Keith Warriner, Ph.D., is a professor of food science at the University of Guelph. He is also the food science graduate coordinator of the department’s Master of Science and Ph.D. food science programs.

After completing his Ph.D. in microbial physiology at the University College of Wales, he worked for the Department of Medicine at the University of Manchester where he studied biosensors. He also attended the University of Nottingham as a research fellow in food microbiology, working with fresh produce. 

He joined the Department of Food Science at the University of Guelph in 2002 and was promoted to full professor in 2011. He is the former president of the Ontario Food Protection Association, a member of the International Association of Food Protection, is an associate editor of the Canadian Journal of Microbiology, and is on the editorial board for Applied & Environmental Microbiology and International Journal of Food Microbiology.

Keith's research revolves around food safety and food microbiology, allowing him to work closely with industry and apply his research findings in a practical way.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to Keith Warriner Ph.D. about:

• Effective antimicrobial treatments for fresh produce
• Ridding leafy greens of microbial contamination
• His research looking at pathogen survival in different types of soil, and the impact of soil temperature
• His thoughts on what happened in the U.S. romaine lettuce outbreak
• Clostridium difficile and its persistent presence in meat, seafood, and fresh produce
• The new development of biosensors, and how they detect pathogens
• The Internet of Things and how it can be used to track data and produce results
• Challenges with contamination in low-moisture food products
• The use of food-contact antimicrobial coatings
• How getting certain products or processes is easier to get approved in the U.S. vs. Canada
• The One Health approach, which focuses on animal health, which would then lead to safer food
• The Highly Qualified Personnel Scholarship Program

Food Safety Magazine articles written by Keith:
Control of Listeria monocytogenes on Food-Contact and Noncontact Surfaces by Antimicrobial Coatings
Developing a Cost-effective Sanitation Plan for Small-to-Medium Processors

News Mentioned in This Episode:
Larry Keener's IUFoST Lifetime Achievement Award 
Deirdre Schlunegger to Retire from Stop Foodborne Illness

FDA Update on Romaine Lettuce Outbreak as Yuma, AZ, Growing Season Begins | FDA's environmental assessment 
California LGMA Updates Food Safety Practices Prior to the Desert Growing Season 
FSMA Produce Safety Rule Meetings in Albany, Anaheim, Atlanta, and Portland | FDA meeting page 
FDA Q&A on Mandatory Recalls

Alex LeBeau, Ph.D., M.P.H., CIH is the owner of Exposure Assessment Consulting LLC in Orlando, Florida, where he offers toxicology, industrial hygiene, risk assessment, and public health consulting services. Over his 13-year career, he has evaluated environmental and occupational exposures and has performed toxicological evaluations of chemicals and biological agents. He has also performed human health risk assessments of contaminated sites using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state regulatory guidelines and has monitored remediation activities at those sites. To evaluate the exposure impacts on building occupants, he has performed indoor environmental quality assessments, including Legionella and water quality assessments, at healthcare, residential, and industrial facilities.

In this bonus episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to MilliporeSigma food regulatory compliance experts about how regulators, laboratories, and manufacturers are responding to emerging food safety risks in an increasingly complex landscape.

Miguel Ramirez is a seasoned food manufacturing executive with more than three decades of operational leadership experience in the food industry. He currently serves as Vice President of Operations at Fresca Foods Inc. in Louisville, Colorado, where he has held progressive leadership roles over the past 13 years including Plant Manager, Director of Operations, and his current VP role. Prior to Fresca Foods, Miguel spent over 24 years with Butterball LLC, where he managed more than 12 production lines across a two-shift operation with a workforce of 350 employees.

Madisen Hodgson, M.S. is a food safety and quality assurance professional with nearly a decade of progressive experience spanning food manufacturing, retail bakery, beverage, and airline catering environments. She currently serves as a Quality Assurance Manager for a protein and nutritional bar manufacturer in Denver, Colorado, where she oversees the full food safety management system and leads a multi-shift quality assurance team across multiple production lines.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to WHO’s Dr. Elaine Borghi about the new global foodborne disease burden estimates, updates to the methodology, key insights from the data, and the importance of using data to target food safety interventions, aligning with the WFSD theme “From Burden to Solutions—Safe Food Everywhere.”

Alissa Welsher, Ph.D. is a Senior Consultant at Elanco Poultry Food Safety. Dr. Welsher received her bachelor's degree in biological sciences from the University of Pittsburgh, a master's degree in poultry science, and a Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology from the University of Arkansas. Her area of expertise is in meat and poultry food safety, and she specializes in integrated pest management (IPM). 

Brady Carter, Ph.D. is the Chief Scientific Officer at Carter Scientific Solutions. He specializes in water activity, moisture sorption, shelf-life stability, plant science, and wheat production and quality. He has 23 years of experience in research and development and previously was a Research Professor at Washington State University focusing on wheat end-use quality. Dr. Carter has pioneered work in using dynamic isotherms to investigate product stability and establish critical water activities for optimal shelf life. He also specializes in shelf-life loss and effective utilization of instrumentation to address product safety and quality issues. Dr. Carter holds a Ph.D. in Crop Science and Food Engineering and an M.S degree in Cereal Chemistry and Crop Science from Washington State University, as well as a B.A. degree in Botany from Weber State University.