Innovative Food Defense Program
Improving Industry Food Emergency Recovery Capacity

Guidelines on Remediation and Restoration of Food Processing Facilities after an Intentional Contamination Event

Food emergencies of all types, including intentional food contamination, can be broken into several distinct phases: Prevention and Preparedness; Detection; Response; and Recovery.

Though arguably one of the most important elements of food emergencies, incident recovery has historically been deemphasized and underfunded as compared to preparedness and response.  Poorly managed recoveries can lead to the closing of businesses, loss of economic productivity and employment, and perhaps most importantly, can lead to loss of consumer confidence in a commodity or the food supply in general.  Additionally, the public may lose faith in the ability of food regulatory officials to ensure that products in the marketplace are safe.

With unintentional foodborne illness able to cause such widespread economic and social effects, intentional incidents possess the ability to be utterly catastrophic to the safety, security and public confidence of the food supply.

North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services [NCDA&CS] believes in proactive and collaborative initiatives to prevent and mitigate the impact of food emergencies on North Carolina citizens and industries.  With this in mind, the NCDA&CS Food & Drug Protection Division (FDPD) was awarded a grant under the Innovative Food Defense Program (R18) of the FDA to develop guidelines to instruct food processors how to create a remediation strategy to deal with intentional or unintentional contamination incidents in their products and facilities before such events occur.

The Innovative Food Defense Project team has developed these guidelines in the form of a draft guidance document with distinct modules addressing essential aspects of developing and implementing a remediation strategy for food processing facilities.

The Food and Drug Protection division of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services cordially invites you to participate in our presentation and discussion of these guidelines at the Hall of Fame Room in the Jim Graham Building at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds on March 27, 2013.


 Agenda for Innovative Food Defense Program March 27, 2013

9:00 Welcome & Introduction                              Mark Cosby
9:15 A Computerized & Interactive Food Defense Model  Richard Linton
10:15 break
10:30            Remediation & Clearance Goals                        Mark Cosby
10:40 Risk Factors & Risk Communication                 Mark Cosby
10:50 Facility Characterization & Site Containment     Mark Cosby
11:00 Cleaning and Sanitizing                    Harold McDowell
12:00  Working lunch
        Characterize Incident                                         Mark Cosby
1:00 Sanitary Design                                 Harold McDowell
1:30 Decontamination of RTE Plants              Jim Howard
2:00 Decontamination Verification           Mark Cosby
2:30 break
3:00 Contaminated Waste Disposal                  Jim Howard
3:30 An Industry Perspective on Preventative Controls    Bob Reinhard
4:30 FoodSHIELD: A Communication Platform            Jennifer Pierquet
5:00 Closing Remarks


Biographies of speakers

Richard H. Linton, Ph.D.,
Dean, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, North Carolina

Dr. Linton received a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology, a Master’s Degree in Food Science, and a Doctorate in Food Science all at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.  Prior to his role as Dean of CALS at North Carolina State University, Dr. Linton served as Department Chair of Food Science and Technology at the Ohio State University (2011-2012), and as a faculty member of the Department of Food Science at Purdue University (1994-2011).  While at Purdue University, Dr. Linton also served as the Director (and founder) of the Center for Food Safety Engineering and as the Associate Director of Agricultural Research Programs.  

His research interests include modeling the growth and inactivation of foodborne pathogens (Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli, and Salmonella spp.) within different food systems, and, development of rapid detection technologies for biological and chemical foodborne hazards.  Throughout his career, Richard has worked with various segments of the food and agricultural industry integrating applied research projects and impactful outreach programs.  His area of expertise is development and implementation of food safety management programs, including Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point systems.  He has helped a number of food manufacturers and retail food operations in the creation of effective food safety and food quality management programs.  In the classroom, Dr. Linton has lead the instruction for graduate-level courses in food microbiology and for undergraduate-level courses in food safety, food safety management, introductory food science, and leadership principles.  

Richard has received several service awards.  He and his colleagues were recognized as a recipient of the United States Department of Agriculture Group Honor Award for Excellence.  He received an Honorary Lifetime Membership to the Indiana Environmental Health Association, the Purdue University Extension Award of Merit, the Purdue University Research Team Award, the Purdue University Cooperative Extension Team Award, and Purdue University Faculty Scholar.  Nationally, he has been recognized by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) for his leadership in research and outreach programs with the Howard Macy Award and the Myron Solberg Award.  In 2008, he was elected as IFT Fellow.  

During his 19 year academic career, Richard has published over 60 referred journal articles, 11 textbooks, and over 75 Extension publications.  He has also presented over 250 invited talks presentations at state, national, and international meetings and has received more than $15 million in research funding.  
 

