Fresh Produce Safety Conference 2023 Speakers
Keynote Presentation
Dr Ana Allende
Dr Allende is a Senior Researcher from CEBAS-CSIC (Spanish National Research Council) with a focus on the safety of fresh produce, Dr Allende obtained her PhD in Food Science and Technology at the University of Cartagena, (Spain) and has published more than 230 research articles in peer-reviewed international journals. Her research activity has been focused on the safety aspects of fruits and vegetables, specifically, on leafy greens and fresh-cut products from pre-harvest to post-harvest operations. Her research topics deal with the study of preventive and intervention strategies implemented through good agricultural practices, and the optimisation of processing operations including water disinfection in the agro-food industry, that impacts product quality and safety.
Session One – Preparing for the future, protecting citizens
Vincent Arbuckle
Vincent joined the Ministry for Primary Industries in November 2018 and is currently Deputy Director-General New Zealand Food Safety. Prior to this, he was Deputy Director-General Compliance and Governance, and held senior roles in Corrections, the New Zealand Fire Service, and AXA New Zealand.
Dr Lisa Szabo
Lisa joined the New South Wales Food Authority as its chief scientist in January 2006 and became its chief executive officer in 2015. The Food Authority is a statutory authority in Australia’s most populous state and is responsible for food regulation across the food supply chain.
Prior to joining the New South Wales Food Authority, Lisa worked at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation for 11 years. There she led and managed long-term research projects for various food industry sectors.
Lisa has a Bachelor of Science degree with Honours and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in microbiology from the University of Queensland. She had post-doctoral research experiences in the United Kingdom and Germany. Lisa has been an expert advisor or member on several international, national, and state government inquires and committees. In the Australia New Zealand bi-national food regulatory system, Lisa represents the interests of New South Wales.
Christel Leemhuis
Christel is the General Manager of Science and Risk Assessment at Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ). Christel is a public health nutritionist and has worked in the food regulatory system for over 20 years for both government and the private sector. Christel is responsible for scientific and risk assessment functions of the agency that includes biological sciences and genetically modified foods, chemical safety (toxicology) and nutrition, food data and analysis (food composition and dietary modelling, international and chemical residue related activities.
Session chair: Farzana Adams
Previously the Head of Global Quality and Technical responsible for food safety, quality and technical teams across the end-to-end Zespri Kiwifruit Supply Chain. Farzana’s 20-year global food-sector career spans many industries, including fresh produce, seafood, poultry, beverages and biological vaccines for animal health. Farzana is a board member of the FPSC-ANZ.
Session Two – Too little or too much: climate change, water and food safety
Dr Andrew Ball
Andrew has a M.Sc. in microbiology from The University of Tasmania and a PhD in Public Health from Otago University.
Andrew has worked in Public Health and water microbiology since 1982, at Hobart PHL, AWT Sydney, ESR in New Zealand and at WaterNSW for the past 11 years as Principal Water Quality Advisor. He has been involved in developing the NZ Drinking-water Standards and the Health Based Targets system in Australia and chairs the Standards Australia Water Microbiology Methods Committee.
Dr Jannatun Nahar
Dr Jannatun Nahar is an Extended Prediction Specialist in the Environmental Prediction Services team at the Bureau of Meteorology. She is a professional hydro-climatologist specialised in climate projection and has more than 15 years of experience in climate and hydrology sector. She obtained her PhD from University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia) in climate modelling and drought projection. Jannatun is passionate about interpreting the impact of climate change and bringing larger scale climate information into the time, space and sector specific domain based on customer needs. She has experience in Australian water assessments, especially for the Murray-Darling Basin. Other areas of her expertise include experience in developing Design Rainfalls and extreme rainfall analysis.
