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Food Safety Matters
Ep. 181. Johanna Velez: Dedicated to a Culture of Consistent Improvement
00:55:49
Johanna Velez is Vice President of Quality Assurance for Monin Americas, having joined the brand in 2002. With more than 27 years in the food industry, Johanna has a wealth of experience in leading, directing, and guiding the company’s food safety...
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- [00:00]
A
Foreign hello everyone and welcome to Food Safety Matters, the podcast for food safety professionals. I'm Stacey Acheson, publisher of Food Safety magazine. And today, as always, I'm joined by my co host, Adrienne Blum, our editorial director, and Bob Ferguson, president of strategic consulting. And as I read that, I realized I said always. But sometimes you guys, you move around sometimes, you know, I'm always glad when you're here and in your places where you belong with me doing this thing that we do.
- [00:38]
B
I won't leave my chair, I promise.
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A
Okay, please behave. So as usual, we have a lot to cover today, so let's go ahead and dive in. Adrian, please tell us a little bit about today's interview.
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C
Guest interview, yeah. So today's interview dives into the food safety world of flavorings and colorings with Johanna Velez of Monin Americas. We discuss the special food safety and quality considerations for this sector and for doing business as a global supplier. And Johanna also talks about the transformation and modernization of quality control processes and non conformance monitoring methods at Monin, along with the company's dedication to a culture of consistent improvement. So we're looking forward to bringing you that interview. So stay tuned.
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A
Excellent. And today we also get to hear from Bob some highlights of his most recent Food Safety Insights column, which is part three of his coverage of the technology revolution and how it's changing food safety. So we look forward to that. And before we get to the new section of today's podcast, I want to share that we here at Food Safety magazine have some news of our own and that is that we've just launched a brand new video series featuring our very own Bailey Henderson, Food Safety magazine's digital editor called Food Safety 5, which offers twice monthly reports from the Food Safety Magazine editorial desk to provide a high level video overview of top news stories and current events that impact the food safety sector. And as always, we're going to put a link in the show notes so that you can check that out. And like we said, that'll be twice monthly, so every two weeks, kind of opposite the podcast. So yeah, there you go.
- [02:25]
C
Look forward on opposite Tuesdays from the podcast to be something special to look forward to when you don't have a new podcast episode. And they're, they're great mini newsreel reports and Bailey, our digital editor has put a lot of work into this and we know you've heard from Bailey on the podcast occasionally like on our Year in Review and Look Ahead episodes every December that we do. But it's really nice to be able to hear from Bailey in person on these video newsreels. So make sure to check those out. It's a really cool project. And Food Safety 5 is, you know, something that we're very proud of. So. So keep following Food Safety 5 for more updates.
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A
Yeah, Bailey's awesome. She did a great job. And the five. So Food Safety five is five minutes, but it's not really five this time. We didn't get to five, so we kind of keep it short. But who could resist Food Safety five?
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D
I mean, come on.
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C
It's around five. It's around.
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A
Yeah, it's around somewhere. You know, squiggly line five is right.
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D
Yeah.
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A
All right. So as long as we're here, take us. Take us to the today's news.
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C
Yeah. So first up in news. So we've been following the rapidly developing McDonald's E. Coli O157:H7 outbreak, which has sickened at least 90 people and led to one fatality across 13 west and Midwestern states. So two patients have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome as a result of their illnesses. The fatality was not one of those people. Now, although the beef was initially suspected as a vehicle of illness, testing by the cdc, usda, and the Colorado Department of Agriculture confirmed that beef patties at McDonald's were not the source of the E. Coli. However, testing of these slivered yellow onions that are used specifically on McDonald's Quarter Pounder sandwiches revealed the presence of E. Coli. So those onions were sourced from a Taylor Farms facility in Colorado Springs and were recently confirmed by the CDC to be the cause of the E. Coli outbreak. With reinforcement of that claim from the FDA and McDonald's, Taylor Farms has voluntarily recalled the onions. And McDonald's has stopped sourcing onions from Taylor Farms Colorado Springs facility indefinitely. Now, the recall of the onions impacts six US foods distribution centers in the region affected by the McDonald's outbreak. And out of an abundance of caution, brands like Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC have also pulled Taylor Farms onions from their menus at certain locations. So FDA is continuing its investigation into Taylor Farms Colorado Springs facility. And meanwhile, the 900 McDonald's restaurants that used to receive slivered onions from Taylor Farms Colorado Springs facility will resume sales of Quarter Pounders without sleep. Slivered onions.
