Category

FOOD SAFETY & QUALITY

The Triple Bottom Line: Balancing Economic, Social, and Environmental Goals in Food Production
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The Triple Bottom Line: Balancing Economic, Social, and Environmental Goals in Food Production

October 4, 2024

Liz Duffy is a seasoned compliance and food safety leader with more than 20 years of experience leading teams to develop and implement comprehensive compliance programs that prioritize food safety and ethical business practices.

Liz began her career at Walmart in 2006 and now serves as Vice President, Global Food Safety & Compliance for the Fortune 1 retailer. In this role, Liz leads the team that supports Walmart’s approach that enables an end-to-end food safety and compliance program and culture. Liz recently transitioned from her previous role as Vice President, Global Omnichannel and eCommerce Compliance at Walmart, where she was responsible for compliance strategy, controls, and continuous improvement processes for the company’s eCommerce, Walmart Business, and Online Pickup and Delivery business offerings.

Liz’s passion lies with food safety, having started her career at Walmart as a Food Safety Manager for Walmart U.S. Stores and Sam’s Clubs. Throughout her nearly two-decade tenure at Walmart, Liz served in a wide variety of compliance roles supporting food safety program development, recall execution, store operations, eCommerce, and omnichannel compliance program acceleration.

Prior to joining Walmart, Liz worked at Cargill Value Added Meats where she supported role in Quality Assurance at a poultry processing facility in Arkansas.

A graduate from the University of Arkansas, Liz holds a Bachelor of Science and an MBA with a focus on Leadership and Ethics. Liz and her family reside in Northwest Arkansas. On the weekends you can find her spending time with her family and her horse.

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Perpetual Adaptation: ​Being Prepared for the Unexpected
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Perpetual Adaptation: ​Being Prepared for the Unexpected

October 4, 2024

Mahir is a Master in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and currently is a Vice President at PepsiCo leading Global FSQA (Food Safety and Quality Assurance) Organization based in New York.

Mahir has four years of work experience in Unilever, India and then 28+ years of experience with PepsiCo. He has worked in Supply chain operations, EHS (Environment , Health and Safety) , R&D, Digitization and most of all in Food Safety and Quality Assurance across three continents – India, Dubai and USA. He is currently responsible for formulating and implementing strategic plans for all Food Safety and Quality initiatives across the entire product portfolio ( Snacks, beverages, Dairy, Bread and meat snacks in over 1300 company-owned and third-party manufacturing sites around the globe.

With deep-rooted knowledge across product categories and differing regulatory and cultural environments, he plays a pivotal role in establishing rigorous standards and systems. He has shared countless lessons learned during his career. His innovative approaches ensure that PepsiCo consistently delivers products that not only meet stringent safety guidelines but also resonate with consumer expectations and satisfaction. Under Mahir’s guidance, the company’s commitment to food safety, quality assurance, compliance, and consumer trust remains unparalleled.

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Shaping the Future: Strategic Insights for Ensuring Food Safety and Quality Excellence in the Years Ahead
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Shaping the Future: Strategic Insights for Ensuring Food Safety and Quality Excellence in the Years Ahead

October 4, 2024

Jorge Hernandez is the Vice President of Quality Assurance for the Wendy’s Company. As such, he is responsible for the design, implementation and leadership of the Food Safety, Quality Assurance and Regulatory Compliance Programs that impact suppliers, distribution centers and 7,250 restaurants in 33 Countries.

Previously, Jorge was the Chief Food Safety Officer at Wholesome International; he also served as the Sr. VP of Food Safety and Quality Assurance at US Foods Foodservice Distributor; and the VP of Food Safety and Risk Management at the National Restaurant Association.

Jorge has Degrees in Biology from Rockford University, Microbiology from the Centro de Estudios Medico-Biologicos in Mexico City, Mexico, Languages and Literature from la Universite de la Sorbonne, Paris, France and Executive Leadership from the Said School of Business at Oxford University in Oxford, England.

