Auditor Profile: Jesse Leal

After working for 22 years in the food industry, Jesse Leal is still learning as he goes. Leal worked in the snack food industry for 10 years before joining AIB’s audit staff in 1996. Now, after 12 years with AIB, he says he still learns new things every day.

Leal is a licensed pest control operator and is fluent in Spanish and English. During his employment with AIB, he has provided countless food safety audits and training sessions. Many times, he provides training sessions in English and Spanish simultaneously.

Leal spends most of his time providing services in the Western United States, but also travels regularly to Central and South America to conduct audits and present seminars. He is one of only two AIB instructors who present the Spanish version of our popular Food Defense Seminar. Leal also helped develop AIB’s Good Agricultural Practices seminar.

Some of Leal’s additional contributions to the food industry include making guest speaker appearances. This year, he represented AIB as a speaker at the Tortilla Industry Association in Arizona. Before he joined AIB, he was a guest speaker for a select group of industry leaders at the AG Expo in Guanaguato, Mexico, for future Mexican President Vicente Fox. He also has participated as a panel member in Honduras, addressing issues with exporting cheese into the United States.

AIB’s auditors often share interesting stories from their experiences on the road. One of Leal’s most memorable stories happened during his visit to one of our big baking customers. While he was auditing the outside grounds, a homeless man entered the property and began to complain to Leal about the products. Apparently, he thought Leal was in charge since several company employees were following him during the audit! The man explained that he regularly took products out of the Dumpsters and began complaining that he hadn’t found his favorite bread in the garbage in several weeks. When Leal told him that he was not a company employee, the man demanded to speak to the plant manager. It turns out that the product was discontinued several weeks before. The man was so upset that he left saying the company had just lost their best customer and that he was never going to eat their products again!

Although this was a rare occurrence, there are other audit experiences that Leal encounters far more often. During most audits, at least one company employee will ask Leal what he is looking for. Another popular question that he often hears is “How many points is that going to cost me?” Leal never gets tired of hearing these questions though because they give him opportunities to teach others how to improve their operations.

The best advice that Leal can give new AIB auditors is to always remember that you not only represent yourself, but you represent AIB and every other auditor on staff. “If you are professional then customers will think that AIB auditors are professional,” he said. “If you are unprofessional, they will have a negative impression of AIB. We all represent each other as we go about our daily jobs.” AIB

The author is Publication Coordinator, AIB International.