As we wrap up 2020, 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 as we move into 2021.

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Sally Powell Price joined MilliporeSigma earlier this year as a Regulatory Expert for Food Safety. Previously, Sally served as the Director of Lab Operations at a biotech startup in Boston supporting regulatory & R&D operations. Prior to that role, she was the Food Lab Supervisor at the New York City Department of Health, Public  Health Laboratory. Sally is a member of the Association of Food and Drug Officials, American Public Health Association, Association of Public Health Laboratories, and AOAC. She has a B.Sc. degree in biology from Hamilton College, and a M.Sc. in microbiology & immunology from James Cook University in Australia, and continuing coursework in public health and foodborne disease at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.

Justyce Jedlicka currently serves in the newly created role of the Food and Beverage Regulatory Liaison in North America for MilliporeSigma. She is responsible for engaging with influencers in the food and beverage industry to align initiatives to be in the highest regulatory compliance and promote best practices among testing methods—promoting the safest and highest quality food. Prior to MilliporeSigma, she worked as a formulation chemist and lab technician at Chemia Corporation. She currently serves on the Food Sciences Section Executive Board of the American Council of Independent Labs. She is a member of the International Association of Food Protection, Institute of Beverage Technologists, and participates in working groups with AOAC. Justyce received a B.Sc. in chemistry and an M.B.A. from the University of Missouri in St. Louis.

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Tamara Mullin is currently the Director of Safety for FOODWORKS where she oversees food safety procedures and builds upon them to create food safety programs, training, and compliances. Before this, she was the FOODWORKS District Manager. Tamara obtained her degree from the Pennsylvania Institute of Culinary Arts in 1993. Tamara has been working in corporate dining since 1997. She has managed multiple corporate kitchens, rolled out café concepts, and created menus with recipes focused on customer needs.

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In this BONUS episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to Sharon Dobesh (director of technical services) and Leonard Mongiello (business development and sales manager) from the Industrial Fumigant Company (IFC) about controlling birds and rodents. Specifically, how to keep them where they belong—away from your buildings, out of your docks and processing areas.

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Nevin Perera is the research & development manager for PerkinElmer where he and his team have developed a range of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) including Solus One Salmonella, Solus One Listeria, and Solus One Escherichia coli.

Nevin’s career started at the University of Birminghamin the UK, where he was studying for a B.Sc. (Hons) in microbiology before transitioning to a M.Sc. in toxicology and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry. He was researching the regulation of phospholipase C in yeast under different environmental and chemical stresses. He continued his academic career in the Department of Cell Signalling and Immunology, University of Dundee, carrying out postdoctoral research on the regulation of the tumor suppressor gene PTEN, finishing with 10 peer-reviewed publications. Upon leaving academia, Nevin focused his career on ELISA and lateral flow device development, doing outstanding work at Merck Millipore, Mediawatch Plc., and now PerkinElmer.

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Dr. Scott Brooks is the Senior Vice President of Food Safety and Quality Assurance for Tyson Foods. Previously, Scott held similar food safety, quality, and regulatory executive positions at Kraft Heinz, PepsiCo, and Yum! Brands after serving as a Public Health Officer in the Air Force. His Doctorate is in Veterinary Medicine with Master’s degrees in both Food Microbiology and Preventive Veterinary Medicine. He served on the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods and is a Past-President of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine.

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Adam Joelsson is Director of Technology and Head of Research and Development at Invisible Sentinel Inc. Having a background in microbiology and molecular biology, Adam joined Invisible Sentinel in 2008 as part of the founding team and has been integral in the development and commercialization of both Veriflow® and veriPRO® molecular diagnostic platforms. As part of the Invisible Sentinel technical team, Adam has overseen the R&D technical transfer and commercial launches of over a dozen rapid assay systems for a wide range of industrial applications, including food safety as well as beverage and food quality.

Vik Dutta has been a Senior Staff Scientist at bioMérieux for over 4 years. Prior to that, he was employed as a Senior Microbiologist at CDC. He has earned his doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from MAFSU and received his Ph.D. in Microbiology from North Carolina State University. Vik has been working in various aspects of food safety for over 15 years, with specific expertise in molecular biology and molecular assay development. He has authored or co-authored over 20 peer-reviewed articles/book chapters. Vik has been awarded a patent on improving isothermal detection technology and has been recognized many times for his contributions to food safety.

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