Joseph Corby to be Honored with Food Safety Magazine's 2025 Distinguished Service Award
Joseph Corby will receive Food Safety Magazine's Distinguished Service Award for 2025. The award will be presented at the 2025 Food Safety Summit, taking place May 12–15 in Rosemont, Illinois.
Joe Corby was nominated and selected as the recipient of the award by the food safety community for directing, mentoring, and providing a positive influence in the name of food safety on a state and national level.
After earning a degree in Environmental Health, Joe worked for the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets for 38 years, beginning as a Food Inspector in 1970 and retiring in 2008 as the Director of the Division of Food Safety and Inspection. He then went on to become the Executive Director of the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) for 10 years, and is now a Senior Advisor for the association.
As the Bio-Terrorism Act of 2002 was implemented, Joe took a proactive active approach to respond to the influx of violative imported foods in commerce and worked directly with FDA to initiate a successful state-imported food surveillance program. This program was emulated in several other states, and is now known as mutual reliance. Joe has also authored numerous guidance documents and books for retail meat/poultry and retail HACCP, among others.
Joe has volunteered on many national work groups, steering committees, and boards of directors, seeking ways to protect the public and enhance food safety. He has served as an instructor for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), AFDO, the International Food Protection Training Institute (IFPTI), Louisiana State University, the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA), the University of Tennessee, and Oregon State University.
Joe also served on the Food Safety Summit Educational Advisory Board for many years, coordinated numerous sessions for the Summit, and participated as a panelist for the Summit's Town Hall session representing state and local food safety agencies.
In addition to receiving the Food Safety Magazine Distinguished Service Award for 2025, Joe was the recipient of the prestigious AFDO Harvey W. Wiley award in 2001 and the NSF Food Safety Leadership Award in 2019.
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Joe continues to be an outspoken advocate for the advancement of a nationally integrated food safety system and works with numerous groups and associations in support of this cause.
Past recipients of the Food Safety Magazine Distinguished Service Award include (in alphabetical order by last name): Reginald Bennett, M.Sc., Dane Bernard, M.Sc., Larry Beuchat, Ph.D., Robert L. Buchanan, Ph.D., Frank Busta, Ph.D., John N. Butts, Ph.D., Darin Detwiler, Ph.D., Kathleen Glass, Ph.D., Keith Ito, Allen Katsuyama, Connie Kirby, M.Sc., John W. Larkin, Ph.D., Huub Lelieveld, Barbara Masters, D.V.M., Ann Marie McNamara, Ph.D., Theodora Morille-Hinds, M.Sc., William Sperber, Ph.D., Joe Stout, R.S., Michael R. Taylor, J.D., Steve Taylor, Ph.D., David Theno, Ph.D., Bruce Tompkin, Ph.D., and Don L. Zink, Ph.D.
