AIB International is pleased to announce the newest addition to our Food Safety Education team. Dr. Brenda Stahl will be enhancing AIB’s microbiological outreach in the form of consultation and education. She will work closely with each of AIB’s departments, focusing on auditor education, industrial education and training, as well as food safety education.
Growing up, Brenda was active in 4H and FFA activities and always thought that she would be a veterinarian, so she began her studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) focusing on Animal Science. It wasn’t until she took a food science course as an elective that she realized how much she enjoyed studying about food. Throughout her tenure at UW, she had internship experiences with Equity Livestock Cooperative, Premium Standard Farms, and ConAgra Refrigerated Food Groups.
Upon completion of an undergraduate degree in Animal Sciences and Food Sciences, Brenda spent the next five years at Iowa State University (ISU), earning a Doctoral degree in Food Sciences and Technology and Microbiology. Her main focus at ISU was antimicrobial intervention strategies in foods in the form of bacteriocins, including Colicin E1.
Brenda spent the first three years after her Ph.D. as the Technical Director of Research Microbiology at ABC Research Corporation in Gainesville, Fla. During this tenure, she provided consultation to various industries on food safety and microbiological experimentation and sampling, as well as designing, experimenting and analyzing microbial research projects for food and beverage manufacturers. Dr. Stahl also was charged with conducting HACCP training courses and developed ABC’s first-ever International HACCP Alliance-accredited HACCP training program. This was her introduction to the education aspect of the food industry.
As part of the job at ABC, food plants would often request Brenda make an on-site consultation visit to help them solve problems. One of the most memorable stories occurred at a French toast plant that needed Brenda to help them find the source of an ongoing Listeria contamination issue. They had swabbed the entire plant and couldn’t find the source of the Listeria. When she entered the plant, Brenda noticed that they had state-of-the-art equipment, particularly the freezer unit. It was during her observation of this area that she noticed the culprit. Hanging above the newly installed freezer equipment were electrical cord attachments located in close proximity to the climate control vent in the ceiling. These cords were not in clear view, but were situated directly over product through-space, causing condensation to fall onto product below prior to packaging. Over all the previously swabbed spaces, no plant personnel had taken the ceiling and attachments into account. Upon swabbing and observation of those cords, the source of the contamination was unveiled, and acted as a reminder to simply look up when tracking probable contamination sources!
There are a few questions that Brenda gets asked repeatedly. How much should I swab? Where should I swab? How much should I send in? Although there is not a cut-and-dry answer, since much of this depends on the industry and its standards, there are certain FDA guidelines established for each product. Swabbing activities are relative to the product type, the certification compliance, the established SOP, etc.
Brenda is jumping in headfirst to her new role at AIB. She is driven to build a micro-education program that is as recognized by the industry as everything else that AIB offers. She hopes to expand AIB’s customer knowledge and respond to the food industry’s demand for microbiology awareness. AIB
The author is Publications Coordinator, AIB International.