Steve L. Taylor, Ph.D. currently serves as a professor in the Department of Food Science & Technology and founder and co-director of the Food Allergy Research & Resource Program (FARRP) at the University of Nebraska. Dr. Taylor received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in food science and technology from Oregon State University and his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of California - Davis. Dr. Taylor maintains an active research program in the area of food allergies.

Dr. Taylor initiated his professional interest in food allergies and sensitivities in 1980. His primary research interests involve the development of methods for the detection of residues of allergenic foods, the determination of the minimal eliciting doses for specific allergenic foods and their use in quantitative risk assessment, the assessment of the allergenicity of ingredients derived from allergenic sources, and the assessment of the allergenicity of foods produced through agricultural biotechnology. Dr. Taylor is heavily involved in outreach to the food industry on food allergies and sensitivities and has helped countless companies on a wide range of allergen-related topics. 

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

• Why the number of food allergen recalls in the U.S. appears to be climbing
• How U.S. regulations continue to lag behind in terms of setting allergy thresholds
• The discrepancy between consumer allergy management and the U.S. healthcare system
• The development of allergies in infants vs. adults, and how food allergies are less common outside the U.S.
• Why allergy avoidance is not always the best treatment for consumers with perceived food allergies
• Immunotherapies, mass spectrometry, and other forms of allergy treatment currently undergoing research
• His industry work and ongoing research with detection methods, and his involvement with Food Allergy Research & Education, and FARRP at the University of Nebraska
• Thoughts on how the U.S. Food and Drug Administration could help alleviate problems related to food allergens and product labeling
• The correlation between gluten-free foods and food allergens
• Whether or not food processors should have dedicated processing lines for foods made with allergenic ingredients

Related Content:
A Look Back at 2016 Recalls
Report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine: Recommendations to the Food Industry and Regulatory Agencies on the Management of Food Allergens (Feb/March 2017)
Steve Taylor, Ph.D., Receives Food Safety Magazine's Distinguished Service Award (2013)
Allergen Validation: Analytical Methods and Scientific Support for a Visually Clean Standard (Dec. 2011/Jan. 2012)
Ensuring the Safety and Quality of Fried Foods (June/July 2007)
Bakeries Rise to Food Safety and Defense Challenges (Aug/Sep 2006)

News Mentioned in This Episode
Food Safety Pioneer Dave Theno Dies at 66
Bernard and Bennett to Receive Food Safety Magazine's Distinguished Service Award
3.7 Million Pounds of Recalled Meat Products Linked to One Breadcrumb Supplier
Clemson Studies Stress Responses of Foodborne Illness and the Impact on Food Safety
New EU-China-Safe Project to Focus on Food Fraud 
EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Dr. Vytenis Andriukaitis Speaks with Food Safety Magazine

Sponsored by:

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• Why test for food allergens?
• Testing methods and how they work
• Sampling guidelines

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• Cleaning to a validated standard
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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.

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.