Shawn Stevens is an attorney and founding member of the Food Industry Counsel, a law firm that provides food safety legal and regulatory consulting services exclusively for food industry clients, ultimately helping them anticipate, navigate, and resolve their most pressing food safety challenges. 

As a food industry consultant and lawyer, Shawn works throughout the U.S. and abroad with food industry clients (including the world’s largest growers, processors, restaurant chains, distributors, and grocers) helping them protect their brand by reducing food safety risk, complying with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture food safety regulations, managing recalls, and defending high-profile foodborne illness claims.

Shawn also speaks regularly to audiences on a wide variety of emerging scientific, regulatory, and food safety legal trends. He authors columns for food industry publications, and he is quoted regularly by national media publications such as TIME Magazine, the New York Post, and Corporate Counsel. 

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to Shawn Stevens about:

• What he sees as the biggest food safety challenges his clients are facing
• The Jack in the Box outbreak and how it changed the food industry
• An overview of what happens during FDA's Food Safety Modernization Act inspections
• His advice for food companies that expect to undergo a FSMA inspection
• What a food company should do in the event of a recall—before, during, and after
• The benefits of conducting a high-level mock recall
• Consumer responsibility vs. manufacturer/processor responsibility when it comes to ready-to-eat food products
• The concept of ready-to-prepare foods
• How food safety regulations are beginning to mimic those in the pharmaceutical industry
• Food companies' biggest liability
• How he would approach food safety in his own food company
• Trends in recall insurance and whether FDA will create thresholds for Listeria monocytogenes

News Mentioned in This Episode
FDA Investigation: Cyclospora Illnesses Linked to McDonald's Salads Supplied by Fresh Express
FDA Commissioner's Statement on Recent Cyclospora Illnesses
South Africa Listeria Outbreak Declared Over
FDA Sampling Assignment-Cyclospora in Fresh Herbs
FDA: Avoid Frozen Desserts and Drinks Made with Liquid Nitrogen

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Lucy Angarita is the Director of Food Supply Chain visibility at GS1 US, where she works with retail, grocery, foodservice, and healthcare companies to increase data quality, operational efficiencies, and full supply chain traceability. With over 20 years of experience in program management and process improvement, as well as a Six Sigma Black Belt certification, she has a passion for solving complex problems and delivering value to customers and stakeholders.

Haley F. Oliver, Ph.D. is the Director of the Feed the Future Food Safety Innovation Lab at Purdue University. She is also the Vice Provost for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Scholars and the 150^th Anniversary Professor of Food Science at Purdue University, renowned for her expertise in food safety microbiology. She earned dual B.S. degrees in Molecular Biology and Microbiology from the University of Wyoming in 2004, followed by a Ph.D. in Food Science, with minors in Epidemiology and Microbiology, from Cornell University in 2009. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Cornell, Dr. Oliver joined Purdue University in 2010. 

Justyce Jedlicka serves as the Food and Beverage Regulatory Liaison in North America for MilliporeSigma, where she is responsible for engaging with influencers in the food and beverage industry to align initiatives with regulatory compliance and promote best practices for food safety and quality testing methods. Justyce has been serving the food and beverage industry since 2013, and received both a B.S. degree in Chemistry and an M.B.A. degree from the University of Missouri in St. Louis. She currently serves as the Food Sciences Section Chair and Executive Board Member of the American Council of Independent Labs, and is a member of the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP), the International Society of Beverage Technologists (ISBT), and AOAC International.

Sally Powell Price is MilliporeSigma's Regulatory and Public Health Expert for Food and Beverage Safety Testing in North America. Previously, she served as Director of Lab Operations at a biotech startup in Boston and was the Food Lab Supervisor at the New York City Department of Health Public Health Laboratory. She holds a B.S. degree in Biology from Hamilton College, an M.S. degree in Microbiology and Immunology from James Cook University in Australia, and did continuing coursework in public health and foodborne disease at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. She is a member of the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO), the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP), and AOAC International.

Thomas Gremillion, J.D., M.A. is the Director of Food Policy at the Consumer Federation of America (CFA). He oversees research, analysis, advocacy, and media outreach for the group's food policy activities, and monitors food safety activities at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and in Congress, where he advocates for strong food safety protections for consumers. He also coordinates the Safe Food Coalition, a group of consumer, trade union, and foodborne illness victim organizations dedicated to reducing foodborne illness by improving government food inspection programs.

Paul Shapiro is the author of the bestselling book, Clean Meat: How Growing Meat Without Animals Will Revolutionize Dinner and the World. He is also CEO of The Better Meat Co., a company that uses fermentation to turn microbes into alternative meat. Paul is a five-time TEDx speaker, the host of the Business for Good Podcast, and a long-time leader in food sustainability.

As an authority on food and agriculture sustainability, Paul has been interviewed by numeorous news outlets—ranging from CNN to StarTalk Radio with Neil deGrasse Tyson. He has also published hundreds of articles in publications like the Washington Post, Scientific American, FORTUNE, and academic journals. In 2023, Paul was named as a Most Admired CEO by the Sacramento Business Journal.

Johanna Velez is Vice President of Quality Assurance for Monin Americas, having joined the brand in 2002. With more than 27 years in the food industry, Johanna has a wealth of experience in leading, directing, and guiding the company’s food safety and quality programs at all Monin North America locations. She successfully led Monin to achieve Safe Quality Foods (SQF) and Organic certifications for both the Clearwater, Florida and Sparks, Nevada facilities, resulting in an "Excellent" rating for the brand’s food safety practices. Prior to Monin, Johanna spent five years at Wild Flavors (now Archer-Daniels-Midland Company) in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is a member of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), including the Florida IFT Division, as well as the Bay Area Manufacturers Association (BAMA). Johanna graduated from Louisiana State University and later attended Michigan State University to obtain her certification in Food Law and Regulations.