ORLANDO, Fla. — The food safety team from Schreiber Foods, Inc. received the International Dairy Foods Association’s (IDFA) 2023 Food Safety Leadership Award during IDFA’s Dairy Forum today. Staci Richardson, vice president of enterprise quality and food safety at Schreiber Foods, Inc., accepted the award on behalf of her team members. The award, now in its seventh year, honors an individual, group or organization for demonstrating outstanding leadership directed at enhancing food safety within the dairy products industry.
“The Schreiber team prioritizes improving food safety throughout the dairy industry,” said John Allan, IDFA vice president of regulatory affairs and international standards. “Their contributions have helped the industry develop fermentation risk assessments for yogurt and cream cheese, understand how to better reduce mold on cheese, develop rapid pathogen testing for a number of products and processes, and much more. IDFA is proud to present this year’s Food Safety Leadership Award to the team from Schreiber Foods.”
“This is very special recognition of the work our food safety team does tirelessly to protect consumers and customers and ensure safe food for everyone who enjoys dairy products,” said Richardson. “It’s such a prestigious and humbling honor that we were chosen out of all the IDFA member companies. This award is a testament to the full commitment to food safety we have at all levels of Schreiber Foods and the work that we do across the industry.”
Individuals from Schreiber Foods’ team are active members of IDFA’s Food Safety Committee and several other industry food safety groups and organizations. Experts from Schreiber regularly share resources, such as checklists, templates and best practices, author research articles, and they regularly make presentations to professional organizations committed to food safety in the dairy and broader food industries.
Previous recipients of the award are Jeremy Travis, Vice President of Quality & Technical Services for Hilmar Cheese Company, Inc. (2022), Dairy Farmers of America (2021), Edith Wilkin, Staff Vice President and Fellow, Food Safety and Regulatory Compliance, for Leprino Foods (2020); The Ice Cream Club, Inc. (2019); Brian Kraus, Director of Food Safety and Regulatory Compliance, Wells Enterprises, Inc. (2018); and the Cornell University Dairy Foods Extension team (2017).
A call for nominations for the 2024 Food Safety Leadership Award will be released this summer. More information about the award can be found here.
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The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), Washington, D.C., represents the nation’s dairy manufacturing and marketing industry, which supports more than 3.3 million jobs that generate $41.6 billion in direct wages and $753 billion in overall economic impact. IDFA’s diverse membership ranges from multinational organizations to single-plant companies, from dairy companies and cooperatives to food retailers and suppliers, all on the cutting edge of innovation and sustainable business practices. Together, they represent 90 percent of the milk, cheese, ice cream, yogurt and cultured products, and dairy ingredients produced and marketed in the United States and sold throughout the world. Delicious, safe and nutritious, dairy foods offer unparalleled health and consumer benefits to people of all ages.