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A
So before we started recording today, I kind of checked in with the team to be sure, because these types of ingredient recalls can just go on and on and on and on and on. This one hasn't. So the good news is that Taylor Farms obviously had good traceability in place to be able to get to where these products had gone to and get them back out before more, before more illnesses, before more people were affected. So a silver, a silver lining there.
- [05:46]
B
Yeah, Stacy, that's a really good point. One of the things I noticed, and I looked at the CDC website and the information that they have public right now, at least at the time of the, of the recording that we have today, it said slivers onions are on the recall, but not diced onions. And that makes me. And they keep also mentioning the Colorado Springs facility. So it seems like they're focusing in on that facility. And they wouldn't say that unless they knew there was a reason to focus in on that facility. And there's something different about the slivered onions than there is about the diced onions, although I suspect they're the same onions. They could be different, which could be the difference. But I suspect if they're the same onions, then you'd go back to that slivering process or that part, wherever that machine is, whatever that machine is in the plant, and you may find that that is, that is what, what the cause was. At least that's what that's my conjecture at this point. And it's nothing more than that to say that it sounds like there's something unique about the slivered onions, which would make me think it's going to be on the blades or the machine or in that part of the plant or something like that. And I'm going to bet that we'll probably hear about something like that before too long. But that's the other reason why it was probably quickly caught, because they have some data from, from that to indicate that that's the case.
- [07:00]
C
Well, we will, of course, continue to report details on the story as they come out and unfold, and we'll keep an eye on this for you and let you know any more details that we have on the C. Coli outbreak. So moving to our next topic, which is FDA related Now, on a webinar held on October 31 with the alliance for a Stronger FDA, Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods Jim Jones Senior said that the Reagan Udall Review recommended that the Human Foods Program or the HFP needed to articulate a vision and a mission with its reorganization. And that's something that Jim said that during the webinar that he worked on with his team immediately after joining fda. So the new vision of the reorganized HFP is the food supply is a vehicle for wellness. And the new mission of the HFP is to protect and promote the health and wellness of all people through science based approaches to prevent foodborne illness, reduce diet related chronic disease and ensure chemicals in food are safe. So now that the FDA's newly reorganized human Foods Program is underway, the HFP recently published a list of priority work plans for fiscal year 2025. So FDA's food regulatory work falls into three program areas microbiological food safety, food chemical safety and nutrition. So the microbiological program area focuses on efforts to prevent and reduce foodborne illness from FDA regulated foods and some of the major work priorities in this area include finalizing an implementation plan for the final rule on pre harvest agricultural water Also supporting the implementation of FSMA 204 and advancing traceability tools and education for industry Also issuing a final guidance for the FSMA Produce Safety Rule and integrating genome tracker data into the CDC's PN2.0 surveillance platform and onboarding new labs to the Genome Tracker network and also advancing the Avian Flu Silo study which was just started to monitor the safety of dairy and milk products. In the chemical food safety area, FDA plans to focus on enhancing its regulatory approach for food, chemicals and dietary supplements. Specific work plans reviewing FDA's current premarket review processes for food and color additives, food contact substances and grass substances redesigning FDA's framework for post market assessment of chemicals in food based on stakeholder feedback Issuing guidances under the Closer to Zero Initiative on Action levels for environmental Contaminants and lead in Foods for Infants and Young Children and issuing a draft guidance for chemical hazards under the Preventive Controls for Human Food rule. Also expanding our understanding on human exposure to pfas. So also then in the area of nutrition, a major focus will be increasing the resiliency of the US Infant formula market, including the publication of a long term national strategy as well as looking at consumer labeling for foods. So under the work plans for fiscal 2025, work will continue to fully operationalize the HFP, including the establishment of permanent leadership for various offices, after which time FDA aims to develop and release a multi year strategic plan. However, we should note that it remains to be seen whether the results of the recent presidential election will have an effect on FDA's work plans for the HFP in 2025 and beyond. So you can read more about the specific work plans under each focus area in the article link in the show notes and I definitely encourage you to do that because it's a lot more detail than we could cover in this in this podcast today.
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A
Yeah, I just want a gal who We've followed, I followed for years who used to report for Food Safety News and Politico. Well known by many and certainly by the folks at FDA is Helena Botmiller Evic, who started a a blog and a reporting newsletter called Food Fix last week. So there's free and paid versions. But I would recommend. Go ahead, get that. Helen is a great person to follow. She quoted some, she had some quotes from people around this decision on all sides of it. And one of the things that I wanted to quote, she referenced some statements that Frank Yannis made about this. And Frank, who was deputy commissioner for food policy and response at FDA during portions of both the Trump and Biden administrations, said that he was, you know, expressed his, the fact that he was sort of unimpressed by the priorities that they set out. And here's to quote, the reorg, which I supported, was billed as a quote, once in a generation opportunity. But the 2025 priorities do not rise to that characterization. They're a bit light and there really isn't much new. Is what he wrote on LinkedIn. Time for a more strategic inspirational and the once in a generational plan promised that will result in safer and healthier food for all Americans. But I guess the thing is, uncertainty is the word I would underline. And where Adrienne ended her comments today, we really don't know what's going to happen now.
- [12:37]
B
Well, when I took a look at this announcement, I'm going to start out with a little, a little praise. What did they say about the criticism? It's like a sandwich. You start out with a little piece of bread that's positive and then get the middle of it and then the other. But I like the fact that they're focusing a bit on nutrition, which is, which is going to be more than just prevention. We talk about an awful lot of preventative things and food safety, but there's a lot that can be done with food from a nutrition standpoint that can actually be beneficial, not just preventative. So I like the fact that they have that in there. I have to confess I did not read Frank's comments before, but I initially came to the same conclusion. I saw ag water, produce safety rule data initiatives, infant formula. Those things were in place and should have continued in place. I see that there are some initiatives to build bigger strategies, but it's not really all that specific. And the more I thought about it, I thought, okay, that's a, that's a criticism. But I think, I think what they're doing is brilliant. Biting off more you can chew for a brand new program might be the wrong way to go because then if you start to falter or you start to run into whatever problems they're going to have, you could say the federal bureaucracy or how that works. You have a lot of people changing. You have a lot of new people going to come in, new leadership, give them a chance to get settled and then try to take on the bigger things after you've had a few wins. So that may be what they're doing, but that's somewhat what I see happening. And I think if they came along and did what Frank was saying and said, you know, let's turn the whole thing upside down and reorganize everything they could, they may not get out of the blocks on that is what I would say. So this may be an understated start of a brilliant idea.
- [14:19]
A
You know, to that end, Bob, I would say that one of the biggest criticisms and one of the biggest, I guess reveals. Non Reveal. Reveal of Helena's reporting back when she did her bombshell reporting on, on. On fda, that kind of was a precursor along with the infant formula to this reorg was the fact that so many priorities had had languished for so long. So I, to that point exactly, coming in and saying, well, we're going to button this up and button that up and make some, you know, you know, make, make progress. Here is always a good place to start. You know, the other.
