Ep. 121. Tim Stubbs: Uniting the Dairy Industry in Food Safety Goals

Tim Stubbs is Senior Vice President of Food Safety and Product Research at the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. He leads the Innovation Center's Food Safety Committee, an active group of food safety expert volunteers from processors and academia that shares best practices across companies, produces guidance documents, and conducts training. He also coordinates and funds dairy foods and food safety research projects at universities.

Mr. Stubbs has more than 30 years of food research and development experience in leadership roles at Kraft Foods, Sara Lee, Hillshire Brands, and the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. He has a broad background in food science and engineering, new product innovation, and food safety across a wide variety of product categories. He also sits on several food industry nonprofit boards and is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Food Safety Magazine.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak with Tim Stubbs [21:14] about:

• The creation and funding of the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy (IC), a dairy industry collective that addresses pre-competitive issues, such as food safety
• How the dairy industry and Dairy Management Incorporated (DMI), the national dairy checkoff program, makes IC's work possible
• How the IC unites the dairy industry through committees to tackle common goals, and the benefits of being a nonprofit
• How IC’s leadership team uses its knowledge and resources to deliver food safety training programs
• IC’s initiatives to compile and disseminate important data and knowledge to the dairy industry
• Work to address industry issues by developing best practices
• IC’s work in education, funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Resources that IC provides to dairy producers, including unique tools for artisan and small-scale dairy processors and workshops for large-scale processors
• Microbiological studies and academic collaborations supported by IC’s Listeria Research Consortium
• Opportunities for improvement and advances within the dairy industry
• The importance of constant diligence in ensuring that food safety basics are properly executed in dairy facilities.

News and Resources:

Some Salmonella Strains Undetected by Traditional Testing Methods [05:09] FSIS Classifies Salmonella Newport as Reoccurring Strain [12:02] Researchers to Develop Rapid Biosensor Pathogen Test [13:36] ISO Updates New Food Safety Certification Standards for World Food Safety Day [12:57] Free Food Safety Culture Toolkit by Stop Foodborne Illness [18:45] Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy Food Safety website Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy brochure with links to classes and tools Dairy Pathogen Controls Document Small Cheesemaker/Artisan Cheesemaker Food Safety website Ice Cream Food Safety website

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