Michael Cramer is currently the senior director of food safety and quality assurance with Ajinomoto Windsor, Inc. The company was formed through various acquisitions (Multifoods, Specialty Brands, and Windsor Foods) and ultimately the purchase of Windsor Foods by Ajinomoto. He will celebrate his 25th year with the company in October 2018.

Mike is an SQF practitioner, ASQ-certified quality auditor, and a preventive controls-qualified individual. CRC Press published Mike's book “Food Plant Sanitation: Design, Maintenance and Good Manufacturing Practices” (2nd Edition, 2013).

Mike is a graduate of West Chester University in West Chester, PA where he earned a B.Sc. Health Science in 1977. He spent 16 years working with Swift & Company (Armour, Swift – Eckrich, ConAgra) in poultry operations, processed meats and poultry, and corporate food safety and quality assurance.

Finally, Mike has been an esteemed member of Food Safety Magazine's Editorial Advisory Board since 2001.

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

• Why Listeria continues to be a challenge in food plants
• Qualities that a food facility—and its staff—should have in order to tackle Listeria and environmental monitoring issues
• The financial burden of setting up an environmental monitoring program, and why it's necessary
• Implementing a program that is designed to look for Listeria spp., not just Listeria monocytogenes
• What happens when regulatory inspectors come in to conduct swabbing
• The pros and cons of testing in an in-house lab vs. a third-party lab
• Testing methodologies: cultural method, polymerase chain reaction, VIDAS, lateral flow devices, etc.
• What should happen when positive test results are confirmed
• The Ishikawa process and how it relates to getting to the root cause of environmental problems
• The importance of having a cross-functional team in place to attack Listeria harborage from all angles and departments
• Implementing chemical and mechanical actions to rid a plant of biofilm
• How the dirtiest areas of a food facility don't automatically equal Listeria contamination
• Sanitary design and hygienic design
• Quat, peroxyacetic acid, chlorine dioxide, silver dihydrous chloride, and other options for sanitizing
• Taking advantage of industry conferences, events, and new technologies to hone in on what a particular food business needs to know to improve food safety operations

Related Content and Resources:
BOOK: Food Plant Sanitation: Design, Maintenance, and Good Manufacturing Practices, 2nd Edition 
2014 Sanitary Equipment Design Taskforce (checklist and glossary) 
Risks of Oligodynamic Silver Use in Food Preservation and Processing Operations (June/July 2017) 
Does Animal Welfare Affect Food Safety? (February/March 2009)

Mike Cramer's Articles Published in Food Safety Magazine:
Environmental Listeria Monitoring: Seek and Destroy Pathogens (December 2017/January 2018)
Allergen Management: A Personal and Professional Perspective (August/September 2016)
A Look at GMPs: How FSMA Will Change Expectations (February/March 2016)
Supplier Certification: A Matter of Risk Assessment and Resources (October/November 2015)
Upgrade Sanitation Plan to Work Out Bugs (April/May 2014)

For more articles from Mike Cramer, access our compiled search FoodSafetyMagazine.com

Bob Ferguson's Food Safety Insights Articles:
The Uphill Path to FSMA Compliance (October/November 2018)
Lessons Learned: Careers in Food Safety (August/September 2018)
Listeria: An Important Focus of Environmental Monitoring (June/July 2018)
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)

News Mentioned in This Episode:
Ostroff Retiring from FDA; Walmart's Yiannas Moving to Agency 
Plant at Center of Largest Ever Salmonella Ground Beef Recall Accused of "Inhumane" Animal Treatment in USDA FSIS Records (Notice of Intended Enforcement, Notice of Deferral) 
Nearly 7 Million Pounds of Raw Ground Beef Recalled After Salmonella Outbreak

Presenting Sponsor: Eurofins
Training Courses: Register and browse online for a training course near you
Webinar: Is Your EMP Program Hitting the Mark? Watch our recorded webinar
White Paper: Download Eurofins' Environmental Monitoring Guide

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.

Kris Sollid, RD, is the Senior Director for Research and Consumer Insights at the International Food Information Council (IFIC). A registered dietitian with a passion for improving nutrition science communications, his role at IFIC includes leading consumer research projects, educational resource development, social and traditional media engagement, and written contributions to various consumer, trade, and peer-reviewed publications.

John Spink, Ph.D. is the Director and Lead Instructor for the Food Fraud Prevention Academy, as well as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Supply Chain Management (SCM) in the College of Business at Michigan State University (MSU). His food fraud prevention research focuses on policy and strategy to understand and prevent supply chain disruptions and to implement procurement best practices. He is widely published in leading academic journals and has helped lead national and global regulatory and standards activity. More recently, his teaching and research has expanded to supply chain disruption management and procurement best practices.

Roy Fenoff, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at The Military College of South Carolina (The Citadel). He is also a Forensic Handwriting and Document Examiner and an expert in forgery detection. Dr. Fenoff specializes in forgery and document fraud, food fraud and protection, and transnational crime.

David T. Dyjack, Dr.P.H., CIH has served as Executive Director and CEO of the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) since May 2015. Dr. Dyjack's 30-year career includes expertise in environmental health, emergency preparedness and response, public health informatics, infectious disease, workforce development, governmental infrastructure, maternal and child health, health equity, and chronic disease. A board-certified industrial hygienist, Dr. Dyjack also has advanced degrees in public health with a doctorate from the University of Michigan and a master's degree from the University of Utah.

Kathy Knutson, Ph.D., PCQI, is educated in bacteriology, food science, and education. She speaks, writes, and trains on compliance for the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). She has trained over 500 Preventive Controls Qualified Individuals (PCQIs). Dr. Knutson works with managers to write thorough hazard analyses, food safety plans, recall plans, environmental monitoring programs, and allergen programs. In 2020, she published a book, Food Safety Lessons for Cannabis-Infused Edibles. Dr. Knutson travels to manufacturers for swabbing to locate a pathogen during recall investigations and for gap assessments of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs).