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Category: News from Stop Foodborne Illness

FDA and USDA Submit Outbreak Investigation Reports

FDA & USDA/FSIS Submit Outbreak Investigation Reports March 17, 2026 | FDA issues its 2024 Core Annual Report:It addressed incidents it investigated that were linked to FDA-regulated human food in the 2024 calendar year. FDA managed several high-profile investigations throughout 2024, including a large outbreak of E. coli linked to carrots, a historical outbreak of illnesses associated with […]

Connect with Stop Foodborne Illness: March 2026 Constituent Newsletter

Stop Foodborne Illness Prioritizes Constituent Engagement Our constituents have always been our greatest strength and we want to do more than share updates. We want to build a stronger, more connected community. A Message from Sandra Eskin, CEO Prioritizing Public Health As we share this first edition of our constituent newsletter, I’ve been reflecting on […]

Safe Food Coalition Supports Destruction of Hazardous Imports Act, HR 2715

Safe Food Coalition Supports Destruction of Hazardous Imports Act , H.R. 2715 and S.3213 Members of the Safe Food Coalition sent the following letter to congressional leaders urging them to support The Destruction of Hazardous Imports Act , H.R. 2715 and S.3213 which addresses FDA’s request for additional authority in its FY 2026 legislative proposals. […]

FDA must be more transparent about outbreak investigations

FDA must be more transparent about outbreak investigations From STOP Constituent-Advocate, Chris George | FoodSafetyNews.com – Febuary 10, 2026 Every parent believes that feeding their child something as simple as lettuce is safe. We didn’t think twice about it. We shouldn’t have to. But for my family – and too many others – that assumption […]

Health Group Asks FDA to Name More Brands Tied to Food Outbreaks

Health Group Asks FDA to Name More Brands Tied to Food Outbreaks Bloomberg Law News | Skye Witley February 5, 2026 Bloomberg Article A public health advocacy group is pressing the Food and Drug Administration to name morecompanies and brand names associated with foodborne illness outbreaks by reinterpreting the law oramending the agency’s regulations. In […]

What You Should See in a Recall Notice

What you should see in a food recall notice Opinion | Roger Hancock & Vanessa Coffman  Food recalls happen almost daily, but the way they’re communicated to consumers is far from consistent. Despite years of discussion and some progress from regulators (the FDA has provided guidance, and the USDA has their own template) there’s still […]

40 Under 40 | Class of 2026

Alex Pierce

Alex is a proven leader in Food Safety and Quality Assurance with more than 16 years of leadership experience across food manufacturing operations, quality assurance, regulatory compliance, and continuous improvement. Currently, Alex is a senior manager of supplier quality management at Nestlé USA. In this role he is responsible for partnering with companies across the food industry to ensure compliance and food safety within his organization’s supply chain.

Throughout his career, Alex has delivered measurable improvements in food safety performance with a focus on foreign body elimination, validated cleaning programs, reductions in consumer complaints, and the implementation of robust compliance programs. As a Quality Manager, he has led ISO 9001 and FSSC 22000 certification initiatives, built problem-solving capability, and achieved substantial reductions in foreign material defects.

His experience and expertise spans FDA and USDA regulations, FSMA, HACCP, and GFSI systems, with extensive experience leading regulatory responses, crisis management, food safety initiatives, and food safety culture development across global manufacturing operations.

40 Under 40 | Class of 2026

Abigail Brown

Abigail is a food safety and quality leader with more than 13 years of experience advancing consumer protection and strengthening food safety systems across the food industry. As an R&D Principal Scientist at PepsiCo, she provides global technical leadership in sanitation, hygienic design, contamination prevention, and food safety risk management across complex manufacturing and innovation environments.

Throughout her career, Abigail has been recognized for translating food safety science, regulatory requirements, and industry best practices into practical, scalable solutions that strengthen both operations and governance. Her expertise spans global food safety and sanitation standards, risk-based ingredient and process assessments, contamination prevention strategies, supplier and manufacturing risk management, and digital transformation initiatives that improve consistency, efficiency, and decision making.

Abigail is passionate about proactive prevention, embedding food safety into equipment, processes, and emerging technologies from the earliest stages of development. With a forward-looking perspective and a strong passion for elevating food safety culture, Abigail is helping shape a future where safer food isn't simply the goal—it's built into the way the industry operates.

40 Under 40 | Class of 2025

Alexandra Belias

Alexandra is the Food Safety Director – Southeast at Fresh Express, where she is responsible for the east coast agricultural operations food safety program, environmental monitoring, and provides corporate food safety and quality oversight for the Columbia, SC facility.

Prior to working at Fresh Express, Alexandra was the Food Safety Director of Agricultural Operations at McEntire Produce. She volunteers her time as a member of the Center for Produce Safety Technical Committee and as a steering committee member for the International Fresh Produce Association Food Safety Council.

Alexandra received her Ph.D. in Food Science with minors in microbiology and epidemiology from Cornell University under Martin Wiedmann and Renata Ivanek. During graduate school, she modeled pathogen die-off and presence in the pre-harvest produce environment and assisted companies in improving their Listeria environmental monitoring programs.