Cargill announced this week that its global vice president of food safety, quality and regulatory--Mike Robach--will be retiring on August 1, 2018. Sean Leighton, currently Cargill’s food safety and quality leader, will take over Robach’s role.
Robach joined Cargill in 2004. Besides leading the company’s food safety, quality assurance, regulatory, and animal health affairs, he also was a founding member of Safe Supply of Affordable Food Everywhere (SSAFE). He also partnered frequently with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as well as the U.S. Department of Agriculture on science-based food safety policies and regulations.
In his retirement, Robach will continue his partnership with the Global Food Safety Initiative as its chairman through 2020.
Before joining Cargill in 2017, Leighton spent the first years of his career at well-known food companies such as The Pillsbury Company, Land O’ Lakes and Coca-Cola. He earned a bacteriology degree from the University of Wisconsin, a master’s degree in food science and nutrition from the University of Minnesota, and an MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School.