- [15:00]
B
Yeah, and the other thing I'll add is from the outside, or if you're a food processor or whatever area of food food safety that you're in, it's easy to say, well, the FDA ought to be doing this, this and this. But keep in mind the FDA and the human foods program is a big group with a lot of people and, and their job has been shaken up, who they report to has been shaken up. You've got new leadership coming in, you've got people in new roles. They have to manage that as well. And that's a big deal. So imagine coming into a company and saying, okay, there's a new CEO. They're going to take and change all the senior leadership. Wait a second, that's going to have a lot of disruptive effects that you also have to manage through. So they also have those internal things to keep the machine running and effective. You don't want that to bog down or food safety will just get worse. So I think that doing this and turning the battleship at a, at a reasonable speed is probably the right way to go. That's what I'm getting from this. So I'm hoping that's what they're doing.
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A
Well, I mean, the reorg was, you know, I mean, that's a big job on its own. That's a huge sake up. I mean, to, to, to, to, to reorganize an agency the size of fda. And now, I mean, we, we don't know. And then shake up on top of shake up, we don't know what's coming.
- [16:14]
B
Right. So, so, so Jim Jones. Yeah. Jim Jones has the job of winning over converts externally so that the people like us, the food processors, the inspectors, all those people, that he wins them over, that he's doing the right thing, but he also has to win over the employees that what they're, the changes that they're going through. I used to work for somebody who had a phrase that said that the view is worth the climb sort of thing, but he has to win people over that all these things that they're doing are the right thing to do and get them all pushing in the right direction. The same direction.
- [16:47]
C
Yeah. So lots of things up in the air at the moment. We'll continue to follow what FDA's work plans as they evolve and unfold and as progress is made. And we will share those details with you as well. Now, circling back to the topic of recalls, we wanted to share with you an interesting study that has shed some light on FDA recalls over the past 20 years. Now, the researchers for the study, which was published in the Journal of Food protection, analyzed over 10,000 recalls for more than 35,000 FDA regulated products between the years of 2002 and 2023. And what they found was that 76% of all the recalls were caused by either microbiological contamination or allergens. Now, of this subset of recalls, Listeria monocytogenes contamination caused 45% of the recalls, and Salmonella contamination caused 38% of of the recalls. So together the two pathogens totaled 40% of all 10,000 plus recalls. Also, allergens represented 28% of all product recalls in that time frame, mostly due to undeclared milk or whey followed by eggs, wheat and peanuts. And more than half of all the recalls measured in that time span were classified by FDA as Class 1. So some very interesting data for you there.
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B
Not a surprise. There's a little bit of a surprise in the data. And I have to confess, I have to go back and read through the article and pick through some of the details, but listeria and salmonella are the big two with the data that we collect. That's strategic, probably. I think if I remember my numbers off the top of my head, about 80, 85% of the pathogens tested for are listeria and salmonella. And listeria has been growing faster than salmonella. So these are the big two that people are looking out for. And these are the big two that cause contamination. Not a surprise there.
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C
Well, we've certainly seen enough of listeria lately, which is very unfortunate.
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A
Yeah, yeah, that's really. This was very interesting. Certainly caught my eye. And like you, Bob, I wish I had more time to dig into it and really kind of put some perspective on it. But I'm sure with these larger views like this that there's things that people can learn that food safety professionals can learn from patterns. Right. So there'll be a link in the show notes.
- [19:10]
C
And speaking of learning more about patterns, before we go, we'd like to tell you about a new partnership between the FDA and Purdue University that's undertaking a very interesting multi year environmental study of salmonella in the southwest Indiana growing region. So this study came about as a result of multiple salmonella outbreaks linked to cantaloupe grown in the area. And the research hopes to assess risks related to how salmonella is distributed and survives in Indiana's environment, which could help identify mitigation strategies and inform food safety practices. So we'll be looking for the results of that study in a few years, I guess, but it'll be interesting to see what we learn about the movement of salmonella throughout the environment of the Indiana growing region there.
