The American Meat Science Association (AMSA) is pleased to announce a Concurrent Session on “Developments in Food Safety Controls - Listeria and Beyond,” on Monday, June 23, 2025, at the 78th Reciprocal Meat Conference (RMC), sponsored by Fresh Mark, Simmons Foods, and WTI. This session will explore the ongoing and emerging challenges in food safety focused on Listeria and fully cooked products by analyzing recent outbreaks, regulatory developments, and the critical role of sanitary design and sanitation. Speakers will emphasize the integration of hygienic equipment design, environmental monitoring programs, and antimicrobial interventions as layered defenses to minimize risk throughout the food supply chain.

Pivotal Events That Shaped Food Safety
Part 1 – Events: Outlines major food safety events that have shaped today’s industry practices—including Tylenol tampering, ground beef at Jack in the Box, Ballpark hotdogs, and Avian Influenza in dairy cattle. These milestones underscore the importance of institutional memory and proactive systems in preventing recurring issues.

Part 2 – Approach: Introduces the persistent challenge of Listeria monocytogenes, a hazard whose control hinges on layered strategies including sanitary design, targeted interventions, and robust environmental monitoring programs. These foundational concepts will be further explored in the presentations that follow.

Speakers: Sharon Beals, Executive Director, Women’s Meat Industry Network and KatieRose McCullough, Ph.D., Senior Director of Science and Public Health, Meat Institute

 The Importance of Utilizing Effective Sanitation Controls and Design
Successful food safety programs are built by utilizing optimal food plant hygienic designs and standards in conjunction with effective sanitation program execution.  Processors must incorporate hygienic design and sanitation within their food safety culture and  ensure all plant cross-functions are actively participating in maintaining and improving the systems, and programs to ensure robust hygienic conditions are maintained.  

Speaker: Felix Dietz, Commercial Food Sanitation LLC (CFS), Technical Development Director

 Hurdle Insurance
Listeria monocytogenes is an organism widespread and has tremendous adaptability to survive and grow that can be harmful and fatal and minimizing risk of its presence and outgrowth is top of mind.  Antimicrobial inhibitors have proven extremely successful as a tool for industry to combine with a food safety culture, environmental controls.  Using hurdles or additional layers of protection reduces risk for all parties in the chain while protecting consumers.

Speaker: Bob Johnson, Ph.D., Technical Business Development, WTI, Inc.

The DO’s and DON’Ts of Environmental Monitoring Programs (EMP)Having a robust EMP that takes a “seek and destroy” approach is critical for being proactive and preventative in verifying environmental control and for identifying potential environmental sources for the harborage, growth, establishment, and transmission of Listeria spp. This presentation will highlight the rights, wrongs, and best practices of environmental monitoring to ensure a well-rounded EMP to help stay preventive for environmental control.

Speaker: Jonathan Glynn-Alm, Regulatory FSQA Manager at Fresh Mark, Inc.

Why Are We Still Having Listeria Illness and Deaths in the Meat Industry?
In this presentation Dr. Bacon will challenge us to examine why, despite interventions introduced over 40 years ago, our industry still faces persistent issues with its products—and what actions we must take to effectively address these concerns.

Speaker: Craig Bacon, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Technical Services, Simmons Foods