Earlier this month, the Food Safety Magazine team gathered in Salt Lake City, UT for the Annual Meeting of the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP). The IAFP Annual Meeting was attended by more than 3,800 top industry, academic, and governmental food safety professionals from six continents. Each year, this premiere event for industry professionals convenes and discusses current and emerging food safety issues, the latest science, and innovative solutions to new and recurring problems. The meeting also presents opportunities to network with thousands of food safety professionals from around the globe.

While in Salt Lake City, we invited experts from across the industry to come to our booth and chat with us about all things food safety. Some of those impromptu conversations and interviews are included in our 30th installment of the Food Safety Matters podcast.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we spoke to a number of food safety professionals about a variety of hot topics:

Tim Stubbs, National Dairy Council (NDC)

• NDC's role within the dairy industry, resources provided, etc.
• Various food technologies including atmospheric cold plasma for packaging treatment, antimicrobial use in cheese, and more
• Advances inl food safety and technology in the next three to five years.

Will Daniels, IEH Laboratories & Consulting Group

• The romaine lettuce outbreak that originated in the Yuma, AZ, growing region (desert Southwest) and new food safety issues that have been brought to the forefront because of it
• One health concept: Escherichia coli, Salmonella, and soil… the connection between the animal world and the produce world
• Reducing microbial shedding events
• Community relations and food safety
• Lessons learned from the Earthbound Farms spinach outbreak
• Communicating risk within an organization, and publicly 

Paul Kiecker, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

• His roles within USDA
• What “modernizing” does (and does not) mean
• What food companies should expect
• USDA inspection roles (vs. U.S. Food and Drug Administration roles)
• Top priorities at USDA in terms of modernization
• Progress with pathogen sampling and whole-genome sequencing use
• Salmonella as an adulterant
• Standard setting for Campylobacter

Carmen Rottenberg, USDA

• An in-depth conversation about USDA's study on consumer handwashing, meal preparation, and thermometer use

Kye Luker serves as the Chief Product Officer at FlexXray, where he leads the development of the company's innovative X-ray inspection process and technology. With over two decades of experience in the service, CPG, food, and beverage industries, Kye brings a wealth of knowledge in continuous improvement, quality assurance, and formulations to his role. 

Christopher R. Daubert, Ph.D., serves as the President of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) and as the Vice Chancellor and Dean of the College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri (Mizzou), as well as a Professor in the Division of Food Systems and Bioengineering. He joined Mizzou from North Carolina State University, where he served as a Professor and Head of the Department of Food, Bioprocessing, and Nutrition Services; Director of the Food Rheology Laboratory; and system Co-Chair of Food, Biochemical, and Engineered Systems. His research explained the physical chemistry, molecular-level interactions, and functionality of food systems through an understanding of rheological behavior, while solving problems facing the food and pharmaceutical industries. 

Alex Truelove has served as Legislation and Advocacy Manager at BPI (Biodegradable Plastics Institute) since 2022. He previously directed U.S. PIRG's (Public Interest Research Group's) zero-waste program. He remains passionate about waste reduction, public policy, and working with others to incrementally solve messy environmental problems.

To get a taste of the discussions that were happening at the 2025 Food Safety Summit, we spoke face-to-face with Sharon Beals, Founder, SKKB; Peter Taormina, Ph.D., Founder and President, Etna Consulting Group; Sandra Eskin, J.D., CEO, STOP Foodborne Illness; John O'Fallon, Senior Manager Environmental Sensors, Zebra Technologies; and Monica Khoury, Senior Quality Expert, Nestlé; Lily Yasuda, Program Manager, Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness.

To get a taste of the discussions that were happening at the 2025 Food Safety Summit, we spoke face-to-face with keynote speaker Jason Evans, Ph.D., Dean, College of Food Innovation and Technology, Johnson & Wales University; as well as Brian Ronholm, M.A., Director of Food Policy, Consumer Reports; Michael Fang, Co-Founder, Spectacular Labs; and Steven Lyon, Ph.D., Director, Food Safety—Field Operations, Chick-fil-A Inc.; Purni Wickramasinghe, Ph.D., Food Safety & Restaurant Solutions, Chick-fil-A Inc.

Christian Ararat, M.Sc., M.Eng. is a food safety professional with more than ten years of experience in food safety and quality. After earning a bachelor's degree in Food Science from Valley University in Colombia, he began his career in the bakery industry, where he implemented and enforced good manufacturing practices (GMPs) and prerequisite programs. After moving to Canada, Christian joined Natursource Inc., a Montreal-based food manufacturing company dedicated to producing healthy snacks.