Home » Multimedia » Podcasts » Food Safety Matters » Ep. 60. Cramer, Bernard, Powitz: Three career food safety pros walk into a bar (Part II)
Food Safety Matters
Food Safety Matters is a podcast for food safety professionals hosted by the Food Safety Magazine editorial team – the leading media brand in food safety for over 20 years. Each episode will feature a conversation with a food safety professional sharing their experiences and insights of the important job of safeguarding the world’s food supply.
Michael Cramer is currently the senior director of food safety and quality assurance with Ajinomoto Windsor, Inc. He is a Safe Quality Food practitioner, an American Society for Quality-certified quality auditor, and a Preventive Controls-Qualified Individual. A graduate of West Chester University, Mike earned a B.Sc. in health science in 1977. He's been an esteemed member of Food Safety Magazine's Editorial Advisory Board since 2001.
Dane Bernard is currently the managing director of Bold Bear Food Safety where he offers consulting services. He is a registered specialist in food, dairy, and sanitation microbiology with the American Academy of Microbiology. Dane has been an instructor and lecturer on principles and applications of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) and has helped to formulate HACCP plans for the U.S. food industry. Dane received an M.Sc. in food microbiology from the University of Maryland, College Park. He's also a recipient of the Food Safety Magazine Distinguished Service Award (2017).
Dr. Robert (Bob) Powitz is the principal and technical director of R.W. Powitz & Associates. There, he specializes in forensic sanitation services to industry, law firms, insurance companies, and government agencies. Bob has dedicated his career to food safety having worked for over 54 years to study, develop, and implement the most effective sanitation practices. Bob received his undergraduate education in agronomy and plant pathology from the State University of New York and the University of Georgia. He holds a M.Sc. in public health with a specialty in institutional environmental health and a Ph.D. in environmental health, with specialties in environmental microbiology and epidemiology from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. He also has a very long list of honors including, most impressively, a spot on the Food Safety Magazine Editorial Advisory Board.
In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to Mike, Dane, and Bob [32:15] about:
Issues with staffing, especially in food manufacturing
Education gaps, and how colleges and universities play a role in staffing the future of food safety
How current food safety professionals can do a better job of making the industry more inviting to up-and-coming professionals
Working with auditors and regulators
Trends such as food delivery, meal kits, and plant-based meat
We also speak with Dr. Mindy Brashears [19:11], the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)'s Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety about:
Robert (Bob) Manning, M.B.A., M.S., M.E.M., has worked in the food and beverage industry for over 25 years in various facility and senior corporate positions. He is currently CEO of Liquid, and formerly worked as Vice President of Technical Operations at Niagara Bottling. He has spent most of his time in Operations and Quality roles for large companies such as HP Hood LLC, Campbell's Soup, and Niagara Bottling, as well as consulting for major domestic and international firms.
Brittany Sambol is the Vice President of Operations at Wildtype Foods, where she is responsible for leading the scale-up of the company’s operations function, including product commercialization and manufacturing facility expansion. Prior to joining Wildtype, Brittany spent six years at Clif Bar & Company, leading in various areas including supply chain and contract manufacturing management, product innovation and scale-up, and sustainable packaging development. Earlier in her career, Brittany worked as a chemical engineer and then spent over 12 years directly leading manufacturing operations in the CPG industry.
Khyati Shah, Ph.D. is an esteemed molecular biologist with a distinguished career spanning over ten years in the development and promotion of innovative pathogen testing of products for the food and beverage industry. Serving as a global product manager for the Food and Beverage segment of the Life Sciences business of MilliporeSigma, Dr. Shah is instrumental in creating and spearheading the product roadmap for the cultured meat and alternative protein business. With MilliporeSigma's strong focus on providing research and development (R&D) to scale-up solutions in this emerging industry, Dr. Shah enables cost-effective, sustainable, and efficient supply chain solutions to bring cultured meat and seafood products to market.
Jason Richardson, Ph.D. is the Vice President of Global Quality and Food Safety of The Coca-Cola Company, a position he has held since January 2021. In this role, Jason leads a team of quality and food safety professionals who are accountable for delivering global strategic and operational leadership for the performance and progress of quality and food safety programs across the Coca-Cola system.
Brian Ronholm, M.A.,is the Director of Food Policy for Consumer Reports, where he leads advocacy efforts to advance a safe and healthy food system. He was in public service prior to joining Consumer Reports, having served as Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and before that, as a congressional staff person for Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut.
Natalie Dyenson, M.P.H. is the Chief Food Safety and Regulatory Officer for the International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA). She has nearly three decades of experience in food safety that encompasses the entire produce supply chain, from farm to fork. In her role at IFPA, Natalie and her team actively work to guide the industry on food safety issues and connect with regulators and policymakers to advocate for a science-focused and risk-based approach to food safety worldwide.
Brian Sylvester, J.D., is a Partner in Perkins Coie LLP's Washington D.C. office and a former Attorney-Advisor at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Marketing, Regulatory, and Food Safety Programs Division's Office of the General Counsel. At Perkins Coie, Brian focuses his practice on regulatory matters before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the USDA, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), and analogous state regulatory bodies. He is a leading authority on food technology regulation and serves as a trusted advisor to global brands, startups, life science companies, investors, and trade associations.