The Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness, a program of the nonprofit consumer advocacy group Stop Foodborne Illness, proudly announces its annual list of 40 Under 40 Food Safety Professionals, Class of 2025.
This group represents innovative minds dedicated to advancing food safety and protecting public health worldwide. The up-and-coming professionals demonstrate exceptional leadership, groundbreaking research, and significant contributions to the field of food safety and food safety culture.
The 2025 honorees were selected based on their accomplishments, impact, and potential to shape the future of food safety. They come from diverse backgrounds, including trade associations, academia, media, industry and health agencies, which reflects the multifaceted nature of the food safety landscape.
“In our third year of recognizing the next wave of outstanding leaders in food safety, we continue to be inspired by the passion and achievements reflected in this year’s applications,” said Vanessa Coffman, PhD, Alliance Director at Stop Foodborne Illness. “Foodborne illness remains a serious challenge, but the future is bright thanks to the collaboration, innovation, and drive of the next generation of leaders. We’re proud to recognize those who are shaping the future of food safety in 2025 and beyond.”
Sandra Eskin, CEO of Stop Foodborne Illness, adds: “I am confident that the Class of 2025, 40 Under 40, will play a defining role in shaping the future of food safety and building a safer food system for all. I’m proud of our 40 Food Safety Professionals Under 40 program because it provides a platform for the cohort to build professional relationships, which will benefit food safety in the future.”
For more information about 40 Food Safety Professionals Under 40, Class of 2025 and previous years’ honorees, click here.
The 2025 class is as follows.
Alexander Ikhimwin
Alexander is a seasoned food safety and quality expert with over a decade of leadership in the food and beverage industry. He currently serves as Technological Controller for Nigerian Breweries (Heineken Nigeria), where he oversees food safety and quality systems. His career includes roles as Heineken Process and Trade Compliance Manager and Quality Manager, where he led transformative initiatives that strengthened food safety standards, compliance, and product quality across breweries producing over 12 million hectoliters annually.
Alexandra Belias
Alexandra is the Food Safety Director – Southeast at Fresh Express, where she is responsible for the east coast agricultural operations food safety program, environmental monitoring, and provides corporate food safety and quality oversight for the Columbia, SC facility. Prior to working at Fresh Express, Alexandra was the Food Safety Director of Agricultural Operations at McEntire Produce. She volunteers her time as a member of the Center for Produce Safety Technical Committee.
Andrew Wood
Andrew has 10 years of experience in the food safety industry, and is a passionate and driven leader who strives to deliver excellent customer service, education, and solutions. As the Director of Business Development at ASI Food Safety, Wood oversees and manages the sales activities of the company. He educates ASI’s customers about the latest trends, regulations and best practices in the food safety industry, providing them with customized solutions that meet their needs and expectations.
Asbah Hadi
Asbah is a seasoned food safety and quality professional with more than a decade of experience spanning the public health and food industries. As a Manager of Food Safety and Quality at US Foods, she leads cross-functional initiatives to strengthen food safety across a wide portfolio of exclusive brand products and suppliers. Her previous leadership at Get Fresh Produce included implementing the Provision digital food safety platform, enhancing allergen controls, driving multi-site audit successes and creating a positive food safety culture.
Bill Hsu
Bill is a Product Manager at Taco Bell. With a background in food science, holding degrees from Chapman University and Cal Poly Pomona. Bill brings a collaborative approach to food safety, fully embracing the idea that we win or lose together as an industry. He works with transparency and best practice sharing. He has been a part of initiatives to improve food safety practices and culture within his supply chain and community, including work with the Leafy Greens Safety Coalition, Commercial Food Sanitation’s Continuum program, and various advisory councils including Animal Welfare and Produce Food Safety within Taco Bell’s parent company, Yum! Brands.
Brittany Mullins
Brittany is Corporate Quality Expert at Nestlé USA. With more than 15 years of experience, she has driven impactful improvements across contract manufacturing and laboratory operations. Her leadership in food safety culture includes GEMBA walks, recognition programs, and award lunches that empower frontline teams and promote transparency. Previously, at the Nestlé Quality Assurance Center. Brittany is an ISO 9001 Lead Auditor. Brittany has led initiatives that reduced consumer complaints by over 50 percent, implemented performance routines that halved underperforming sites, and launched programs like the “Quality Summer Series” to elevate technical capabilities across the supply chain.
