Maple Leaf Foods Hosts 15th Annual Food Safety Symposium
On October 21, 2025, Maple Leaf Foods hosted its 15th annual Food Safety Symposium in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. The event, titled, "How Many More Wake-Up Calls? Confronting the Listeria Threat—Reclaiming Control Before the Next Crisis," brought together hundreds of food safety professionals to discuss and engage on the alignment and intersection of culture and best practices to control Listeria monocytogenes and prevent foodborne illness.
Maple Leaf Foods held sessions that emphasized the importance of strong company alignment with food safety best practices. Leaders from across the packaged and processed food space shared their stories—the moments when they understood that food safety had to be systemic in their companies to achieve continuous improvement.
Nicole Johnson-Hoffman, COO of The Meat Institute, led an executive industry panel with Jim Snee, retired Chairman, President, and CEO of Hormel Foods; David Van Eekeren, President and CEO of Land O'Frost; and Dennis Vignieri, President and CEO of Birchwood Foods.
The panel discussed the importance of senior leaders being involved with the food safety team. Ms. Hoffman noted the importance of trusting the experts without losing sight of the need for vigilance. "Of course, you have to put faith in your experts. But when it comes to food safety, there is a limit to trust. What's the rule? ‘Trust but verify.’ You have to probe. You have to get a second opinion. You have to find the other resources that lead [you] to where [you] had not looked," she said.
Additionally, attendees heard from Lone Jespersen, Ph.D., Principal and Founder of Cultivate SA, who discussed the need for systems and culture to go hand-in-hand to build stronger food safety systems. Dr. Jespersen asked attendees about their relationships with their human resources department and encouraged collaboration to ensure that organizational structure matches the needs for food safety. Leadership presence, she said, improves performance.
"Foodborne illnesses are on the rise, and this not the time to sit on our laurels and hope. The Maple Leaf Foods manufacturing and food safety teams are to be congratulated for the development of this annual symposium. Industry collaboration like this shows consumers that their trust in our quality and safety is well-placed," said Adam Grogan, President and Chief Operating Officer of Maple Leaf Foods.
Hear from Spir Marinakis, Maple Leaf Foods’ Vice President of Food Safety, Quality, and Technical Services, during the October 30 Food Safety Magazine webinar, titled, “Preventing Foreign Material Contamination with the FM Maturity Model.” Maple Leaf Foods is one of the companies that led the development of the Foreign Material (FM) Maturity Model, which helps companies prevent FM contamination at the corporate and plant levels, and which will be discussed during the webinar. The event will stream live at 2:00 P.M. ET, and will also be available for on-demand replay. More information can be found here.
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