Last night, I had a chance to meet with a number of bloggers at our Mississauga offices. I’ve dealt a lot with “mainstream media” over the years but meeting with bloggers, particularly those who keep followers up to date on food and nutrition, was a new step for me.  It’s part of a new reality where people are using social media to speak directly to hundreds and in some cases thousands of followers especially about issues that aren’t always in the mainstream. And that’s important. People are using the internet to get the information they need when they need it.

The real goal for Maple Leaf Foods in doing this kind of event is to keep in touch with our consumers who want to have confidence in the products they have purchased and trusted from our company for years. They have expectations of us and we want to meet those expectations and hear from them. 

Following the listeriosis outbreak of August 2008 we’ve redoubled our efforts in so many areas of food safety and quality control.  And we’ve updated information about our efforts, our commitment, and our record in these areas in our Food Safety Pledge.

One of the things I learned from the events of 2008 is how much the various players in system – consumers, industry and government – can and need to benefit from up-to-date food safety information.

To that end we’ve committed inour  Food Safety Pledge to share what we’ve learned Science and best practices are evolving all the time and new information is always coming on stream. Food safety is a fundamental responsibility that every one of us operating in the food industry shares, and by sharing information we will collectively raise the bar even higher than regulations require.

But what about information for consumers – the millions of Canadians who trust Maple Leaf Foods for a range of great tasting, quality products? That’s why we continue to engage in conversations through different channels. Yesterday, and last week in Vancouver, bloggers we met with put various questions to me and members of our food safety team that their readers wanted addressed. Questions focused on :

What happened to create the crisis in 2008?

What are we doing to ensure training and standards have an effect going forward?

How are we ensuring quality throughout the process: not just in our plants but also at farms and during shipping to stores?

What is our reaction to recent studies about nitrites in food and are we promoting nutritious and healthy options?

These are all areas where we’ve made advances. But we are continuously looking for ways to improve – whether it’s offering a range of healthy choices and balance in our product lines or improving in food safety,

We’ll be looking to see what other comments and questions that bloggers’ readers have in response to the  blog posts based on last night’s session. As well, we’re hoping to hear from you here on this blog.  We’ll continue to answer the top questions and comments we receive on an ongoing basis, as well as share information and updates about our efforts.  It’s all part of maintaining an ongoing discussion on food safety and health issues and I look forward to your participation.

Our Food Safety Vision is to provide consumers safe, great tasting food produced in a safe environment.  The foundation of this is building and maintaining a strong food safety culture, which requires strong leadership.  To this end we are delighted to announce the immediate appointment of Sharon Beals as the new Senior Vice President, Food Safety and Quality Assurance.

In this role, Sharon will be responsible for the continuous development and implementation of Food Safety, Regulatory and Quality Assurance initiatives, including mandatory common systems, compliance, technology development, and audit across all fresh and processed  meat and poultry plants at Maple Leaf Consumer Foods.

With a Bachelor of Science (Nutrition and Food Science) from Cornell University, Sharon brings over 25 years of experience in Food Safety, Regulatory, Quality Assurance and Process Development.  The scope of this experience encompasses crisis management, government relations, HACCP, SPC, lab services, QA and food safety systems. 

In her most recent position as Vice President of Technical Services at Smithfield Packing, Sharon was responsible for Food Safety, Regulatory Compliance, Research and Development, Product Innovation, Quality Assurance, Laboratories and Corporate Sanitation across all facilities.  Prior to this role, Sharon garnered senior food safety expertise at Tyson Foods, Orval Kent Food Company, Arby’s Inc  and Land O’Frost.

Welcome Sharon we are pleased to have you join the team.