Brooke Roman
Brooke is the Director of Global Validation and Certification at Neogen Corporation, where she helps meet a very practical need for promoting food safety — reliable testing methods. Brooke’s career at Neogen started in Research & Development, where she was the lead scientist on two product launches for mycotoxin detection using an aqueous extraction. For the past eight years, she has overseen the Validation department, a team of scientists who work to improve and maintain Neogen’s scope of external approvals and validations (e.g. MicroVal, AOAC Performance Tested MethodsSM).
Caio César Pacheco Carvalho
Caio began his career producing fine cheeses and worked for nearly 10 years in the aseptic packaging and equipment industry. Currently, he serves as Cargill’s Lead Microbiologist for Latin America, responsible for supporting all of the company’s operations in Latin America, focusing on defining microbiological standards, analytical methods, sampling plans, process validations, microbiological risk assessments, HACCP, Environmental Monitoring Program, Hygienic Design and Sanitation, and training related to microbiology and food safety.
Caleb Adan Blassey
Caleb is a food safety consultant, systems trainer, and regulatory advisor with over a decade of experience advancing food safety culture across West Africa. As a Consulting Partner at Calswards Consult, he has guided more than 30 enterprises to achieve ISO and FSSC 22000 certifications. Caleb has led gap assessments and delivered HACCP training to SMEs, youth, women-led businesses, and persons with disabilities — making food safety inclusive and accessible. His expertise spans diverse sectors, including spices, cereals, fruits, and ready-to-eat foods.
Caitlin Karolenko
Caitlin is a food microbiologist and Scientific Program Manager at the Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences (IAFNS) in Washington D.C. She leads cross-sector projects that connect government, industry and academia to address critical food safety challenges. Her work spans from organizing high-impact symposia to playing a pivotal role in a public-private partnership to advance data-driven pathogen control policies. She also oversees institute-wide initiatives to promote the highest standards of scientific integrity in food and nutrition research.
Celina To
Celina brings 14 years of academic and industry experience to her role as a Food Safety & Quality Specialist with Nelson-Jameson, where she drives innovation in lab supply chain and FSQA operations. Prior to joining Nelson-Jameson, she made significant contributions in application development of nanopore sequencing for the food industry, working alongside global thought leaders from GenomeTrakr, PulseNet and NGS Microbiology Forum to bring game-changing tools in today’s dynamic landscape of smarter food safety. She helps labs reduce costs and turnaround times through digitization and rapid food diagnostics following AOAC, ISO, and global regulatory guidelines.
Chao Zhou
Chao is a senior food safety and regulatory compliance leader with over 12 years of progressive experience in the food industry. He currently serves as Corporate Director of Regulatory Compliance at a leading food company in the industry, where he oversees supplier quality assurance, regulatory programs, and food safety initiatives. In 2024, he was awarded a patent for an AI-based food safety risk assessment and early warning system. Chao has played a pivotal role in advancing supplier quality systems, driving digital transformation in supply chain compliance processes, and strengthening food safety culture across multiple manufacturing plants.
Christina Allingham
Christina is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her current work is in collaboration with the Institute of Applied Life Sciences at UMass, where she is co-developing a novel sanitizer for dry food processing applications. During her PhD, Christina collaborated with partners in academia and industry on a variety of projects related to food safety regulation, sanitation, and human norovirus awareness. Her research resulted in a novel method for observing sanitation-related behaviors in food retail without imposing bias, and the development of a hybrid sanitation program for small food producers.
Daniel Weller
Daniel is a Senior Epidemiologist in the Enteric Diseases Epidemiology Branch at the CDC, and an Adjunct Research Professor in the Department of Food Science at Virginia Tech and the Department of Biostatistics at the University of Rochester Medical Center. At CDC, Dr. Weller’s work focuses on developing novel approaches for modeling disease trends and risks, identifying sources of infection, and understanding disparities in illness burden. He has led CDC efforts on enteric disease surveillance and emergency response. He also serves as the subject matter expert for more than five enteric illnesses, as well as for several cross-cutting topics. His academic research focuses on the ecology and control of human pathogens in freshwater systems.
