Joe Stout is the founder of Commercial Food Sanitation, a consulting firm that provides food safety and sanitation solutions to food processing plants. Before that, Joe spent nearly 30 years at Kraft Foods. While there, he held a variety of positions related to operations, quality, and sanitation, ultimately leading to his role as Kraft's director of global product protection, sanitation, and hygienic design.

In this role at Kraft, Joe had global responsibility for plant cleaning controls and processes, allergen and pathogen control programs, pest control, and hygienic design for facilities and equipment used in more than 200 Kraft plants. Joe also managed the Global Product Protection Group, assuring global support for internal and external plants.

Joe led the American Meat Institute’s (AMI) Equipment Design Task Force and has led Listeria Intervention training for AMI and the American Frozen Food Institute. He is the current leader of the Grocery Manufacturers Association’s Sanitary Design Working Group. He also conducts allergen training for the Food Allergy Research Resource Program. In addition to his involvement with these and many other leading industry organizations, Joe is a published authority when it comes to food safety, sanitation, hygiene, and other related areas.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to Joe [16:19] about:

• The basic fundamentals of sanitation in food safety
• The persistent problem of Listeria in food processing environments
• Sanitation best practices
• The problem with preventative and corrective actions
• The importance of using science-based approaches
• Sanitation training offered by Commercial Food Sanitation
• Advice regarding a food plant's implementation of Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOPs)
• His thoughts on whether or not SSOPs should be shared amongst the food industry
• Technological advancements vs. increasing productivity needs
• The 7 Steps of Sanitation developed at Kraft, and the importance of performing those steps in the right order
• Hygienic design and its implications regarding the future of food safety
• The 10 Principles of Equipment Design
• Good—and not so good—things he's seen when touring food processing plants 

Joe Stout's Articles in Food Safety Magazine
Hygienic Design: How Our Thinking Has Evolved
Perspectives on Practices in Food Plant Sanitation and Hygiene
Principles of Environmental Pathogen Control
10 Principles of Equipment Design for Ready-to-Eat Processing Operations

Related Content 
7 Steps of Effective Wet Sanitation 
10 Principles of Sanitary Design

News Mentioned in This Episode
Three Face Jail in the Netherlands for Links to Horsemeat Scandal [2:26]
BBC News explains the complex horsemeat supply chain 
Dr. Mindy Brashears Named USDA's Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety [5:43]
Former FDA Leader Tells How Shutdown Will Impact Food Safety [7:31]
Workers Are Retaliating Against Peers Coming to Work by "Sick Shaming" Them [12:07]

Sara Mortimer is the vice president of product safety, quality, and regulatory affairs for Land O’Lakes. Over her 30-year career, Sara has worked to ensure the safety and quality of some of the world’s biggest brands—Haagen Daaz, Green Giant, Old El Paso, Nature Valley, and many others.

Sara has co-authored a number of books on Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) and food safety management. In fact, she contributed to Food Safety Magazine's Food Safety Culture eBook! She's also served on Food Control's editorial board and was a trustee of the Royal Society of Public Health for several years. 

Sara has been a member of the BRC International Advisory Board for over 10 years, and she's a member of the Grocery Manufacturers Association's Executive Scientific and Regulatory Affairs Committee. Most recently, she has helped review the effectiveness of Codex HACCP and Food Hygiene principles.

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

• The purpose of HACCP, and how it should work together as part of a comprehensive food safety management program
• Critical Control Points vs. prerequisite programs
• Sara's first experience writing a HACCP plan 30 years ago
• Useful resources for writing a good HACCP plan
• The seven principles of HACCP
• Reasons why companies encounter food safety issues, even with a HAACP plan in place
• The difficulties that arise when analyzing a food safety plan against varying global/international standards
• The importance of maintenance as a supplemental HACCP principle
• How altering a food product's formula (reduced sodium, sugar, etc.) can have massive food safety implications
• Why the HACCP vs. HARPC debate doesn't really matter
• HACCP and food safety culture

Related Content 
BOOK: HACCP: A Practical Approach

Bob Ferguson's Food Safety Insights Articles
Processors Increasingly Turning to Testing for Allergen Control (December 2018/January 2019)
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
FDA Food Inspections "Sharply Reduced" Amid Partial Government Shutdown | UPDATE: Unpaid FDA Workers Resume High-Risk Food Inspections 
CDC Declares Romaine Lettuce E. coli Outbreak Over 
Draining Canal May Reveal Answers About Romaine Contamination 

Professor Chris Elliott is the founder of the Institute for Global Food Security and professor of food safety at Queen’s University Belfast. From 2016–2018, he served as pro-vice-chancellor of the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences in the University, but stepped down from that post recently to concentrate on his world-leading research.  

