Food Safety Strategy

 01  Who do you work with?

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WE WORK WITH FOOD COMPANIES AND ORGANIZATIONS THAT...

✅ Grow, manufacture and/or distribute food, or represent those that do (including trade associations, foundations, and other not-for-profit groups working on food safety issues)

✅ Strive to be better than “good enough”, and want to go beyond the audit, beyond compliance, and push themselves- and the industry- forward. 

✅ Struggle with capacity, expertise, and/or the connections to move food safety to the next level

✅ Value science and strive to take risk-informed approaches

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We don't work with service providers (because we want to be able to give an objective recommendation to our clients), investment firms, and those outside the food system.

 

 02  Do you offer trainings? Are you available as an

instructor or a speaker?

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Yes! We often incorporate training and education into our client engagements. Teaching others-- seeing the light bulb go off when people begin to truly understand how to think about food safety risks- is one of the most gratifying parts of my job. Jennifer holds a certificate in adult education from ATD training and has created award winning food science and food safety educational programs. She's a lead instructor for the FSPCA PCQI, FSVP and traceability rule trainings. Gretchen helped develop, and is a lead trainer, for the PSA grower training.

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We speak on a variety of food safety and leadership topics. Here's a list of recent topics. Contact us for more details.

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-distinguishing hazard versus risk

-traceability: fact versus fiction

-Listeria and environmental monitoring program management

-handling regulatory inspections

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 03  What do you do? What's the benefit of working with

Food Safety Strategy?​

 

We gut-check your food safety thinking, to validate, or challenge it, by

1. Holistically reviewing your food safety program, and the rationale behind it

2. Bringing expertise and experience to move difficult conversations forward - whether within the organization, with regulators, or with other stakeholders. 

3. Analyzing, interpreting and applying relevant scientific research to your situation in light of practical considerations

4. Arming you with the knowledge and skills to continue to adapt to the changing food safety landscape

 

The result?

✅ Be able to defend your approach to food safety, whether to customers, regulators, auditors, or others.

✅ Have a network to lean on when you face new food safety challenges

✅ Stay updated on food safety happenings without having to attend every meeting or read every article

✅ Know that food safety policy and systems are risk-based and developed fairly

✅ Sleep soundly knowing you’re doing all you can to protect consumers

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Clients also receive invitations to quarterly client-only webinars for off the record conversations on hot topics, and are automatically subscribed to the client newsletter, which offers our insight on hot and late breaking topics.

 

 04  Can you serve as an expert witness?

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While we will consider reviewing cases and providing our expert, unbiased judgement, this falls outside the scope of what we typically do. We will help companies through a crisis and navigate the aftermath, supporting a root cause analysis and building preventive food safety systems, but expert witness work is less fun for us.

 

 05   What do other say about you? 

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“Dr. McEntire and her team bring a unique combination of technical expertise, extensive industry experience, and trusted relationships that foster collaboration and trust among stakeholders. This synergy enables them to deliver high-quality outcomes that are both practical and forward-thinking. Their support has been a boon to the Grower-Shipper Association, providing clarity and confidence in tackling complex food safety challenges.”

- Chris Valadez, CEO, Grower-Shipper Assn

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“Not only does she have the knowledge, she also totally gets the farmer's position; she has had boots on the ground!  In addition, her connections to both state and federal regulators are very impressive.  Even with the political changes, she has her fingers on the pulse of what is going on from the farm all the way to the FDA."

- Donna Lynn Browne, Naturipe Farms

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“What sets them apart is their deep knowledge of foodborne pathogens coupled with a practical risk management mindset. The team's amazing ability to collaboratively produce timely and technically rigorous work products have unequivocally supported our members’ needs. It would not be an exaggeration to say, they have directly enhanced the quality and impact of our food safety initiatives. As AFFI’s trusted advisor, Jennifer's scientific guidance has been invaluable in navigating complex technical challenges.”

-Dr. Sanjay Gummalla, American Frozen Food Institute

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 06  What are some top food safety resources?

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There's so much out there! Our goal is to connect you to them. Here are a few favorites (let us know if any links are broken):

- Food Safety Resource Clearinghouse  Here you'll find 1-pagers, templates, even courses, volunteered by food safety educators and stakeholders  

-CDC NORS  A great outbreak dashboard to see which organisms and foods have been associated with outbreaks

-FDA Data Dashboard  See a firms history: recalls, import alerts, inspections. Great to help with supply chain management