Melissa Vaccaro
NEHA

Melissa Vaccaro has a Master of Science degree in Biology and Bachelor of Science in Education in Biology and Environmental Education, both from Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. Melissa is the Senior Food Safety Program Specialist for the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA), where she is the Subject Matter Expert in the development and delivery of food safety education and training, focusing mainly on retail food safety and manufactured/processed foods. As a trainer for NEHA, Melissa teaches the Plan Review, Special Process in Retail, Food Safety in the Event of a Disaster, Food Code and Temporary Food Establishments courses for FDA.

Melissa began her career in food safety with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) Bureau of Food Safety and Laboratory Services for nearly 25 years during which she had dedicated her career to the service of safe food and the prevention of foodborne illness. She served as a Food Sanitarian and then as a Food Sanitation Program Specialist for the Department during her tenure. Melissa was the states FDA Standardization Officer, having been standardized by FDA in the Model Retail Food Code five times. After working with PDA, Melissa was the Vice President of Consulting for Paster Training, Inc. where she led, developed, and oversaw the Consulting Division throughout the US; as well as, provided numerous public health related presentations, certification trainings and webinars.

Melissa is a Certified Professional in Food Safety (CP-FS), a Certified Professional in Food Management Professional (CPFM) and a Lead Trainer for the FSPCA courses: Preventive Controls for Human Food (PCHF), Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) and Intentional Adulteration (IAVA).

She is an FDA Certified Retail Food Sanitation Officer, a PA Department of Health Certified Health Officer, holds Advanced HACCP Certification, and a ServSafe™ Trainer/Proctor. For 10 years, Melissa was an author for the Association of Nutrition and Foodservice Professionals EDGE Magazines Food Protection Connection and is the co-author of the SURE™ HACCP book series and SURE™ Food Safety book series.

She is active in several industry and government organizations, including the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA), NEHA’s Business and Industry Affiliate (BIA), the Central Atlantic States Association of Food and Drug Officials (CASA), the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO), and the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP). Melissa is the recipient of the 2015 CASA Award for outstanding service.