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FDA Regulatory Update: New Era of Smarter Food Safety – A Progress Report
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FDA Regulatory Update: New Era of Smarter Food Safety – A Progress Report

October 4, 2024

Mark Moorman is the Senior Science Advisor to Human Foods Program leadership at the Food and Drug Administration. In this role Mark drives prevention efforts with stakeholders to assure the safety of our food supply. Mark previously was the Office Director for the Office of Food Safety and prior to joining the FDA, Mark was the Senior Director of Global Scientific & Regulatory Affairs for the Kellogg Company. Prior to joining the Kellogg Company in 1998, Mark spent 10 years with Silliker Laboratories as the Technical Director of Microbiology. Mark has his undergraduate and Ph.D. degrees from Michigan State University in Microbiology and Food Science.

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The Art and Science of Leading Organizations in a Rapidly Evolving Global Food Safety and Quality Environment
FOOD SAFETY & QUALITY, FOOD SAFETY & QUALITY

The Art and Science of Leading Organizations in a Rapidly Evolving Global Food Safety and Quality Environment

October 4, 2024

A recognized expert in food safety and quality, Catherine vigorously pursues quality systems excellence across the supply chain. Catherine is an experienced leader in Food Safety, Quality Systems, Quality Programs, and Laboratory Management. She builds followership and high performing cross-functional teams, finds effective solutions to continuously keep food safety and quality food manufacturing and delivery top of mind for all stakeholders, and inspires teams to strive for top tier execution.

Currently, Catherine is Vice President of Quality, Safety, Health and Environment at Sabra, America’s most iconic and beloved hummus. At Sabra, Catherine enabled an end-to-end transformation in food production and delivery, intensifying and expanding a culture of people and food safety across the organization and developing a best-in-class food safety and quality program.

Prior to joining Sabra, Catherine worked at Dairy Farmers of America and Kerry in food safety, quality systems and quality control innovation. Catherine holds a Bachelor of Sciences degrees in biotechnology and food science and a Master of Science degree in food microbiology from Oklahoma State University.

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Panel: Harmonizing Quality and Safety Excellence Across the Food Ecosystem: Perspectives from Retail, Foodservice, Restaurants & Manufacturers
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Panel: Harmonizing Quality and Safety Excellence Across the Food Ecosystem: Perspectives from Retail, Foodservice, Restaurants & Manufacturers

October 4, 2024

Overview of the current industry of food quality, regulatory and safety ecosystem and the interplay and evolution of regulatory frameworks, and consumers wants and needs
The alignment of quality standards and the strategies employed to ensure consistent quality standards across various in house and purchase brands
Exploring how to work closely with external suppliers to align their practices with our company’s stringent quality requirements
Examining the role of technology, collaboration and education in the quality assurance and food safety systems of the future

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Quality is Not Just a Cost Center: Proving the Value of Quality and Safety Initiatives with Data
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Quality is Not Just a Cost Center: Proving the Value of Quality and Safety Initiatives with Data

October 4, 2024

Quality and Safety teams often struggle to secure budget priority despite their essential roles. Learn how to shift that narrative with actionable strategies and data-driven insights
This session will explore how building a strong, data-driven continuous improvement program can not only reduce risk and improve safety but can also help teams paint a clearer picture of the value they create for their brand
Gain insights on how to put continuous improvement data to work for your organization

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Experiences and Expectations of Leaders in Applying Digital Transformation to Food Safety
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Experiences and Expectations of Leaders in Applying Digital Transformation to Food Safety

October 4, 2024

Learn from experienced industry leaders as they discuss how digital transformation has improved food safety and quality management
Gain valuable insight into overall organizational and end user experiences with the implementation of new digital solutions
Explore what the future holds and the full potential of digital transformation, including artificial intelligence, for the food and beverage industry

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From Coding to Configuring Solutions: Elevating Transparency, Traceability, and Governance with Zero Code Technology
FOOD SAFETY & QUALITY, FOOD SAFETY & QUALITY, VIDEO

From Coding to Configuring Solutions: Elevating Transparency, Traceability, and Governance with Zero Code Technology

October 4, 2024

Shan has an Engineering Degree from University of Madras, India and an Executive MBA from Georgia Tech, USA. He has over 25 years of Engineering, IT, and SCM consulting experience with many Global leaders in Retail, Manufacturing, FMCG, Groceries, Pharmaceuticals and Distribution, and few Big 5 consulting companies and few Top Gartner Magic Quadrant leaders in ERP, Supply Chain Management and Master Data Management Software.