Graham Fletcher
Graham Fletcher is a food microbiologist and leads the Food Safety and Preservation research team within the New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited. His team supports industry by carrying out research on the microbial safety, post-harvest processing, and preservation of seafood, and on the safety of fresh horticultural produce for the New Zealand industry. He also supports international development programmes, ensuring that vegetable producers have appropriate tools to ensure the food safety of their produce. Graham has a wealth of food safety research experience, starting in 1980, and is the author of about 80 peer-reviewed scientific publications with a particular focus on Listeria, Vibrio and histamine producing bacteria. He has been a regular speaker at New Zealand and international conferences.
Session chair: Miffy Gilbert
Miffy is an enthusiastic advocate for family farming and is interested in exploring how farmer collaboration, technology and consumers can come together to reshape supply chains. A horticulturist from Victoria, Miffy has been instrumental in the foundation and establishment phases at AusBerry Farmers, a single sales and marketing desk to simplify the supply chain and give family farms access to large retailers.
Miffy is a mentor as part of the Australian Rural Leadership Program and a graduate of the National Farmers Federation Diversity in Agricultural Leadership Program (2021) as well as a bursary recipient to participate in the Women & Leadership Australia course (2019).
She is a director of Strawberries Australia Inc. as well as the current Chair of the Victorian Strawberry Growers Association, and a board member of the FPSC-ANZ.
Session Three – Next Gen Research: bad bugs, good bugs
Dr Emily White
Emily White is a Graduate Water Quality Scientist at WaterNSW, living on Bidjigal land. Emily has an Honours degree in Environmental Systems and a PhD in the quality of fresh produce irrigation water sources from The University of Sydney. Her current area of focus is on identifying potential sources of pathogens in Sydney’s catchments, and managing microbial risks along the catchment-to-customer chain.
Dr Penelope Galbraith
Penelope is a multi-disciplinary early career scientist with ~ 6 years’ research experience and 2 years’ industry experience across the fields of microbial ecology, public health microbiology, environmental science, environmental engineering and integrated water management (IWM). In April 2023, Penelope commenced a postdoctoral research fellowship at CSIRO within the Microbes for One System Health platform. This team is developing novel understanding around microbial connectivity across the environment-to-human continuum, with the goal of designing bio-based solutions for improving ecological and human health. Within this team, Penelope’s work centres on investigating the microbial communities inhabiting fresh produce. Ultimately, she aims to advance understanding around whether these can be optimised to reduce spoilage and enhance consumer health outcomes.
Session chair: Professor Robyn McConchie
Professor Robyn McConchie has been involved in postharvest research and education for over 35 years working on minimising pesticide use, and more recently food safety, and development of functional foods from waste. She has worked at the University of Sydney for 20 years and while there worked closely with industry to initiate the Fresh Produce Safety Centre hosted. Robyn was also Director of the Australian Research Council Centre for Food Safety in the Fresh Produce Industry (2017-2021) which conducted industry-focused research to develop practical solutions to minimise food safety risks in fresh produce across the value chain. The Centre also trained a new generation of research professionals, to drive future food safety research. Robyn has led many international research and capacity building projects across Southeast Asia, the Pacific and Africa to address food security issues including diversifying diet through crop interventions and increasing impact of agricultural research. She is a member and graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Robyn is a board member of the FPSC-ANZ.
Session Four – Synergies and solutions: learning from other industries
Dr Andrew Wilson
Andrew Wilson is the Acting Chief Executive Officer at Dairy Food Safety Victoria, responsible for the administration of licensing and compliance verification across the Victorian dairy industry. Andrew has been working in food safety regulation across primary production and processing commodities for the past 13 years, joining DFSV from Safe Food Production Queensland. During this time, he has developed a keen interest in alternative regulatory compliance models, the influence of human behaviours on compliance culture and the use of data analytics and innovative technology to drive regulatory outcomes. His background is in production Agricultural Science, animal health and molecular microbiology, in both research and commercial roles.
Dr Libby Harrison
Libby joined the New Zealand Food Safety Science and Research Centre (NZFSSRC) on 18 July 2022 as the third Director.
