Home » Multimedia » Podcasts » Food Safety Matters » Ep. 125. Dr. Conrad Choiniere: Moving 'Closer to Zero' Through Collaboration
Food Safety Matters
Food Safety Matters is a podcast for food safety professionals hosted by the Food Safety Magazine editorial team – the leading media brand in food safety for over 20 years. Each episode will feature a conversation with a food safety professional sharing their experiences and insights of the important job of safeguarding the world’s food supply.
Conrad Choiniere, Ph.D., is the Director of the Office of Analytics and Outreach at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN). Dr. Choiniere provides executive leadership for a broad portfolio of scientific and regulatory functions including risk and decision analysis, social and behavioral sciences, epidemiology, biostatistics and informatics, education and outreach, and food defense. Dr. Choiniere currently co-leads a core element of FDA's New Era of Smarter Food Safety focused on fostering and supporting food safety culture across the food system. He also chairs FDA's Toxic Elements Working Group, which prioritizes the Administration's efforts to reduce exposures to lead, arsenic, and other heavy metals from foods to the greatest extent feasible. Dr. Choiniere holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of Maryland and a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University.
Kruti Ravaliya, M.S., Consumer Safety Officer in the Division of Produce Safety at FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, joined the Division of Produce Safety as an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) Fellow in July 2013, and transitioned to be a Consumer Safety Officer in April 2015. She has been involved with the Division of Produce Safety in a variety of ways, most significantly in developing the Supplemental and Final Agricultural Water Quality provision in the Produce Safety Rule. She earned her M.S. degree in Food Science, with minors in Biotechnology and Food Safety, at North Carolina State University in 2013, and a B.S. degree in Food Science and Spanish from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 2007. Previously, Ms. Ravaliya worked in food product development with the International Food Network.
Brittney Miller is President of Manchester Farms, America's first quail farm. What started over 40 years ago as a backyard hobby has grown into a nationally recognized, family-owned business that produces more than 80,000 quail weekly, raising them responsibly, without antibiotics or hormones, and shipping premium products to chefs, retailers, and home cooks across the country. Brittney's story is about more than farming: it is about stewardship, innovation, and family values. She combines her passion for sustainable agriculture with modern food safety standards. Her SQF Level 2 certified, HACCP-compliant farm sets the benchmark for quality in specialty poultry.
Mindy Brashears, Ph.D. is the USDA's Under Secretary for Food Safety. Dr. Brashears previously served as Under Secretary for Food Safety from 2020–2021, and Deputy Under Secretary in 2019. Dr. Brashears returns to USDA from Texas Tech University, where she was a Paul Whitfield Horn Distinguished Professor of Food Safety and Public Health, the Roth and Letch Family Endowed Chair for Food Safety, and the Director of the International Center for Food Industry Excellence.
Justin Ransom, Ph.D. is Administrator of USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), where he oversees FSIS' mission to ensure the safety, wholesomeness, and proper labeling of America's commercial supply of meat, poultry, and processed egg products. He leads the agency's modernization efforts, streamlining inspection systems, strengthening public health protections, and advancing science-based policies.
Elena Medo, M.B.A. is an entrepreneur, researcher, and inventor who has spent nearly 40 years transforming neonatal care through leadership and innovation. She has secured numerous patents, raised over $40 million across four companies, and built a legacy of firsts, including the first commercially available shelf-stable donor breast milk product; the first milk bank owned exclusively by nursing mothers; and the first medical device designed to analyze human milk. Today, as CEO and co-founder of Leonie Health PBC, established in 2023 with her daughter, Adrianne Weir, Elena is developing a revolutionary product that replicates the immune properties of colostrum to protect preterm infants against the three deadliest neonatal infections—necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAC), and sepsis—which together claim the lives of more than 30,000 hospitalized infants per year.
Alissa Welsher, Ph.D. is a Senior Consultant at Elanco Poultry Food Safety. Dr. Welsher received a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from the University of Pittsburgh, as well as a master’s degree in poultry science and a Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology from the University of Arkansas. Her area of expertise is meat and poultry food safety, and she specializes in integrated pest management (IPM).
Lyle Probst is the CEO of NomadX and an accomplished entrepreneur with more than 25 years of experience in operations, product development, engineering, biodefense, and advanced technology commercialization.
Alex LeBeau, Ph.D., M.P.H., CIH is the owner of Exposure Assessment Consulting LLC in Orlando, Florida, where he offers toxicology, industrial hygiene, risk assessment, and public health consulting services. Over his 13-year career, he has evaluated environmental and occupational exposures and has performed toxicological evaluations of chemicals and biological agents. He has also performed human health risk assessments of contaminated sites using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state regulatory guidelines and has monitored remediation activities at those sites. To evaluate the exposure impacts on building occupants, he has performed indoor environmental quality assessments, including Legionella and water quality assessments, at healthcare, residential, and industrial facilities.