Ep. 94. Ruth Petran: Influence of Sanitation on Public Health

Dr. Ruth Petran is a passionate yet practical food safety scientist, and Principal of Ruth Petran Consulting, LLC. Prior to starting her own business, Ruth held technical food safety and public health leadership roles at Ecolab, Pillsbury, and General Mills.  She is skilled at tactical application of technical food safety risk management strategies, spanning the global farm to fork supply chain, and has focused on managing safety and quality concerns of microbiologically sensitive foods and systems. She has led food safety assessments at food manufacturing facilities worldwide, focusing on applied HACCP systems and regulatory compliance.

Dr. Petran is President-Elect of the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) and served two terms on the US National Advisory Committee for Microbiological Criteria for Foods. She is a Certified Food Scientist and chaired the Minnesota Food Safety and Defense Task Force. 

Her Bachelor’s degree is in Consumer Food Science from Cornell University and she holds an M.Sc. in Food Science and a Ph.D. in Public Health both from the University of Minnesota.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to Ruth [26:00] about:

• Applying technical data and putting risk management strategies into practice
• Multiple influences on public health
• The role of the hazard analysis
• FDA’s summary of inspection violations from FY 2020
• How poorly implemented sanitation protocols impact food safety
• The importance of facility design and maintenance to sanitation
• Impact of documentation and training on sanitation
• Asking for help with your sanitation program
• Stories from the field
• How sanitation practices should change moving forward
• Ongoing sanitation challenges, such as turnover
• Sanitation changes as a result of the pandemic

References from Ruth Petran:
FDA Violations Found FY2020
Penn State's SSOP guide
U Fla Sanitation info

Bob Ferguson, Strategic Consulting, Food Safety Insights [14:46]
Food Safety Testing to Continue to Increase in 2021

News and Resources:
Frank Busta to Receive Food Safety Magazine Distinguished Service Award
FDA Advances Safety of Leafy Greens
FDA’s Warning Shot for Leafy Greens – Micheal Taylor Opinion piece in Food Safety News
U.S. House of Representatives Passes Food Allergen Safety Treatment Education and Research Act

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