocate for foodservic...

Barbara interviews Deirdre Schlunegger, the CEO of Stop Foodborne Illness. Stop Foodborne Illness is a national nonprofit public health organization dedicated to the prevention of illness and death from foodborne pathogens. Their mission is to promote sound food safety policy and best practices, build public awareness and assist those impacted by foodborne illness. Stop Foodborne Illness was found...

Dr. Lee-Ann Jaykus is a William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor in the Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences at North Carolina State University, having been employed with the university for over 22 years.  Dr. Jaykus received a Ph. D. (1993) in environmental sciences and engineering from the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. She pr...

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, the  Food Safety Magazine  team discusses: Top news stories and trending topics we covered on the podcast this year A look back at the Food Safety Modernization Act's rules that took effect in 2017 Food Safety Magazine's most-viewed content in 2017 Trends observed via Bob Ferguson's Food Safety Insights series and forecasts for 2018 Commentary on some of our...

This special BONUS episode of Food Safety Matters focuses on Allergens. Concerns about food allergens have been around now for quite some time, and the food industry has done a respectable job of proactively guarding against unintended food allergens in their products. However, with the introduction of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), continued globalization of the food supply and increas...

Will Daniels is president of the produce division at IEH Laboratories and Consulting Group. In this role, Will is responsible for lab and consulting services for the produce industry. Prior to joining IEH, Will was president and CEO of Fresh Integrity Group, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in operations and food safety consulting for the fresh produce and perishables industries. He was recent...

Dr. Hal King is the founder and CEO of Public Health Innovations ( http://publichealthinnovations.biz/ ), an ideation technology and consulting business.  Hal is a public health professional who has worked in the investigation of foodborne and other disease outbreaks with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, He has also performed funded research on causation of diseases at Emory Univers...

Dr. Darin Detwiler is the Assistant Dean of Graduate Academic and Faculty Affairs at Northeastern University in Boston, MA. He is also the Lead Academic of the MS in Regulatory Affairs of Food and Food Industry ( http://bit.ly/2zCQi00 ) and Professor of Food Policy. In addition to being the Founder and President of Detwiler Consulting Group, LLC, Dr. Detwiler serves as the Executive Vice President...