- [19:56]
A
Well, thank you both for another great informative news section. And as promised, at the top of the episode, now we're going to hear from our friend Bob Ferguson, President of Strategic Consulting, about his most recent Food Safety Insights column in Food Safety magazine, the Revolution in Technology. How is it Changing Food Safety? And this is part three that is featured in the Food Safety magazine October November issue, now available on our website at food-safety.com Adrian, a second ago when.
- [20:33]
B
Stacy said, thank you, Adrian. Thank you, Bob. I thought it was okay for us to go. I was starting to pack up.
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C
I thought you were going to stay in your chair.
- [20:42]
A
I saw you push the microphone away. He was going.
- [20:46]
B
I did promise to stay in my chair, didn't I? I don't have to keep that promise.
- [20:49]
C
And behave.
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B
Age and behave.
- [20:51]
A
Yes, and behave.
- [20:53]
B
I cannot promise that. I cannot promise that. So like Stacy, like you said, this is part three. The first two editions of the series were about the impact of technology on food safety, we reported on what we learned from our survey of approximately 200 food processors from 38 countries around the world. What new technologies they've adopted and what that's meant for their daily operations. In this part three, we're going to focus on what we heard from the same questions, but on the people and the companies outside the US and Canada. So what we call the international group now there's a lot of international and international. So there's some changes here, but I'll go over some of those interesting with the. With these companies outside the US and Canada, we saw the same focus on rapid methods, particularly for microbiology and allergens, which is no shock considering the news story that we just talked about. With the frequency of recalls being from microbiology and allergens, it's the same everywhere. I think we see the same thing. Almost 75% of the people said they had adopted a new technology for either micro or allergen testing. They also indicated that the focus was on more rapid tests for implant testing to better direct their cleaning and sanitation programs. All of the other responses, including use of whole genome sequencing, chemical and physical hazards, automation and others, were all in the low single digits of response. So the real big thing is this idea of testing to support cleaning and sanitation is where a lot of this is all driving. We then asked the full survey set all geography. So we went back to everybody for more questions. What current food safety issue could benefit most from technology improvements? In other words, if you could have anything, any technology, what would that be? The question uncovered again, this focus on rapid tests for micro and allergens. With three of the four largest response accounting for almost one half of the responses being related to sanitation and hygiene. For pathogens and allergens, pathogen control was number one, hygiene was number three, allergen was number four. And number two was traceability, another top topic, particularly for international suppliers. I would think that traceability because they're being asked about what they're shipping into the States. This is consistent with what we heard throughout the survey with an increased focus on environmental monitoring and microbiological control. Many people mentioned that having faster test results for pathogen contamination would allow more pathogens to be detected in time to prevent distribution of the affected food. Many also mentioned that faster tests would facilitate the utility of collecting even more samples, making sampling more statistically valid and more effective. So they want faster tests so they can act. The way I like to explain this is if you do testing after cleaning on Wednesday and you don't get the results from Thursday Whether or not it was good or not, you really can't fix it. But if you can get rapid results and either go back or reclean or close up because you've proven it was clean, right, that's what people are looking to do. And I think that's really some of the things that are missing. So I think what we're seeing is a universal focus. Processors around the world are looking at the same sort of things on better control of pathogens, sanitation and cleaning in support of that goal, and control of allergens, particularly in product changeovers. Because you're going to use allergen containing products and non products, you want to make sure you don't get that cross contamination and switchover. And we should expect to continue to see this focus on future surveys. The one thing I will say is that we did not see anybody adopting technology for technology's sake. I didn't hear anybody saying we found this cool thing so we thought we'd try it. Or we're using AI because everybody's talking about AI so we have to do something. I didn't see any of that sort of fascination in the answers. All of it was very practical, which I took as a very good sign that what people are trying to do is what I would call solid block and tackling in food safety with hygiene, sanitation and control of pathogens and making sure you're doing all those things, which is doing all the right things. And so that's what I saw come out of this survey. And I didn't see a whole lot of difference between those in, let's say us, Canada, Western Europe and those in the rest of the world. I didn't see a lot of difference on that focus. Some people had more resources than others, but I didn't see any difference in that focus. So I thought that was a really good sign.