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Fostering a Culture of Food Safety Through Effective Training Methods — A Conversation with Amit Jagirdar of Bunge
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Fostering a Culture of Food Safety Through Effective Training Methods — A Conversation with Amit Jagirdar of Bunge

August 14, 2024

In the run-up to the 2024 edition of the North American Food Safety & Quality series we spoke with Amit Jagirdar, Bunge’s Director, Quality & Food Safety, about how training embeds, fosters, and reinforces Food Safety Culture not just with FSQ professionals and the hands-on operations teams but throughout the company as a whole. Listeners of this podcast may remember the excellent interview we did with Amit last year at NAFS24 on Food Safety Culture. This conversation builds and expands upon that one to offer new ideas that keep Food Safety training fresh and engaging for everyone, makes sharing success and learning from failures a regular part of working life, and keeps people focused on what matters most. Whether you work in Food Safety and Quality directly, work in the food and beverage industry more broadly, or just have an interest in how the people keeping our food safe remain passionate about their important function, give this episode a listen!

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Food Safety and Quality Data that Tells a Persuasive Story — A Conversation with Paul Bradley of TraceGains
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Food Safety and Quality Data that Tells a Persuasive Story — A Conversation with Paul Bradley of TraceGains

September 10, 2024

In the run-up to the 2024 edition of the North American Food Safety & Quality series we spoke with Paul Bradley of TraceGains about how FSQ professionals document, demonstrate, and communicate the value of their work through data, and how a new generation of data collection and analytics tools are allowing them to share and showcase their contributions to the company in new and exciting ways. In a world where giving food safety and quality data a storyteller’s voice to convey both quantitative and qualitative metrics is the best way to win hearts and minds. In this wide-ranging conversation we talk about what’s new, what’s working, and what is coming next. Give it a listen!

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Leveraging Technology: Implementing a Digital Transformation to Simplify Compliance Processes and Improve Quality
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Leveraging Technology: Implementing a Digital Transformation to Simplify Compliance Processes and Improve Quality

October 4, 2023

Valerie Sieurin heads up Unilever’s Quality team and is a part of Unilever’s Business Operations Leadership Team.

Valerie started her career in Research and Development (R&D) at Cadbury Schweppes Bottling Group. From to 2003 to 2012, Valerie covered various R&D roles in Danone Beverages and Danone Nutricia Early Life Nutrition when in 2012 she was appointed to Vice President of Quality and Food Safety at Danone.

Valerie joined Unilever from Reckitt, she started as Global Health Quality Director and was promoted to Senior Vice President Global Head of Quality. In this role, she initiated the digitization journey of quality at Reckitt.

She took on her current role in March 2022 and is now based in London, United Kingdom.

With over 30 years’ experience at some of the world’s leading FMCG companies, Valerie is an ambassador for creative solutions and innovation in product, processes, and Quality systems. She is driving a culture change across the organization, overseeing end-to-end Quality, and driving consumers advocacy in the pursuit of superior quality.

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Leveraging Digital Solutions to Enhance Food Safety at PepsiCo, Globally
FOOD SAFETY & QUALITY, FOOD SAFETY & QUALITY, VIDEO

Leveraging Digital Solutions to Enhance Food Safety at PepsiCo, Globally

October 4, 2023

Mahir is currently Vice President of Food safety at PepsiCo Inc( $80B annual revenue). He leads global food safety organization, which is responsible for setting the standards and governing the processes for delivering right food safety standards for all categories (Foods & Beverages) with every pack and every bottle produced by more than 1100 manufacturing plants in PepsiCo portfolio globally.