Bob Reinhard, Vice President
Food Safety, Quality and Regulatory Affairs
Hillshire Brands Company

Bob Reinhard leads the Food Safety, Quality, Regulatory Affairs and Technical Services Team for The Hillshire Brands Co.  His responsibilities include directing and overseeing all food safety, quality and regulatory initiatives in all markets for all of the company’s high-quality brands, including Sara Lee frozen desserts and snack items, Hillshire Farm lunch meats, Jimmy Dean sausage and breakfast foods, and Ball Park franks and burgers.
 
Prior to Hillshire Brands, Mr. Reinhard was the Director of Quality, Food Safety and Regulatory Compliance for Bar-S Foods Co. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Food Science from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.  Mr. Reinhard specializes in state-of–the-art interventions for microbiological control, advanced quality systems, sanitary design of process equipment and facilities, and the design/management of advance food production systems.
 
Mr. Reinhard serves on the USDA FSIS National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection, American Meat Institute’s Scientific Advisory Committee, and serves as chairman of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University’s Food Safety and Technology Advisory Board.  Additionally, he serves on the Board of Directors of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, Food Allergy and Research and Resource Program.  Past affiliations have included various committee chair positions with GMA, AMI, and the National Turkey Federation.  


Jennifer Pierquet, MPH
FoodSHIELD Coordinator
National Center for Food Protection and Defense
St. Paul, Minnesota

Jennifer Pierquet joined the National Center for Food Protection and Defense (NCFPD) in 2009 as the FoodSHIELD Coordinator. FoodSHIELD is an online collaboration portal for professionals’ from the food and agriculture sector. FoodSHIELD’s Mission is to support federal, state, and local agencies, laboratories, and industry in defending the food supply through web-based tools that enhance threat prevention and response, risk management, communication and asset coordination, as well as public education. Jenny works with agricultural professionals’ from all areas of the food and agriculture sector. She is also involved in research projects focused on food emergency preparedness. Currently, Ms. Pierquet is managing several IT projects as part of her duties. Jennifer graduated from the University of Minnesota- School of Public Health with a Masters in Public Health Administration and Policy in 2007. She hails from Wisconsin where she grew-up on a dairy farm.


Wm. Mark Cosby MS, Ph.D
Agricultural Programs Specialist
Food and Drug Protection Division
North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Raleigh, North Carolina

Dr. Cosby received his BS degree in Agriculture (Animal Science) from the University of Delaware; his Master of Science degree from Virginia Tech and PhD. from NC State University, both in Microbiology. The focus of his academic research has been microbiology, specifically lactic acid bacteria. He has worked in academia and private industry in the area of microbial physiology, fermentation and probiotics. He joined the Department of Agriculture as Chief Microbiologist for the Food and Drug Protection Division in December of 2001 where he supervised the microbiological analysis of food, animal feed, and disinfectants for the State of North Carolina. In 2007 he accepted the position of Agriculture Programs Specialist. In this position he provides administrative oversight and technical support to the food and feed inspection field staff for sampling programs, protocols and collection schedules of food/feed products statewide for microbiological and toxicological analysis. He also supervises the Environmental Sampling field testing program for the division and is a subject matter expert for the division’s Rapid Response Team.


Jim B. Howard
Project Manager
Emergency Programs Division
North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Raleigh, North Carolina

Since 1967 Mr. Howard has worked in government, research, industry, and as a consultant in the areas of safety, health and environmental protection, code compliance, emergency planning and response, risk analysis and reduction, disposal depopulation and decontamination, and protection of food distribution systems.  He has been with the NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Emergency Programs Division since 2001 focusing on response preparedness and planning. His focus has been technology stimulation and synergy, Government/Industry coordination and cooperation.  Mr. Howard is responsible for emergency response technology development, response planning, and resource appropriation for the division.  


Harold McDowell, REHS
Level II Technical Trainer
Food and Drug Protection Division
North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Raleigh, North Carolina

Mr. McDowell graduated from Wake Forest University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology in 1969.  Since that time he has served as a science teacher in the North Carolina Public School system and a Public Health Sanitarian in North Carolina.  He was the Director of Sanitation, Quality Bakery of America from 1983 to 1990 and Auditor and Consultant for AIB international from 1990 to 2006.  He served as a board member for the Bakery Industry Sanitation Standards Committee (BISSC) from 1984 to 2005 and currently serves as a BISSC Consultant. His numerous certifications include Registered Environmental Health Specialist, Certified Pesticide Applicator, Certified Quality Auditor and Certified HACCP Auditor.  He has been employed by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture since 2006 and currently serves as a Level II Technical Trainer.