- [24:54]
A
Well, Bob, I think you kind of pointed to this in some of your, you know, description in general there. But why do you think the emphasis on the need for rapid tests? I mean these, these have existed throughout food safety for many years.
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B
Yeah, and I think what we see and what we've seen come out a little bit in previous surveys is it's not necessarily just the rapid test, but it's something that can be used implant quickly to make determinations about sanitation and hygiene. So years ago, when rapid test came out, let's say about 20 years ago, and they started to become real popular, people brought these tests in and formed their own lab and they had PCR and antibody tests and things like that all in the lab. Then concerns about having pathogen enrichment in the lab caused people to outsource it. What a lot of processors saying now is we, we miss that speed. We miss being able to do our analysis, own analysis. We don't want to have pathogen enrichment in the plant, but if we could do it some other way. So if there's some quick test, a lateral flow strip, some other type of quick test that I can use, that I get a result back in an hour, two hours, three hours. So that by the. Before I start up the pro, the plant in the morning after a night cleaning, I know that it's clean. I know that it's done, and I can move on. It doesn't need to be perfect. It doesn't need to be whole genome sequencing. It doesn't need to be the latest thing. It needs to be good enough to make that decision. I think those are the rapid tests that we're seeing.
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A
Be fast.
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B
It needs to be fast and good enough. Yeah, exactly.
- [26:17]
A
And good enough. Yeah.
- [26:18]
C
And, you know, there's another thing that I know you wrote about in the article that you saw reflected in the surveys, that there's more of an emphasis on implant testing in international markets, but less so in the US And Canada.
- [26:33]
D
What?
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C
Why is that?
- [26:35]
B
Yeah, I think I started this when I said something. It may have sounded funny at the time when I said there's a lot of international in international. So if you say the US And Canada, it's more or less homogenized from the kind of environment that people will find you. But international can be a lot of things. So what you'll find as you go around the world is they. They don't necessarily have the same number of accredited labs available that you might have in the US And Canada, Western Europe in the major cities and certain other areas. So there's a lot more implant testing that's tolerated because you don't really have a lab close by to. To send it out to. And I see that a lot in India. India has a real lack of labs, but the processors still have to do everything that everybody else does to get it done. So you'll see more testing done in plant in those kind of environments than you would, let's say, in, you know, the east coast of the US or the west coast of US where there's a lab within 100 miles of almost everybody. One of the favorite stories I tell along this line that I think is a good illustration of this is there's a couple of companies I talked to on a regular basis they're both located on Caribbean islands. Different Caribbean islands. One company has an accredited lab on their island. The other one doesn't. The one with a lab sends it to the lab. The one without it does their own because shipping it off the island and waiting for the results just doesn't work. So essentially, that's the model is if there's a lab nearby that you can use, most people will send it out to a lab. If there's not, that drives the implant testing.
- [28:03]
A
Well, thank you, Bob. And thank you as always for the great work on food Safety Insights. I know that it's very popular with our audience, so we love your insights. Keep them coming, Bob.
- [28:15]
B
I like doing it, so keep letting me do it.
- [28:18]
A
There you go. Okay, good. As always, there are links to all the articles that we've referenced and Food Safety 5, our new newsreel, in the show notes. And if you don't already, please follow us on LinkedIn X or Facebook. Just search for Food Safety magazine. And of course, to take a deeper dive into all the great content that we offer, just Visit our website, food-safety.com and now it's time for Adrian's interview with Johanna Velez, Vice President of Quality Assurance for Monin America. Johanna joined the brand in 2002, and with more than 27 years in the food industry, Johanna has a wealth of experience in leading, directing, and guiding the company's food safety and quality programs at all Monin North America locations. She has successfully led Monin to achieve SQF and organic certifications for both the Clearwater, Florida and Sparks, Nevada facilities, resulting in an excellent rating for the brand in food safety practices. And prior to joining Monan, Johanna spent five years at Wild Flavors now Archer Daniels Midland in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is a member of the Institute of Food Technology ift, including the Florida IFT division, as well as membership in the Bay Area Manufacturers Association. Johanna graduated from Louisiana State University and later attended Michigan State University, Go green, Go White. To obtain her certification in food law and regulations. So without any break, let's hear that interview.