Dustin Heim
Dustin is the Food Safety, Quality, and Regulatory Manager at Cargill’s Monticello facility. With a strong passion for advancing food safety culture, Dustin has successfully led and implemented multiple initiatives across the industry. His contributions include driving behavior-based food safety conversations, co-developing the IAFP Food Safety Culture Toolkit, and designing Cargill’s culture survey and toolkit. He holds a Master of Science in Food Safety from Michigan State University, where his thesis focused on Creating a Behavior-Based Food Safety Culture Training Program for Food Manufacturers.
Ellen Shumaker
Ellen is the Director of Outreach for the Safe Plates Program at North Carolina State University. She leads a food safety extension program supporting consumers, retailers, regulators, and community groups. This includes the development and delivery of food safety programs and courses, as well as other educational material such as factsheets and social media content. She designs, implements, and evaluates a variety of food safety messages to better understand food handling behavior and to provide research-based approaches to improve food safety.
Gustavo Reyes
Gustavo is Senior Manager of Food Safety and Predictive Analytics at Western Growers Association (WGA). His academic research produced supply-chain simulation models that quantified how interventions, such as sampling and process controls, reduce microbial risks in leafy greens. His expertise centers on integrating food safety science with advanced data analytics to create proactive, data-driven solutions for the produce industry. Gustavo also leads the LGMA amendment process, ensuring industry standards reflect the latest science through a transparent, inclusive approach.
Jada Jackson
Jada works as a Microbiological Scientist in the Scientific Affairs department at bioMérieux. Jada’s work includes performing validation and feasibility studies of cutting-edge microbiological methods, ensuring they meet or exceed regulatory standards set by the USDA, FDA, and AOAC. Jada consistently supports food industry partners in interpreting and implementing best practices, while ensuring comfortability when food testing. Her scientific precision and thought leadership are reflected in her nine co-authored publications and conference presentations, including at IAFP.
Jasmine Kataria
Jasmine is an R&D scientist at Kerry Ingredients in Beloit, WI. Her doctoral work advanced rapid quantification methods for Salmonella and Campylobacter in poultry. During her masters’ she validated the concept of “Functional Ice” in poultry, contributing to her research group earning the Spirit of Sustainability Award. At Kerry, Kataria leads the development and validation of clean-label antimicrobials for beverages and pet foods, advancing food protection initiatives and ensuring alignment with business and customer needs.
Jenn Pollock
Jenn is the Chief Operating Officer at Zero Hour Health (ZHH), where she drives operational strategy and helps the company set the standard for food safety, employee health, and outbreak prevention in the foodservice and hospitality industries. At ZHH, Jenn works to turn broad public health guidance into straightforward, actionable steps that apply to the managers and frontline workers who need to execute them. Jenn leads organizations through crisis situations like foodborne illness outbreaks.
Jessica Tulgestka Fulghom
Jessica is a food safety and quality assurance executive with more than 15 years of experience leading national programs across the foodservice and prepared foods sectors. Currently serving as Vice President of FSQA National Programs & Foodservice at Taylor Fresh Foods, she oversees multi-site compliance, customer partnerships, and strategic initiatives that elevate food safety standards nationwide. Jessica has spearheaded the implementation of advanced technologies, including an AI camera system at the largest foodservice facility in the U.S., and developed a comprehensive East Coast GAP program modeled after successful West Coast practices.
Joseph “Austin” Addison
Austin is an Environmental Health Specialist V with the Georgia Department of Public Health. His work focuses on food safety, including plan reviews and inspections. He has led projects to improve vendor compliance and inspector consistency at temporary food events by compiling and analyzing inspection data and developing training materials and handouts for inspectors and vendors. Austin is also an instructor for NEHA, instructing the Temporary Food Establishments course, among others.
