Food Safety Matters

Omar Oyarzabal, Ph. D., D.V.M., is an Extension associate professor and food safety specialist at the University of Vermont. He is a lead instructor for HACCP FSMA - Preventive Controls for Human Food, and Sprout Safety Alliance training. He is also a Certified HACCP Auditor and has taught food safety, bioinformatics, biostatistics, microbial risk assessment and management, and introductory HACCP...

Chirag Bhatt has been involved in food safety for 4 decades. After working with the local regulatory agency in the city of Houston for over 26 years. Chirag joined Bloomin' Brands as their Global Regulatory Compliance Manager. Then Sysco Corp as Regulatory and Technical Services Director. And most recently with retailer Buc-ee's, as a Director of Food Safety and QA before starting his own food saf...

Donna F. Schaffner, M.Sc., is the associate director for food safety, quality assurance, and training at the Rutgers University Food Innovation Center. Donna has more than 20 years of experience as a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) specialist. She teaches FDA certificate programs in Preventive Controls for Human Foods (PCHF), Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP), genera...

Dr. David Acheson is the President and CEO of the Acheson Group; David has had a long and distinguished career in the food industry, probably best known for his work with the FDA where he held several positions including Associate Commissioner for Foods, which gave him an agency-wide leadership role for all food and feed issues, including health promotion and nutrition. After his time with the FDA...

Phil Kafarakis is president of the Specialty Food Association, where he is an advocate and spokesman for the $140 billion U.S. specialty food industry. Prior to his appointment in 2016, he served as the Chief Innovation & Member Advancement Officer at the National Restaurant Association. He has held positions at Kraft, McCormick & Co., Cargill, and Jones Dairy Farm. He received an MBA from the McD...

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.  Prior to his...

Joseph Corby is Senior Advisor of Food Safety Regulations for the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO). Joe Corby worked for the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets for 37 years before retiring in 2008 as the director of the Division of Food Safety and Inspection. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the International Food Protection Training Institute (IFPTI...

As we embark on 2021, the Food Safety Matters team, along with Larry Keener President and CEO of International Product Safety Consultants, sat down to discuss the impacts of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) over the last 10 years and how we move forward from here. Also included are comments from, Frank Yiannas, FDA Deputy Commissioner for Food Policy and Response, Stephen Mandernach, Execu...

As we wrap up 2020, 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 as we move into 2021. Topics discussed in this episode: Food business disruptions: Changes to the supply chain and transportation challenges Keeping food personnel safe Implications for food saf...

Sally Powell Price joined MilliporeSigma earlier this year as a Regulatory Expert for Food Safety. Previously, Sally served as the Director of Lab Operations at a biotech startup in Boston supporting regulatory & R&D operations. Prior to that role, she was the Food Lab Supervisor at the New York City Department of Health, Public  Health Laboratory. Sally is a member of the Association of Food and...

Tamara Mullin is currently the Director of Safety for FOODWORKS where she oversees food safety procedures and builds upon them to create food safety programs, training, and compliances. Before this, she was the FOODWORKS District Manager. Tamara obtained her degree from the Pennsylvania Institute of Culinary Arts in 1993. Tamara has been working in corporate dining since 1997. She has managed mult...

In this BONUS episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to Sharon Dobesh (director of technical services) and Leonard Mongiello (business development and sales manager) from the Industrial Fumigant Company (IFC) about controlling birds and rodents. Specifically, how to keep them where they belong—away from your buildings, out of your docks and processing areas. In this BONUS episode of Food Safety...

Nevin Perera is the research & development manager for PerkinElmer where he and his team have developed a range of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) including Solus One  Salmonella,  Solus One  Listeria,  and Solus One  Escherichia coli . Nevin's career started at the University of Birmingham in the UK, where he was studying for a B.Sc. (Hons) in microbiology before transitioning to a M....

Dr. Scott Brooks is the Senior Vice President of Food Safety and Quality Assurance for Tyson Foods. Previously, Scott held similar food safety, quality, and regulatory executive positions at Kraft Heinz, PepsiCo, and Yum! Brands after serving as a Public Health Officer in the Air Force. His Doctorate is in Veterinary Medicine with Master's degrees in both Food Microbiology and Preventive Veterinar...

Adam Joelsson is Director of Technology and Head of Research and Development at Invisible Sentinel Inc. Having a background in microbiology and molecular biology, Adam joined Invisible Sentinel in 2008 as part of the founding team and has been integral in the development and commercialization of both Veriflow® and veriPRO® molecular diagnostic platforms. As part of the Invisible Sentinel technical...

Hugo Gutierrez is the Global Food Safety and Quality Officer for  Kerry . He has 25 years of experience in leading global, virtual, and multicultural quality, food safety, and regulatory teams. In his current position, he is responsible for developing and executing a long-term strategy to transform their quality, food safety, and employee safety into world-class systems. Prior to his position at K...

Dr. John W. Spink is an assistant professor in the Department of Supply Chain Management in the Eli Broad Business College at Michigan State University (MSU). Previously, he was an assistant professor in the School of Criminal Justice in the College of Social Science at MSU and in the College of Veterinary Medicine. His leadership positions include product fraud-related activities with ISO 22000,...

Dr. Randy Huffman joined Maple Leaf Foods in 2009 and is currently Chief Food Safety and Sustainability Officer at the company.  This role encompasses Food Safety and Quality, Occupational Health, Safety and Security, Environmental Sustainability and Compliance, Animal Care, and Corporate Engineering.   Randy also leads the company's Food Safety Advisory Council, a team of external experts with th...

Bob Gravani is Professor Emeritus of food science and Director Emeritus of the National Good Agricultural Practices Program at Cornell University. There's he's been actively engaged in extension and outreach, teaching, and research activities. His food safety career spans 40 years and includes work with all sectors of the food system. He has developed innovative programs for constituents in produc...

Hal King, Ph. D., is a recognized leader in public health. He's worked in government, industry, and education. Currently, Hal is the managing partner at Active Food Safety, a new advisory services and digital products company. He is also the founder and CEO of Public Health Innovations, a public health strategy and design company. In addition, Hal serves as an associate professor of public health...

Lone Jespersen  is the principal at 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 led the execution of...

This episode features a panel of the Food Safety Preventive Control Alliance (FSPCA)'s lead instructors. They discuss virtual food safety training in the age of COVID. Connie Landis Fisk  is a northwest regional extension associate for the Produce Safety Alliance (PSA). PSA has a temporary policy allowing its trainers to deliver their Grower Training Course remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. C...

In this BONUS episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak—for the third time—to Sharon Dobesh (director of technical services) and Jerry Heath (staff entomologist) from the Industrial Fumigant Company (IFC) about insect growth regulators (IGR) and how these compounds can benefit a pest control management plan. In this BONUS episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to IFC about: The benefits of foggin...

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...

John G. Keogh is a strategist, advisor, and management science researcher with 30 years of executive leadership roles as director, vice president, and senior vice president in global supply chain management, information technology, technology consulting, and supply chain standards. Currently, he is managing principal at Toronto-based, niche advisory, and research firm Shantalla Inc. He holds a pos...