He has been working at PepsiCo for more than 25 years with gradually increasing responsibilities. He started in India, worked in various Operations/supply chain roles including plant manager of the largest bottling plant in India. He then moved to New York and worked on building quality systems for Non- carbonated Beverages. After that he spent 3 years in Dubai heading Food safety & Quality function for Asia, Middle East, and Africa region. In 2015, he returned to PepsiCo headquarters in New York heading FSQA for Nutrition category globally ($13B annual revenue). Then he led the global program management for R&D implementing digital transformation projects like SAP and Virtual development.

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Harnessing Big Data for Enhanced Food Safety and Quality in the Digital Age
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Harnessing Big Data for Enhanced Food Safety and Quality in the Digital Age

October 4, 2023

In his role as the Vice President of Corporate Food Technology and Regulatory Compliance for The Kroger Company, Cincinnati, OH. Howard has the overall strategic responsibility and direction for food safety, quality assurance and product development for the entire Kroger company, this includes approximately 2500 retail stores, 42 Warehouses, and Kroger’s 32 own manufacturing facilities – Dairy, Bakery, Pet Food and Grocery plants. Prior to joining Kroger, he led product integrity and regulatory compliance functions as Vice President at Topco Associates – a private label procurement company in Elk Grove Village, IL.

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Risk Management and Governance Approaches in a Rapidly Changing World
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Risk Management and Governance Approaches in a Rapidly Changing World

October 6, 2023

Alan is Global VP of Quality and Food Safety for Mars Wrigley, based in Chicago. Through his career to date, he has worked in Manufacturing, Procurement and across R&D and leading all aspects of quality and food safety internally and through supply and distribution chains across the world. Alan is originally from the UK, having relocated to the US almost 9 years ago.

Fortunate to work with many global food manufacturers, along with many smaller organizations and startups, Alan has spent the last few years embedding foundational shifts in quality and food safety to drive supply chain resilience and championing the use of new technologies to drive value. Strongly focused on modernizing the quality approach to support the business growth ambition, Alan is leading a step change in efficiency in the work of quality and food safety. While strongly believing that food safety is precompetitive, Alan is a believer in the competitive advantage of bringing robust quality programs and culture to life with efficiency.

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An Alternate View of the Importance of ‘AI’
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An Alternate View of the Importance of ‘AI’

October 2, 2023

Dan Fone has been in the food industry for more than 30 years and has worked internationally across various food safety and environmental compliance programs as a regulator, a systems assessor and consultant/advisor.

Dan joined Walmart in 2017 as Senior Director for International Food Safety and was promoted to Senior Director II – US Food Safety SME for Walmart US in 2019 where he currently leads the Walmart US food safety team in all aspects of store/club and supply chain food safety.

Dan has worked extensively in the field of behavior, specifically in understanding the role of behavioral attitude and influence in developing food safety cultures within organizations. At the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), he was a member of the GFSI Technical Working Group on Food Safety Culture and is currently on the Steering Group for the development of PAS320 on Food Safety Culture. In January 2019 he became a Board Member at GFSI (six-month term). He is also working with the Global Food Traceability Center, where he is currently a member of the Institute of Food Technologists GFTC Advisory Council.

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Global Food Safety Leadership: “Being Right is Not Enough”
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Global Food Safety Leadership: “Being Right is Not Enough”

October 4, 2023

Mary has been a Food Safety and Quality leader in the retail and restaurant space for over 25 years. She has been with YUM! brands as a Food Safety leader for almost 10 years and was elevated to Chief Food Safety & Quality Officer in 2020. YUM brands includes KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and The Habit Burger grill  and Mary’s accountability spans over 50,000 restaurants and 9,000 suppliers across 140 countries.  Mary leads Yum!’s Food Safety governance and restaurant Food Safety vision and is defining the next generation ecosystem for global Food Safety Systems.  Prior to taking a leadership role in YUM’s Global Food Safety Team she led Food Safety & Quality Assurance at KFC US.  Her previous experience includes one of the  US’s largest retailers; Target and NSF International, bringing invaluable experience in retail, restaurant and technical consulting.  Mary also recently began serving as a member of the Global Food Safety Initiative Steering Committee.

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