Kate Reid
Kate has more than a decade of experience in food safety and risk management and she has driven innovation, education, and collaboration to strengthen food safety culture nationwide. In 2023, Kate joined Food Allergy Canada to lead national foodservice strategy and launched Think Food Allergy, a free program equipping foodservice operators with practical allergen management tools. Beyond her professional role, she lectures at universities, chairs George Brown College’s Culinary Nutrition Program Advisory Committee, mentors graduate students. Recognized for her leadership and commitment to mentorship, Kate is championing a stronger, more inclusive food safety system for the future.
Katie Edwards Oda
Katie is a Product Manager on the Taco Bell FSQA team leading food safety initiatives in produce and sauce categories. She drives strategic efforts to strengthen food safety culture and enhance supplier performance while ensuring food safety is integrated at every stage from new product development to launch at more than 8,000 restaurants nationwide. Katie holds an MS from Washington State University, where she conducted microbial food safety research mitigating Listeria monocytogenes contamination on produce.
Keisha Rainey
Keisha is a Food Systems Leader and owner of Roots & Rain LLC. The company helps organizations, women, and historically impacted farmers enhance their agricultural footprint by providing resources, training, and effective collaboration. She has successfully trained more than 1,000 producers on USDA food safety standards, guided more than 200 producers through successful Harmonized (GAP & GAP Plus) audits, and developed comprehensive food safety plans and a curriculum centered on value-added products.
Komsan Phongphakdee
With more than a decade of experience in Quality & Food Safety, currently as a Senior Quality Manager, Komsan has made a robust food safety culture within his organization. The most impactful initiative was the “Food Safety at Heart” project. The core objective of this project is to instill a behavior change among staff, encouraging them to consistently do the right thing for food safety from their HEART at every step of working. He has been working closely with cross-functional teams to ensure every part of organization is aligned and moving towards the same goal.
Kristen Saniga
Kristen is the Vendor Food Safety and Compliance Manager at Hissho Sushi, a retail sushi company. Her career spans academia, manufacturing and retail. In her current role, Kristen manages the supplier approval program with a risk-based approach to ensure all suppliers and ingredients meet regulatory requirements and internal standards. She has led efforts to streamline the approval process and restructure supplier tracking to improve data accessibility and compliance. Kristen supports food safety across Hissho Sushi locations through inspections and personalized training.
Lauren DiPrete
Lauren is the Outbreak Response supervisor for the Southern Nevada Health District. She started as an Environmental Health Specialist I, performing routine food inspections
at mom and pop restaurants and large events. She then became the co-principal investigator for a CDC EHS-Net Cooperative Agreement where she leads research into ways to improve food safety. She has led multiple outbreak investigations including an investigation into nonviral hepatitis linked to alkaline water, a large norovirus outbreak at local resort hotel, and thallium toxicity linked to imported sweets. She currently supervises the team that investigates all foodborne illness in Southern Nevada.
Louis Ebenezer Nkansah
Louis is a food safety and public health professional with more than a decade of expertise advancing Quality Food Safety (QFS), and regulatory compliance. As a Food Safety Auditor at AssureCloud, his work transcends borders, helping organizations strengthen their systems and safeguard consumer well-being worldwide. Through the Food Safety Hub, he actively promotes food safety culture with initiatives such as World Food Safety Day engagements, street campaigns, and tailored coaching. His mentoring programs continue to empower individuals to build meaningful careers in food safety, broadening the field’s influence and reach.
Marcia Brown
Marcia is a food and agriculture reporter for Politico, where she has reported on federal agencies and the food industry since 2022. Recently, she has led the team’s coverage of the second Trump administration’s overhaul of federal food agencies and its impact on farmers, consumers and workers.Before Politico, she covered antitrust policy and the meat industry for The Capitol Forum. At The American Prospect, she reported on labor, immigration and climate. Her work has been cited by Congress and the media. She is a regular contributor on radio, podcasts and TV, recently appearing on NPR and CBS.
Matthew Moore
Matthew is an Associate Professor and Eric A. Decker Scholar in the Department of Food Science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is on the National Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Team at the CDC as an ORISE Postdoctoral Fellow. Matt joined UMass in 2018, and his research focuses on food safety with a focus on foodborne and environmental viruses. In food safety, he has over 70 peer-reviewed publications, 4 textbook chapters, 2 patents, delivered numerous research seminars related to food safety nationally and internationally.
