“Creating a high performing food safety organization” is one of the pillars of Maple Leaf’s Food Safety Strategy.  We are committed to building a world-class food safety and quality team to ensure we have  strong  technical and scientific expertise throughout Maple Leaf.

I am pleased to welcome Peter Slade to my team as Senior Director, Food Safety Technical Affairs.  Peter is an internationally recognized food safety leader with over 30 years of diverse and extensive experience globally in the food industry, including experience in the U.K., the U.S., Canada, Saudi Arabia and China.

Peter will play an integral role on the food safety leadership team and specifically will be responsible for working closely with each Maple Leaf business unit to identify opportunities to further mitigate potential food safety risks.  His work will include establishing clear lines of communication with the product development teams on new products as well as evaluating methods to reduce risk in current product lines.  Peter will keep abreast of new food safety technologies, best practices and the latest in food safety research. 

Peter began his career as Research Officer at Campden and Chorleywood Foods Research Association, U.K. and then in a Microbiologist position at Midwest Research Institute, U.S. where he provided food safety technical support to the government of Saudi Arabia.  He then joined Campbell Soup Company, U.S. as manager of Technical and Analytical Services. Peter then went on to McDonald’s Corporate Food Safety group where he led the Supplier/Distribution HACCP Programs across a number of different commodities as well as leading the McDonalds Food Safety Advisory Council.

Peter was recruited to the National Center for Food Safety and Technology (NCFST), an FDA and industry- funded research and education center. During nearly 10 years with the Center, he directed food safety research programs as well as taught a number of graduate classes in food science, microbiology and food safety. Peter also successfully led the FDA-sponsored Allergen Task Force, and chaired the committee that developed the standardized Juice HACCP Training Curriculum.

Peter holds a Ph.D. in Food Science (Microbiology) from the University of Guelph.  

We’re very pleased that Peter is bringing his wealth of expertise and knowledge to join our team and participate on the blog.  Welcome to Maple Leaf Foods Peter!

Celebrating the holidays with family and loved ones is one of the best times of year to enjoy great company and even better food!  Entertaining creates different challenges in the kitchen than normal meal preparation. The quantity of food and how it is served requires special attention to ensure food safety.

Some safety tips are even more important when entertaining because of the quantity of food prepared.  One of the golden rules is to keep ‘hot foods hot’ and ‘cold foods cold’:

• Do not let foods linger during preparation – cook them thoroughly and serve them quickly.  Consider cooking foods in smaller batches, and replenish serving dishes when quantities getting low.  
• Keep hot foods hot with warming trays or crock pots. 
• Antipasto plates with vegetables, dips, cheeses, and deli meats are a favourite. Keep the platter fresh by replacing containers of dips and other foods, not replenishing them.  Also keep the platter on ice to keep cold.
• Do not leave food out for more than two hours.
• Use leftovers within four days for best quality or freeze immediately for later use. Reheat solid leftovers to at least 74°C or 165°F until “steaming” hot.
• When frozen food such as meat is thawed, cook immediately after thawing. Allow sufficient time for food to defrost properly.  If not completely thawed, the food will take longer to cook.

Meat should be cooked to a minimum of 74°C or 165°F. You cannot determine whether meat is done by simply looking at the colour of the meat or juices, so use a food thermometer (see our cooking temperature guide).

 For more food safety tips or to test your knowledge in Maple Leaf’s food safety quiz.

 From our family to yours, wishing you a safe and wonderful holiday season.

On October 23,  leaders across the Canadian food industry and government are coming together to share information and learn about emerging technologies and science, in order to produce safer food for Canadians.

The food safety symposium entitled “Enhancing Our Knowledge and Capabilities to Produce Safer Food” is the first gathering of its kind since the new Canadian Listeria policy was put into place after the lessons learned from last year’s Listeria crisis.

The symposium features presentations from Canada’s leading health and regulatory experts including Jane Billings, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Public Health Agency of Canada, who will discuss foodborne illness trends and public health initiatives in Canada.  Dr. Brian Evans, Executive Vice President, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, (CFIA) will discuss his agency’s regulatory approach and challenges and opportunities related to implementation of the new Listeria new policy.  Global experts in communication, detection and control will present the latest findings in testing and use of antimicrobials to build an effective Listeria management program, and discuss how to effectively communicate risk.  The event is hosted by Maple Leaf Foods.

Symposium presenters:

Jane Billings, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Public Health Agency of Canada

Dr. Brian Evans, Executive Vice President, Canadian Food Inspection Agency

Dr. Kathy Glass, Associate Director, Food Research Institute, University of Wisconsin

Dr. Peter Sandman, Risk Communications Consultant

Dr. Martin Wiedmann, Associate Professor, Department of Food Science, Cornell University

Dr. Randall Huffman , Chief Food Safety Officer, Maple Leaf Foods

Iain Stewart, Senior Vice President, Transformation & Food Safety, Maple Leaf Consumer Foods