Libby is a scientist, manager and leader with over 20 years of experience in leadership and management of science and scientists. Libby has a PhD in insect pest control and experience of environmental regulation of chemicals and organisms. She first came to New Zealand from the UK in 2002 to work at the Ministry for the Environment as a manager in the policy division responsible for legislative amendments following the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification.
Libby has worked on Executive Teams for the Crown Research Institutes Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research and more recently the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR). Libby worked for the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) from 2013-15 establishing New Zealand’s eleven National Science Challenges.
Libby has governance experience through her role as a Trustee and Board member of the Wellington Ecosanctuary Zealandia. Libby is also on the Governance Group and Kahui M?ori for the Healthier Lives National Science Challenge, hosted by Otago University and a Board member of Grasslanz a wholly owned subsidiary of AgResearch a provider of plant technology.
Session chair: Deon Mahoney
Deon Mahoney is Head of food safety at IFPA ANZ, providing advice, technical support, and guidance addressing food safety for the fresh produce industry. Deon has wide-ranging, long-term experience in food safety. He has post graduate qualifications from the University of Sydney, and over his career he has undertaken many roles including: training and education, microbiological risk assessment, risk communication, food policy development, development and enforcement of food legislation, and establishing quality assurance programs. Deon has previously worked for the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization, as well as with Food Standards Australia New Zealand, and Dairy Food Safety Victoria. During his career he has worked in over 25 countries. Deon is a fellow of Australia Institute of Food Science and Technology and a non-executive Director on the AIFST Board. Deon is a board member of the FPSC-ANZ.
Session Five – Short and sharp: news and trends from the US
Drew McDonald
Drew is the Senior Vice President Quality & Food Safety at Taylor Fresh Foods, Salinas CA. He has 27 years experience in Fresh Produce and Fresh Foods. He oversees the quality and food safety programs across the food service, retail, and deli operations. Drew works with an impressive team developing and managing appropriate and practical quality and food safety programs for fresh food and produce products. Over the course of his career he has worked with growers and processors of fresh food and produce items all over the world. He currently serves on numerous food safety-related technical committees and has participated in the authorship of many produce food safety articles and guidelines. He is the current chairman of the Center for Produce Food Safety’s Technical Committee, Co-Chair of AFDO’s Healthy People 2030 Agriculture Water Committee and the outgoing Chairman of United Fresh’s Technical Council. Drew received his education from Lawrence University in Wisconsin.
Session chair: Belinda Wilson-Chartres
Belinda Wilson-Chartres has over 25 years’ experience in the fresh food industry with previous roles in management, marketing, operations and quality assurance along with providing technical and auditing expertise to local and international certification bodies. Belinda is the Director of Fresh Business Directions, specialising in fresh produce compliance consulting and Fresh Business Training, a registered training organisation specialising in food safety and quality training. Belinda holds a Bachelor of Management (International Marketing), a Bachelor of Business (Operations Management and Quality Assurance), and further qualifications in Food Safety and Quality Management, Food Technology and Nutrition. Belinda is an active member of the Technical Advisory Group for HARPS and is a board member of the FPSC-ANZ.
Session Six – Fresh produce food safety: New ideas, new ways
Katherine Campbell
Katherine is Chief Commercial Officer of Source Certain, a global provider of provanence testing and forensic science services. She is responsible for driving growth through domestic and global markets, key partner client engagement, commercialisation of new technologies and services. Katherine has 15 years of senior operational leadership experience within the biotechnology industry, acquired in Australia, New Zealand and the US. She holds a BSc in Microbiology from Massey University in New Zealand.
Michael Dossor
Michael is a well-known packaging industry personality and general manager of Result Group. He is an active industry contributor, participating in education forums and on advisory groups helping to shape the packaging industry’s future. Michael is passionate about identifying new packaging technologies, processes and materials with the potential to drive innovation whilst also being committed to achieve greater sustainability and food waste control in the packaging space. He also has a keen interest in transforming brands’ packaging into digital identities and has been responsible for launching a number of smart packaging technologies not available until now on the Australian market.
