Ep. 2. Larry Keener: "Food safety is manufactured"

Larry Keener has a long record of involvement, both nationally and internationally, with food industry issues. He is the current vice president and co-chair of the Austrian-based Global Harmonization Initiative, an organization founded in 2004 to promote harmonization of food safety legislation and regulations. He is president and chief executive officer of Seattle-based International Product Safety Consultants, Inc.—a global leader in providing food safety and food technology solutions to the food processing industry for a broad client base of Fortune 500 food companies, academic research institutes, and government agencies. Also, Larry has written and published more than 100 scientific papers and numerous book chapters on food safety, microbiology, and process validation. He is a frequently invited speaker to the food industry, business and scientific conferences, workshops, and seminars.

Larry is an internationally regarded microbiologist and process authority in the food industry, and frequently works with food companies in this capacity to communicate the processor's regulatory responsibilities, assess risk and adequacy of controls for entire processing operations from raw materials receipt to finished product storage and distribution, and provide advice and direction with regard to regulatory impact and food safety risk that changes in operations might cause. As such, his areas of expertise range from applied food microbiology and sanitation methods, the development and application of thermal and non-thermal processing and preservation technologies, including high-pressure processing, microwave and pulsed electric field, high-powered ultrasound and design and implementation of food safety management and control systems and strategies.

Finally, Food Safety Magazine is proud to have Larry as a member of our editorial advisory board.

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In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to Larry Keener about:

His leadership role with the Global Harmonization Initiative
Four cutting-edge technologies in food processing
How regulatory agencies react to new food processing and manufacturing technologies
What it's like working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Food Safety Inspection Service when presenting new food processing methods and technologies
How many of you are in manufacturing? Understanding your role in making food safe
Acceptance of hygienic facility design
Larry's thoughts on the possibility of reduced government funding for food safety initiatives
Larry's scheduled Keynote Address at the 2017 Institute of Food Technologists-European Federation of Food Science and Technology International Nonthermal Processing Conference

Larry Keener's Articles Published in Food Safety Magazine:
Novel Food Safety Technologies Emerge in Food Production (Feb/March 2015)
Shedding Light on Food Safety: Applications of Pulsed Light Processing (June/July 2014)
The Squeaky Wheel: Is Transportation the Watershed for Food Safety and Food Defense? (Aug/Sep 2013)
Ex Ante or Ex Post Food Safety Strategies: Process Validation versus Inspection and Testing (June/July 2011)
Hurdling New Technology Challenges: Investing in Process Validation of Novel Technologies (Feb/March 2006)

Looking for more on Larry Keener? Search FoodSafetyMagazine.com

Bob Ferguson's Food Safety Insights Articles:
Food Safety Insights: A Look at the Microbiology Testing Market (Feb/March 2017)
Food Safety Insights: The Drivers of Differences in Food Safety Testing Practices (April/May 2017)
What Industry and FDA Are Thinking About FSMA Implementation (June/July 2017)
A Closer Look at Environmental Monitoring in the Processing Plant (August/September 2017)