Stop Foodborne Illness is very happy that Board Member, Gina Kramer took some time out of her busy wedding planning schedule so that we could bring you this special interview. (Best Wishes! btw)
Gina tells us how her calling and commitment to helping others develop a long-term food safety culture began, and the journey she’s taken to get to here. She clearly understands that the business of food, is the business of safety.
Q: Tell us a bit about your food safety background. What attracted you to this field?
A: I graduated from Ashland University with a BS in Human Biology and actually started my career in the healthcare industry. I’ve always been a people person, so after six years in healthcare I moved into the realm of public relations, focusing on healthcare companies. As if I wasn’t busy enough, I also owned and operated my own organic bakery during this time. That’s where I started my journey towards food safety. Having a bakery brought me in contact with a number of state and local health inspectors. I admired the work they did, and soon found myself devouring any information I could read about food safety, even the food code! In the late 1990’s I read the book Spoiled, by Nichols Fox, about emerging pathogens and our food supply. This book, and the stories it contained about victims of foodborne illness changed my life and my career. I knew then that I wanted to dedicate my professional life to public health, specifically food safety.
Q: What’s a day in the life like for you?
A: Just recently, I started my own food safety consulting business: Savour Food Safety International™, LLC. Working with food companies, I take a holistic approach, which means integrating food safety into every aspect of their business. Helping companies develop communication strategies that emphasize food safety practices to both the employees and consumers, builds a food safety culture that creates long term behavior change.
Q: What is one food safety concern that keeps you up at night?
A: The Local Food movement’s message tends to imply that local food is safer. Foodborne pathogens are blind and do not distinguish between small and large food growers or processors. Food companies, large and small, and all consumers need to follow proper food safety practices.
Q: How did you first get involved with STOP Foodborne Illness?
A: I first got involved with STOP when I heard Nancy Donley tell about her son, Alex, and his lost battle against E.coli O157:H7. After hearing her story I was motivated to take action about spreading the message of food safety—to the consumer as well as food employees. During my time as the Senior Manager of Food Safety & Quality with The Kroger Co., I worked very closely with STOP developing a food safety and quality initiative. In a video produced for Kroger associates, Deirdre (Schlunegger) shared STOP’s mission and Nancy shared Alex’s story and the importance of following every food safety step. It is a powerful training video. Other training materials, used weekly at each store, also shared stories and pictures from STOP’s advocates. Because of the positive impact on the food safety behavior of their associates, The Kroger Co. continues to use these training materials.
Q: What has deeply touched you about STOP’s work and inspired you to become a board member? How does it feel to be playing a key leadership role in realizing STOP’s vision of a safe food supply for all?
A: The organization’s support to victims of foodborne illness and their advocacy for sound public policy to improve the safety of the US food supply, makes their work honorable. I considered it a great privilege to be asked to join STOP’s Board of Directors.
Q: What is your personal philosophy on what needs to be done better to help prevent foodborne illness? How is STOP helping to address that?
A: I believe helping companies have a clearer understanding that being in the business of food means that they’re also in the business of food safety, is key. Building a culture of food safety begins at the top and concerns everyone all the way to the person on the front line. It needs to be top of mind for every employee of a food company. The challenge is how to keep the food safety message at the forefront of every decision made every day. STOP is addressing that by building partnerships, and affirming the work of food safety professionals in protecting the consumer’s health and safety first.
Q: To your mind, what is one thought you hope people will consider after reading this article?
A: This is the personal message I carry everywhere I go: Food sustains us, nurtures us, and gives us life. But if it isn’t handled safely, food can destroy lives too. Food safety really is everyone’s responsibility. To have the best life, from the farm to the home, food needs to be prepared safely.
Gina Kramer, was married on September 26th, 2014 to the love of her life, Bob Kramer, who is also a dedicated public health professional passionate about food safety. She is the Executive Director of Savour Food Safety International, LLC where she specializes in assisting companies in developing long-term food safety culture and behavior change programs. She has developed a mentorship program for food safety professionals coaching them how to build a program that is a profit center not a cost center for their company.
In addition to her role as Executive Director, she is also a very active member of several food safety committees including The Ohio State University Environmental Health Sciences Advisory Board, Stop Foodborne Illness Board of Directors, as well as several committees with the Conference for Food Protection, the International Association for Food Protection (she is chair of the Retail Foodservice PDG) and the Food Safety Summit.
Gina has presented at several state, national and international conferences on topics such as: Branding Your Food Safety Message; Selling Food Safety from the Top Down; Creating a Food Safety Culture within the Real World of Retail Foods; 5 Terrific Training Tools; Consumer Education – It takes a partnership; Be Food Safe Participation – from a National Supermarket’s perspective; A Deep Dive into Cold Chain Management; and Translating HACCP to Lean Six Sigma – How to speak the language of the business to build a robust Food Safety program.
Gina and Bob make their home in Ohio.
Stop Foodborne Illness is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Donations are tax-deductible to the extent the law allows.