In recent years Michael has developed a passion for Food Waste. He brings the most unique innovations and sustainable solutions to the country and shares his expertise by speaking about the importance of the role of Active & Intelligent packaging in minimizing food loss and water across the value chain.
Dr Eric Altermann
Eric Altermann is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the School of Veterinary Science at Massey University, and Director of Blue Barn Life Sciences Ltd. and Chief Science Officer at PPDx (Oregon, USA). He received his PhD at the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany on bacteriophage in lactobacilli. Between 2000 and 2006 he worked in the group of Prof Todd Klaenhammer at the North Carolina State University (NC, USA) on the first Lactobacillus genome sequencing projects. Between 2006 and 2022 he held positions as Senior Research Scientist and Principal Scientist at AgResearch Ltd., New Zealand where he was working on new strategies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions originating from ruminants and lead the development of the new non-GMO ‘Accelerated Evolution’ technology platform. Eric has a strong interest in bioinformatics of prokaryotes and is developing software packages for genome annotation and comparative genome analyses, investigating the genetic makeup of bacteria and archaea in methane mitigation, food and nutrition, and other areas. Together with Professor Nigel French, he is now co-leading the MBIE Endeavour program “Smart Bioplastics” aiming to develop new compostable and/or edible food packaging materials that extend shelf-life through the application of functionalised bioparticles. The underlying technology platform will be further developed and the commercial application space explored.
Session chair: Andrew Redman
Andrew Redman is the Chief Technical Officer for Perfection Fresh Australia and is focussed on bringing a commercial and collaborative leadership style to deliver improved food safety and quality of fresh produce that deliver against ever increasing consumer expectations. Perfection Fresh Australia is one of the Australia’s largest growers, marketers and processors of fresh fruit and vegetables operating nationally across multiple produce categories with significant market share in each. Andrew has broad global experience with over 20 years in the food industry in senior Quality and Research roles, working for some of the world’s largest food manufacturers including General Mills, Danone, Mars and Campbells Soups. Andrew is a board member of the FPSC-ANZ.
Session Seven – Fresh news from the industry
Bianca Cairns
Bianca Cairns is an R&D Manager with the Horticulture industry Research and Development Corporation, Hort Innovation. Bianca has been with Hort Innovation for over seven years during which she has managed the Industry development, Industry Communications, Study Tours and Emerging Technology portfolios. She currently manages the Leadership, Training and Product integrity portfolios which encompass food safety and quality. Bianca is based in Brisbane and was trained as a Biotechnologist at University of Queensland. She has spent her career working in Australian agriculture, first sugarcane and now horticulture. She is an avid triathlete in her spare time and recently got back from a cycling holiday in Italy.
Kim Leighton
Mr Kim Leighton is the Sector Manager, Food and Biologicals at JAS-ANZ, where he has oversight of accreditation of third-party certification bodies to certification schemes in this sector. He provides support and engagement with Certification Bodies and Certification Program Owners in developing and applying certification requirements within Australia, New Zealand and internationally.
He is part of the interagency working group for the Digitalisation of Conformity Data supporting the data requirements for accreditation and certification bodies to participate in the system for conformity data information.
Session chair: Marguerite Delbet
Marguerite is the Executive Officer of the Fresh Produce Safety Centre. Marguerite has extensive private, public and not-for-profit sector experience in strategic leadership, operational delivery, governance, performance improvement and innovation.
After spending seven years with Ernst&Young in three countries, Marguerite worked for the New Zealand Apple and Pear Board as Strategic Development Manager, where she oversaw the industry’s research programme in new pipfruit varieties. She then held high profile strategic and operational leadership positions in New Zealand for New Zealand Post International, the Public Service Commission, the Ministry of Justice and the Auckland Council.
She holds a masters in management from France and an Executive masters in public administration from the Australia-New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG).