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 industry clients (including the world’s largest growers, processors, restaurant chains, distributors, and grocers) helping them protect their brand by reducing food safety risk, complying with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture food safety regulations, managing recalls, and defending high-profile foodborne illness claims.

Shawn also speaks regularly to audiences on a wide variety of emerging scientific, regulatory, and food safety legal trends. He authors columns for food industry publications, and he is quoted regularly by national media publications such as TIME Magazine, the New York Post, and Corporate Counsel. 

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In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to Shawn Stevens about:

  • What he sees as the biggest food safety challenges his clients are facing
  • The Jack in the Box outbreak and how it changed the food industry
  • An overview of what happens during FDA's Food Safety Modernization Act inspections
  • His advice for food companies that expect to undergo a FSMA inspection
  • What a food company should do in the event of a recall—before, during, and after
  • The benefits of conducting a high-level mock recall
  • Consumer responsibility vs. manufacturer/processor responsibility when it comes to ready-to-eat food products
  • The concept of ready-to-prepare foods
  • How food safety regulations are beginning to mimic those in the pharmaceutical industry
  • Food companies' biggest liability
  • How he would approach food safety in his own food company
  • Trends in recall insurance and whether FDA will create thresholds for Listeria monocytogenes

News Mentioned in This Episode
FDA Investigation: Cyclospora Illnesses Linked to McDonald's Salads Supplied by Fresh Express
FDA Commissioner's Statement on Recent Cyclospora Illnesses
South Africa Listeria Outbreak Declared Over
FDA Sampling Assignment-Cyclospora in Fresh Herbs
FDA: Avoid Frozen Desserts and Drinks Made with Liquid Nitrogen

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Author(s): Staff