Meet the Food Safety Leadership Team

Meet FoodHandler’s Food Safety Leadership Team:

Jeannie Sneed, PhD, RD

Dr. Sneed has been an educator and researcher in foodservice operations and food safety for over 30 years. She retired as a professor and administrator from Kansas State University where she also served as a research professor for the Center of Excellence for Food Safety Research in Child Nutrition Programs funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. NSF International awarded her the Lifetime Achievement Award for Food Safety Education and Research in 2007. She holds a PhD in foodservice management with a minor in organizational behavior from The Ohio State University.

Catherine Strohbehn, PhD, RD, CP-FS

Dr. Strohbehn has been an educator and researcher in the areas of foodservice management and food safety since 1986. She is certified by the National Environmental Health Association as a professional in food safety. She is professor emeritus (August 2018) and extension specialist at Iowa State University where she also oversees the Food Safety Project website. She has developed many extension programs and materials in areas such as general food safety, buying local produce, and school nutrition operations. In 2010, she was recognized by NSF International with the Educator Award in 2010. She holds a PhD from Iowa State University.

Both Dr. Sneed and Dr. Strohbehn are registered dietitians with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and are registered ServSafe® instructors with the National Restaurant Association. They have received nearly $10 million in Federal, state, and private sources for research and education projects, with the majority focused on improving food safety in retail settings. They worked together at Iowa State University on several research and education projects focusing on food safety in schools, assisted living facilities, restaurants, and child care.

Contact them with any questions or comments at foodsafety@foodhandler.com

Person in Charge has Major Role Related to Employee Health

In the last blog, we talked about the importance of having healthy employees working in a foodservice operation and how that is related to foodborne illness. In this blog, we discuss employee health controls, one of five key public health interventions needed to control for risk factors of foodborne illness. The purpose of this control is to minimize the possibility that employees contaminate food. That means that employees need to be healthy, and that they report any symptoms or illnesses that might impact the safety of food served to customers.

Healthy Employees Keep Food Safe

Last month we talked about norovirus, the leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks. Today we will turn our attention to overall employee health, and its role in keeping food safe. Many of you who are in my generation can relate to the fact that you rarely called in to work sick, and when you did you probably couldn’t get out of bed. You may also relate to being a manager and discouraging people from calling in sick because it was so difficult to be short-handed. Well, that mind set just has to change for the health of everyone!