Episode 29: All About Food Safety Culture

Participants:

Hugo Gutierrez is the Global Food Safety and Quality Officer for Kerry. He has 25 years of experience in leading global, virtual, and multicultural quality, food safety, and regulatory teams. In his current position, he is responsible for developing and executing a long-term strategy to transform their quality, food safety, and employee safety into world-class systems.

Prior to his position at Kerry, he served as Vice President of Quality and Regulatory at Hershey Corporation, Director of International Quality and Regulatory Operations for General Mills, and held QA-related positions with Cadbury Schweppes USA, Pfizer in Canada, and Adams (Warner-Lambert) in Colombia.

Gutierrez holds a B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from Javeriana University and an M.B.A. from Icesi University, both in his home country of Colombia. He speaks fluent Spanish, French, English, and basic Portuguese.

Robert B. Gravani, PhD is Professor Emeritus of Food Science and Director Emeritus of the National Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) Program at Cornell University, where he has been actively engaged in extension/outreach, teaching, and research activities. He received his B.S. in Food Science from Rutgers University and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Food Science from Cornell University. Dr. Gravani has worked with all sectors of the food system and has developed innovative programs for constituents in production agriculture, food processing, food retailing, and food service, as well as for regulatory agencies and consumers. Collaboration with the Food Marketing Institute and the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of USDA resulted in multiple editions of the Food Keeper, a publication detailing the keeping quality of over 500 foods that has been converted into a popular free telephone application. He has served as a member of the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods that advises the Secretaries of Agriculture and HHS and the Departments of Commerce, Defense and CDC on food safety issues, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) committee on Review of Scientific Criteria and Performance Standards for Safe Foods and chaired the NAS subcommittee on Seafood, Produce, and Dairy Products. In addition, he served as Senior Advisor for Food Safety in the Office of the Chief Scientist at USDA, where he worked for Undersecretary of Agriculture, Dr. Catherine Woteki.

Host:

Matt Teegarden, PhD is a food chemist and science communicator, with experience in both industry and academia. Matt is currently the Senior Researcher in the Foods for Health initiative at Ohio State, where he is largely responsible for the development and advancement of scientific operations and communications. Outside of work and IFT involvement, Matt enjoys baking and participating in LGBTQ+ recreational sports leagues around Columbus.