Melanie Neumann is the president of Neumann Risk Services, and executive vice president of Matrix Sciences—a firm that focuses on food safety risk management, business and brand protection, regulatory compliance, and industry best practices. Melanie leverages her 19 years of industry experience as a food law attorney along with her Masters of Science in Food Safety to help clients manage the risks relating to each step in the supply chain, from supplier assessment and procurement, manufacturing, distribution and sale of food globally. 

She is a graduate of Mitchell-Hamline Law School for her Juris Doctorate degree, and Michigan State University for her M.S. in Food Safety. She has worked for multi-national food companies such as Hormel Foods, The Schwan Food Company, private law firms focusing on food law and intellectual property law, was instrumental in launching national food safety risk management practices for one of the “Big 4” tax and auditing firms as well as for other well-known consulting firms.

She is an Adjunct Professor at Michigan State University and serves on advisory panels and boards of several notable organizations.  Melanie is a frequent speaker on executive liability in food production and food regulations including FSMA regulations. Outside of her profession, Melanie is an avid triathlete, to date completing 25 marathons and six Ironman triathlons.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to Melanie Neumann about:

• The level of difficulty involved when it comes to food companies having to implement FSMA

• The difference between understanding a regulation vs. implementing it vs. operationalizing it

• How much legal interpretation is really required to understand how to properly implement FSMA

• Melanie’s view of how FDA regulators and food companies are working together during inspections in the beginning stages of FSMA

• The importance of explaining the "why" behind FSMA regulations, why they exist, and why behaviors in the food facility need to change

• FSMA's effect on global food companies

• How FSMA stacks up against ISO, GFSI and international standards in general

• What happens during an FDA inspection if a QA manager or food safety staff member cannot answer questions accurately or knowledgeably

• The number one factor that causes a food plant to be non-compliant with some part of a FSMA rule or regulation

• How poor records management can make or break a food company, and the benefits of electronic record-keeping

• What's involved in a readiness assessment? 

• Crisis management planning and after-action assessments

• Melanie's thoughts on mock recalls and crisis simulations

• Why food companies can no longer afford to ignore social media and what people are saying about their products

News Mentioned in This Episode
Update: Romaine Lettuce Named as Source of Multistate E. coli Outbreak 
Over 200 Million Eggs Recalled After East Coast Salmonella Outbreak 
Salmonella Outbreak Traced to North Carolina Leads to Largest Egg Recall in Nearly a Decade
Study: Expensive Foodborne Outbreaks Could Be Prevented If Sick Employees Are Given Adequate Sick Time 
2018 Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 Lists Rank Produce Items by Pesticide Level

Bob Ferguson's Food Safety Insights Articles
Sanitation Verification for Allergen Control (April/May 2018)
Testing and Sanitation for Allergen Control (February/March 2018) 
Outsourcing: Pathogen Testing under the Microscope (December 2017/January 2018)
The New Face of Sanitation Programs: New Rules, New Challenges (October/November 2017)
A Closer Look at Environmental Monitoring in the Processing Plant (August/September 2017)
What Industry and FDA Are Thinking About FSMA Implementation (June/July 2017)
The Drivers of Differences in Food Safety Testing Practices (April/May 2017)
A Look at the Microbiology Testing Market (February/March 2017)

To get a taste of the discussions that were happening at the 2026 Food Safety Summit, we spoke face-to-face with Roberta Wagner, M.Sc., Senior Vice President of Regulatory and Scientific Affairs for the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA); Steven Mandernach, J.D., Executive Director of the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) and Sandra Eskin, J.D., CEO of STOP Foodborne Illness; Jacob Nelson, Asset Protection Sales Manager at the Sherwin-Williams Company and Feraas Aiameh, Food and Beverage Marketing Manager at the Sherwin-Williams Company; Conrad Choiniere, Ph.D., Director of  the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA's) Office of Microbiological Food Safety, Vanessa Coffman, Ph.D., Director of the Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness, and Lone Jespersen, Ph.D., Founder and Principal of Cultivate SA; and Cindy Jiang, Senior Director, Global Food Safety Risk Management, Global Supply Chain at McDonald's (retired).

To get a taste of the discussions that were happening at the 2026 Food Safety Summit, we spoke face-to-face with Jeremy Zenlea, M.B.A., Vice President and Head of Health and Safety for EG America and Laurie Farmer, Director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Office of Retail Food Protection; David Clifford, M.B.A., Director of Food Safety at Nestlé USA and Sara Mortimore, M.Sc., Founder of Sara Mortimore LLC and formerly Vice President for Food Safety at Walmart; Frank Curto, Ph.D., Vice President of Operations at Ecowize North America; and Drew McDonald, Senior Vice President of Quality, Food Safety, and Regulatory Affairs for Taylor Fresh Foods and Conrad Choiniere, Ph.D., Director of FDA’s Office of Microbiological Food Safety.

Larry Keener, CFS, PA is President and CEO of International Product Safety Consultants Inc. and an internationally regarded microbiologist and process authority in the food industry. His areas of expertise range from applied food microbiology to the development and application of novel preservation technologies.

In this bonus episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to Jenny Du, Ph.D., Co-Founder of Apeel Sciences, about Apeel—a clean alternative to traditional post-harvest produce coatings and treatments—its transparent approach to disrupting an $11 billion industry.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to Sandro Tarchini of the Cardano Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing the blockchain ecosystem, about the applications for blockchain throughout the food supply chain and how it can improve farm-to-retail traceability and transparency.

Suzette Stalker is Director of FSQA Program Compliance at FreshRealm Inc. Formerly, she served as Director of Food Safety, Quality, and Regulatory compliance at Target Corporation. At Target, Suzette was responsible for food safety standards and programs, covering nearly 2,000 stores and more than 60 supply chain facilities. Her work encompassed owned brand supplier manufacturing facilities, product labeling, produce farms, supply chain facilities, retail stores, and managing food recalls. Previously, Suzette led teams to develop and execute comprehensive internal audits of food safety and operational risks across Target. 

Sabrina Terada is the Manager for Food Safety Risk Management and Measurement at Yum! Brands. She is a seasoned professional in food safety and quality assurance with extensive experience at Yum! Brands, where her roles have included Manager of Global Food Safety Risk Management and Measurement and Manager of Global FSQA. In these positions, Sabrina held responsibilities supporting the Food Safety Governance Framework, coaching, and assisting business units with crisis management.