Perdue appoints new members to committee on food microbiology

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue has appointed 18 new members and 12 returning members to the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF).

“The committee members represent a diverse group from academia, consumers, the food industry, laboratories, consultants and government agencies, all of which play an important role in providing scientific advice and expertise to USDA on food safety and wholesomeness,” Perdue said.

NACMCF was established in 1988 by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the Department of Commerce (National Marine Fisheries Service), and the U.S. Department of Defense. NACMCF is a discretionary advisory committee that provides impartial scientific advice and peer reviews to food safety agencies on public health issues related to the safety and wholesomeness of domestic, imported and exported foods.

The newly appointed NACMCF members to serve two-year terms are:

• Aaron Asmus, Hormel Foods Corporate Services
• Peggy Cook, Wheatsheaf Group
• DeAnn Davis, Church Brothers Farms
• James Dickson, Iowa State University
• Francisco Diez-Gonzalez, University of Georgia
• Joseph Eifert, Virginia Tech
• Philip Elliott, Kellogg Company
• Wendy McMahon, Silliker
• Kathleen Glass, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Lee-Ann Jaykus, North Carolina State University
• Patty Lewandowski, Florida Department of Health
• Angela Melton-Celsa, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
• Haley Oliver, Purdue University
• Jenny Scott, Food and Drug Administration
• Scott Stillwell, Tyson Foods
• Valentina Trinetta, Kansas State University
• Alissa Wilma, Department of Defense
• Francisco Zagmutt, EpiX, Analytics

Reappointed NACMCF members are:

• Gary Acuff, Texas A&M University
• Vanessa Coffman, Consumer Representative
• Carolyn Hovde, University of Idaho
• Mohammad Koohmaraie, IEH Laboratories
• Bala Kottapalli, ConAgra Foods
• Margie Lee, Virginia Tech
• Evelyne Mbandi, U.S. Department of Agriculture
• Omar Oyarzabal, University of Vermont
• Laurie Post, Diebel Laboratories
• John Ruby, Passport Food Safety Solutions
• Angela Ruple, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• Robert Tauxe, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

For further information on NACMCF, please visit the FSIS website.