Chris has published more than 350 peer-reviewed articles, many of them relating to the detection and control of agriculture, food, and environmental related contaminants.His main research interests are in the development of innovative techniques to provide early warning of toxin threats across complex food supply systems. Protecting the integrity of the food supply chain from fraud is also a key research topic. Chris led the independent review of Britain’s food system following the 2013 horsemeat scandal.

Over the years, Chris has developed a high-level network of collaborators across Europe, the U.S., and Asia. He is a visiting professor at the China Agriculture University in Beijing and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a recipient of a Winston Churchill Fellowship, and is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Royal Society of Biology, and the Institute of Food Science and Technology.

Chris has received numerous prizes and awards for his work. In 2017, he was awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry Theophilus Redwood Prize and was also awarded the title of Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to Chris Elliott about:

• The 2013 horsemeat scandal and how he unexpectedly became involved in the investigation
• How a complex food supply chain made it easy for cheating and fraud to occur
• His recommendation to set up a special police force to begin tracking food-related crimes, which eventually became the UK's National Food Crime Unit
• The Food Industry Intelligence Network (FIIN) 
• The cutting-edge technology that's known as "food fingerprinting" to detect tampering or adulteration
• The problem with constant auditing for compliance
• The three ground challenges at Queens University
• Genetically modified (GM) foods, and the importance of pesticides, insecticides, and fungicides
• Concerns about the cocktail effect of eating every day GM foods
• Advancements and achievements in the U.S. and Europe vs. in other parts of the world
• Brexit and how it may affect current food safety work

Related Content and Resources:
National Food Crime Unit 
FIIN 
The Institute for Global Food Security - Current Research, including the Three Grand Challenges

As 2018 comes to an end, the Food Safety Matters team, along with Bob Ferguson of Strategic Consulting Inc., sat down to discuss the biggest moments in food safety this year, and what we have to look forward to in 2019.

Topics Discussed:
CDC's official list of foodborne outbreaks by year 
Update since recording: FDA Narrows Down Contaminated Lettuce Origin to 33 Distributors, Growers, and Farms  
South African Court Close to Certifying Class Action in World's Worst Listeriosis Outbreak  
Chipotle's Head of Food Safety to Exit in 2019

Previous Episodes That Discuss Romaine Lettuce and Fresh Produce: 
Ep. 15. Will Daniels: "It was a game changer for the industry."
Ep. 28. Bob Brackett: Innovation and Research at IIT & IFSH 
Ep. 32. Frank Yiannas: Leading Food Safety at the World's Largest Retailer 
Ep. 37. Keith Warriner: Produce, Biosensors, and Successful Research  

Dr. Maria Lapinski is a joint professor in the Department of Communication and Michigan Ag-Bio Research at Michigan State University (MSU). She served as the associate dean for research for the College of Communication Arts and Sciences. In that role, she facilitated interdisciplinary research partnerships and identification of funding sources for faculty research. 

Maria's research examines the impact of messages and socio-psychological factors on health and environmental risk behaviors with a focus on culturally-based differences and similarities. To this end, she has conducted collaborative research projects with her students and colleagues in a number of countries in Asia, the Pacific Rim, Central America, and Africa. Her work has been presented at national and international communication and public health conferences, and published in many journals including The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Health Communication, Communication Monographs, and others.

Dr. Lapinski received her doctorate in 2000 from MSU and earned her Master of Arts from the University of Hawaii, Manoa.

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

• Risk communication courses offered at MSU
• What risk communication is, and how it requires an interdisciplinary approach
• How consumers view their responsibility when it comes to food risk
• How guidance and mandates about risk communication are not typically science-based
• General risk communication approaches
• The importance of social media monitoring for brands
• What food processors and other food safety professionals can do to help consumers minimize their risk
• The challenge of information overload when it comes to food recalls
• How algorithms shape what messages consumers see—and don't see
• How social media affects consumers' perception of risk and their behavioral decisions
• Seemingly minor factors that can affect a person's food safety behaviors and attitudes
• How cultural dynamics influence the way people respond to health issues and food safety 
• What motivates people to research more information, particularly in the event of a recall
• The important work of extensions and land-grant institutions
• The positive impact of brands engaging with consumers 

Related Content:
Best Practices in Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication

News Mentioned in This Episode:
Don't Eat Romaine Lettuce, Says CDC 
46 Tons of Jennie-O Turkey Products Recalled in Relation to Ongoing Multistate Salmonella Outbreak 
Supreme Court Won't Review Michael Parnell's Case Related to Deadly Outbreak

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

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

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