Dr. David Acheson, is the founder and CEO of The Acheson Group and brings more than 30 years of medical and food safety research and experience to provide strategic advice as well as recall and crisis management support to food companies and ancillary technology companies on a global basis on all matters relating to food safety and food defense.
 
David graduated from the University of London Medical School and practiced internal medicine and infectious diseases in the United Kingdom until 1987 when he moved to the New England Medical Center and became an Associate Professor at Tufts University in Boston, studying the molecular pathogenesis of foodborne pathogens.
 
Prior to forming The Acheson Group, David served as the Chief Medical Officer at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and then joined the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as the Chief Medical Officer at the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN). After serving as the director of CFSAN’s Office of Food Defense, Communication and Emergency Response, David was appointed as the Assistant and then Associate Commissioner for Foods, which provided him an agency-wide leadership role for all food and feed issues and the responsibility for the development of the 2007 Food Protection Plan, which served as the basis for many of the authorities granted to FDA by the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).
 
From 2009 to 2013 he was a partner at Leavitt Partners where he managed Leavitt Partners Global Food Safety Solutions. 

David has published extensively and is internationally recognized both for his public health expertise in food safety and his research in infectious diseases. He is a sought-after speaker and regular guest on national news programs. He serves on a variety of boards and food safety advisory groups of several major food manufacturers.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to David Acheson about:

• His role in building the 2007 Food Protection Plan and how it parallels FSMA
• The importance of the food safety crises that took place in 2006 and 2007
• The differences between food fraud, food security, food defense and food adulteration, and how sometimes these instances do not necessarily implicate a public health risk
• His advice to food companies gearing up to comply with FSMA's food defense regulations
• Facing the realities of determining whether your food plant is at risk of committing a food-related crime
• How to advocate for more or better resources, and how to convince the C-suite to invest in food safety
• Balancing food safety goals with a company's other metrics—sales, margins, etc.
• The main challenges he sees facing food companies
• His views on announced vs. unannounced audits
• How the Peanut Corporation of America debacle helped shape FSMA's Preventive Controls rule and how it forced some food companies to rebuild their own supply and control programs
• His thoughts on how legal roadblocks keep food safety violations from ever coming to light

Articles by David Acheson in Food Safety Magazine
Why Don't We Learn More from Our Mistakes?
Industry Perspectives of Proposed FSMA Rule on Preventive Controls

News Mentioned in This Episode
FDA Reminds Public of Soy Nut Butter Recall
Opponents Say USDA Reorganization has Mulitple Problems
Raw Milk Dairy Out of Time to Appeal Retail License Suspension
Why Is it So Hard to Track the Source of a Food Poisoning Outbreak?
Food Truck Commissary: The Foundation of a Mobile Business
Savor Safe Street Food

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Drew McDonald is the Senior Vice President of Quality and Food Safety at Taylor Fresh Foods in Salinas, California, where he oversees the quality and food safety programs across the foodservice, retail, and deli operations under both FDA and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) jurisdictions. Mr. McDonald works with an impressive team developing and managing appropriate and practical quality and food safety programs for fresh food and produce products. He has more than 30 years of experience in fresh produce and fresh foods.

John Besser, Ph.D. worked for ten years as Deputy Chief of the Enteric Diseases Laboratory Branch at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where he was involved in national and global programs to detect, characterize, and track gastrointestinal diseases. Prior to CDC, Dr. Besser led the infectious disease laboratory at the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) for 19 years and served as a clinical microbiologist at the University of Minnesota Hospital for five years. He currently works as an independent contractor and consultant. Dr. Besser is the author or co-author of more than 70 publications. He received his Ph.D. and M.S. degree from the University of Minnesota.

Craig Hedberg, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Minnesota and Co-Director of the Minnesota Integrated Food Safety Center of Excellence. He promotes public health surveillance as a prerequisite for effective food control, and his work focuses on improving methods for collaboration among public health and regulatory agencies, academic researchers, and industry to improve foodborne illness surveillance and outbreak investigations.

In this year-end episode of Food Safety Matters, we round up the top stories of 2025, covering U.S. federal food safety policy changes under the Trump Administration, MAHA- and state-led moves against food additives of concern and ultra-processed foods, infant formula safety, science on Listeria and biofilms, ongoing monitoring of avian flu, and AI food safety applications.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to legal expert Brian P. Sylvester, J.D. about the rapidly evolving U.S. food regulatory landscape under the MAHA movement, and how food companies can prepare for state and federal policy changes regarding food dyes, GRAS ingredients, ultra-processed foods, and other areas.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to Jay Berglind, the CEO of Aegis Foods and the maker of Fearless Eggs, known for its novel pasteurization process. Jay discusses the science behind Fearless Eggs’ method and what sets it apart from traditional pasteurization, and the importance of food safety innovation.

Tom Black is the First Assistant Secretary of the Exports and Veterinary Services Division at the Australian Government's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry. In this role, he is responsible for regulating and facilitating Australia's exports of animal commodities and certified organic products, while also providing the overarching technical food safety framework for both food exports and imports.

Gabor Molnar, Ph.D. is an Industrial Development Officer at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), technically leading UNIDO's food safety work. As part of his responsibilities, Dr. Molnar designs and implements food safety capacity-building initiatives, mostly in Asia and Africa. He also represents UNIDO in various global forums, including the Codex Alimentarius Commission. Dr. Molnar is the main organizer of the Vienna Food Safety Forum (VFSF) and specializes in the domain of digitalization for food control and safety systems. Dr. Molnar holds a Ph.D. from Université Laval, as well as multiple master's degrees and certifications.