In partnership with the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, this Food Safety Magazine webinar will focus on controlling pathogens in dry and low-moisture processing environments by addressing "system breaches." After pasteurization, everything that comes into contact with products—including air and the inside of processing equipment—must be treated as high hygiene to prevent potential contamination. Foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella and Cronobacter can infiltrate any time a system is opened, or "breached." Whether for planned events (e.g., sampling, magnet checks, planned maintenance) or unplanned events (e.g., unplugging a line, boot rupture, unplanned construction), breaches are problematic. The need to maintain hygiene is multiplied by the fact that traditional wet cleaning and sanitation can cause significant issues and even increase risk in a low-moisture processing environment.

In this webinar, technical experts from the dairy industry will explain what a system breach is and why they need to be addressed, how to manage and reduce system breaches, and how to design breaches out of a system to help prevent pathogen contamination in dry and low-moisture environments.

From this webinar, attendees will learn:

How to manage pathogens in a dry processing facility
What a system breach is and why they need to be addressed
How to reduce and manage breaches in in dry/low-moisture processing environments
How to design breaches out of a system to prevent contamination by Salmonella, Cronobacter, and other pathogens

Speakers:

Blake Criswell, CFS, Owner and Business Consultant, GotWhey LLC and Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. Blake Criswell, CFS, is a dairy powder facility design and startup expert, as well as a subject matter expert on dry dairy pathogen control and sanitary design for the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. He has helped design and startup numerous dairy processing facilities and, as a consultant, is currently assisting numerous manufacturers with sanitary process design, plant commissioning, troubleshooting, and pathogen control, specifically around drying operations. His experience includes all aspects of milk and whey processing technologies including spray drying, powder handling, lactose processing, ion exchange, separation, membrane filtration, evaporation, and pasteurization. Prior to consulting, Blake held numerous dairy positions at Select Services, Tetra Pak, Filtration Engineering, and Mid-America Dairymen (now DFA), and he spent over 15 years with Leprino Foods. He holds a B.S. degree in Animal Science from Louisiana Tech University and is an IFT Certified Food Scientist (CFS).

Karen McCarty, Senior Director of Quality Assurance, Agropur and Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. Karen McCarty is the Senior Director of Quality Assurance for Agropur U.S. Operations, where she leads a corporate team responsible for all aspects of food safety and quality in Agropur's U.S. Cheese, Ingredient and Custom Solutions facilities. Prior to joining Agropur, Karen graduated with a B.S. degree in Bacteriology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has held positions with Deibel Laboratories and Davisco Foods International.

Ron Thompson, Ph.D., CFS, PCQI, Director of Food Safety, Education, and Technical Services, Continental Dairy Facilities LLC. Ron Thompson, Ph.D., CFS, PCQI, is Director of Food Safety, Education, and Technical Services for Continental Dairy Facilities LLC. Dr. Thompson has over 30 years of experience in the dairy industry and has been involved in the planning and commissioning of five new milk dryer plants. He has developed and implemented quality and food safety systems for dry dairy ingredients, fluid milk, and butter over the course of his career. Dr. Thompson is a member of the Scientific Committee for the National Conference for Interstate Milk Shippers (NCIMS), a subject matter expert for Dairy Management Inc.’s Innovation Center Plant Food Safety Workshops, and a member of the 3-A Sanitary Standards Board of Directors. He holds a Ph.D. in Dairy Products Technology from Louisiana State University and is a Certified Food Scientist through the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT).

Moderator: Adrienne Blume, Editorial Director, Food Safety Magazine

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