Mike Robach is vice president, corporate food safety, quality, & regulatory for Cargill based in Minneapolis, MN. Mike joined Cargill in January 2004 to lead the company’s corporate food safety and regulatory affairs programs. Since then, Mike has increased the department’s scope to include animal health and quality assurance. He continues to refocus the department toward global efforts in line with Cargill’s vision of being the global leader in nourishing people.

Mike began his career with Monsanto Company. Prior to joining Cargill, he headed up technical services for Conti Group’s meat and poultry businesses.

Mike is the past president of Safe Supply of Affordable Food Everywhere, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), a member of the Scientific and Regulatory Affairs Council Executive Committee for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, and a member of the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association’s Research Advisory Committee.

Mike has worked with the World Organization of Animal Health and the Food and Agriculture Organization on harmonized animal health and food safety standards. He has worked closely with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regarding food safety policy, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, and regulatory reforms based on science. From 1995 through 2000, Mike was a member of the National Advisory Committee for Microbiological Criteria in Foods.

Mike is a graduate of Michigan State University and Virginia Tech.

It was recently announced that Mike will be retiring from Cargill on August 1, 2018, but will be continuing his term as chairman of the GFSI board.

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

• Why GFSI exists, the early days of the organization, and how it has evolved globally over the years
• GFSI’s Global Markets Program
• Cargill’s involvement with GFSI
• GFSI’s primary objectives
• What GFSI does and does NOT do
• How GFSI works with scheme owners such as BRC, SQF, etc.
• His thoughts on the various schemes and how they stack up to FSMA
• GFSI compliance vs. FSMA compliance
• GFSI’s progress with public/private partnerships
• Challenges facing GFSI and goals that GFSI will be working on in the coming years
• How companies can become involved with GFSI
• What he’s learned over the course of his career
• His advice to food safety professionals

News Mentioned in This Episode:
Five Deaths in Romaine Lettuce Outbreak 
Leafy Greens Industry Forms Task Force in Light of Romaine Lettuce Outbreak 
FDA Shares Traceback Details for Romaine Lettuce E. coli Outbreak as Investigation Continues 
FDA Should Make Leafy Greens a Priority, Say Consumer and Food Safety Advocacy Groups 

Resources:
Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) 
International Association for Food Protection (IAFP)

Sponsored by:

Everything Food Safety in One Place in Real-Time
KLEANZ is the only complete Food Safety Compliance Solution that focuses on risk mitigation, driving continuous improvement, and adhering to all applicable compliance requirement while managing resources. KLEANZ protects your customers and brand.

KLEANZ Food Safety Compliance (In-Depth)
KLEANZ Food Safety Compliance (Quick Facts)
KLEANZ.com

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.