Meghan Holst
With extensive food safety expertise at both state and federal levels, Meghan has served as a Health Scientist at the CDC since 2018, working in the National Center for Environmental Health. Meghan helps manage the National Environmental Assessment Reporting System (NEARS), to gather data on the environmental factors of foodborne illness outbreaks in retail settings. Her roles include data modernization, analysis and publication, and advising state and local health departments. Recently, she helped develop tabletop learning exercises for inspectors to better understand how and why foodborne illness outbreaks occur.
Melanie Firestone
Melanie is an Assistant Professor and Epidemiologist in the School of Public Health (University of Minnesota). She partners across sectors including industry, academia, and government to conduct program and policy evaluations, understand the role of consumers in emerging food safety issues, identify root causes of foodborne illness, and to conduct research to inform prevention opportunities to drive declines in the occurrence of foodborne illness. She has also conducted novel research linking restaurant inspections to foodborne illness outcomes to better understand the role restaurants play in foodborne illness transmission.
Pranav Vashisht
Pranav is a food science researcher and Continuous Improvement Specialist II at Idaho Milk Products, where he leads transformative projects in dairy processing to enhance quality, safety and efficiency. Pranav’s leadership extends beyond the lab — he serves on editorial boards, judges international competitions, and holds distinguished roles including board membership and service on scientific advisory panels with global organizations like IFT. His research spans evaluating the aspects of novel and traditional processing in the dairy sector with a strong focus on safety.
Sai Samudrala
Sai is a Quality & Regulatory Compliance Manager at LifeLine Foods, with eight years of leadership experience in the food industry. He holds certifications in SQF Practitioner, PCQI, Better Process Control School, FDQI, and FSSC 22000 Internal Auditor. Sai’s expertise spans dairy products, ready-to-eat products, meat industry and non-ready-to-eat foods. As the primary GFSI (SQF) Practitioner, Sai manages external audits, Kosher and Organic inspections, and State Department of Health & Agriculture audits. He performs quality assessments, internal audits, and ensures compliance with regulations and customer requirements.
Samantha Kaur
Samantha has more than six years of experience in both the public and private sectors, currently working as as a Quality Assurance Field Specialist at Wawa. During her regulatory career, Samantha supervised a team of REHS staff members and was instrumental as a standardizing officer, leading the effort to train six inspectors on the application of the FDA Food Code. Samantha collected and analyzed data from 200-300 restaurants to identify and reduce foodborne illness risks in her jurisdiction by creating interventions that were implemented into policy.
Shivaprasad Doddabematti Prakash
Shivaprasad is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Grain Science and Industry at Kansas State University, specializing in food microbiology and the safety of low-moisture foods. His doctoral research tackles the urgent global challenge of foodborne illnesses linked to grain-based products, developing strategies to control pathogens such as Salmonella and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli across grain supply chains. By integrating microbiology, engineering, and industry collaboration, his work delivers science-based solutions that enhance food safety from farm to table.
Sophie Tongyu Wu
Sophie holds a joint position as a senior research assistant at University of Lancashire and a core team member at Cultivate SA. Sophie introduced organizational psychology ideas into her food safety work. Her research on middle managers’ sensemaking has not only piqued interest among international food safety conferences and webinars, but increased the food safety value and appreciation in the companies she has worked with to mobilize their middle managers and move beyond compliance. To date Sophie worked with 45 global food companies to improve their food safety culture.
Stephanie Teclaw
Stephanie is the Director of FSQA, Regulatory & Sustainability at Grimmway Produce Group, a supplier of organic and conventional potatoes and onions. She oversees Food Safety, Quality Assurance, Regulatory Compliance, Sustainability, and Social Responsibility. Her career began in neuroimmunology research at Mayo Clinic before transitioning into more than a decade of leadership in grocery retail Food Protection and Regulatory Affairs.
Tamar Melkonian
Tamar is the FSQA Director at a leading pistachio company, where she oversees food safety and quality assurance with a strong focus on protecting public health. Her background includes extensive laboratory experience in microbiological and chemical analyses, including pesticide residue testing. This technical foundation supports her data-driven approach to managing food safety risks and implementing continuous improvement strategies across the supply chain.
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