- [30:05]
C
Well, Johanna, so happy to have you here with us today. Thank you so much for taking the time to be on the podcast.
- [30:11]
D
Thank you. Really nice to meet you.
- [30:12]
C
So I know we have a lot to talk about today, and I want to just dive straight in. You know, you've worked as a scientist and quality assurance specialist in the flavorings, colors and ingredients sector for more than 25 years. Very impressive. Now, what are some of the special food safety and quality assurance considerations for this sector? And you know Also for doing business as a global supplier, as you do now, that our listeners should know about.
- [30:38]
D
So having worked in the industry for so long, I have to consider that there's going to be changes in regulations, changes in technology and consumer expectations are going to change and evolve over time. And one of the things regarding customer expectations is that we know that they expect consistency. They want to product that's transparent. They want to feel reassured that the product that they're consuming is safe. And it is really important when moanin that has more than one facility that is consistent from one facility to the other. Speaking of technology, it's changing. There's a lot of things coming out and there are a lot of tools and programs and we have really gone into that knowing that having those tools and technology can help us improve real time data that we have. And we're more proactive when it comes to managing risks. And also regulations here in the US they change frequently and as far as globally, so because we have a commitment to provide safe foods, that's our goal. One of the things that I have to consider is what's happening around the world that is going to impact what we do here at Monin.
- [31:52]
C
Well, thanks for setting the stage there, Johanna, and that's really helpful, I think, you know, for our listeners as we go forward, go forward here in this conversation. Now another question that I have for you is, you know, how do you build on your two and a half decades of industry expertise and your academic background in international food law and regulations to excel at your work in Monin Americas?
- [32:15]
D
So one thing that is really important to me, it's that I want to be a lifelong learner. There's always something new to learn. I have to be open minded and just tap into my resources from around the world. I'm very lucky that Monet as a global facility, we have resources in Asia and in Europe. And I know that those are people that I can reach out to and collaborate, get a better perspective of what's happening in the global environment and just learn from them. They may have some really great ideas that they've implemented at their side or something that's changing. And I can say, hey, that's pretty interesting. Maybe I can apply that to something that we do here as part of our continuous improvement and by combining my knowledge with their knowledge and their feedback and that collaboration, it helps us maintain our high quality standards. That's great.
- [33:08]
C
I like the collaborative approach that you're talking about there. Now, speaking of collaboration, another question I have for you is how do you and your teams work to transform and modernize quality control processes.
- [33:21]
D
At Modin, we have actually been lucky enough to have a team that really embraces technology. And we've seen how using that technology to modernize the way that we document things, we measure things, we go about. Our day of working has really helped us. For example, we've digitized a lot of our documents. We used to have Excel spreadsheets, checklists and things everywhere. And by having this digital records helps me be more visible, have that information very visible to me of what's happening day to day, what's working, what's not working helps me make better decisions. So then I know that, that something, it's not going the way we plan and maybe I need to spend more resources into that particular area. So by having that really helps us, like I say, work smarter, not harder. I'm all into the reducing the waste and just making the most out of the time that we have. And we have a really good example on how we've embraced those changes in quality control. Our maintenance team had a technician that implemented a new the people stickers, QR code stickers, and some of our equipment. So what's really neat about it is that when I'm on the production floor and I am doing my inspections and I'm looking at equipment and let's just say that I run into something like I need to put a work order in here because I don't like the way this machine is running. I can scan that QR code and not only can I just put in a work order, but I can see the history of that equipment. I can see the last time any maintenance work was performed if there's anything that is upcoming. And so instead of just having to chase someone for maintenance around and try to put in a work order on a piece of paper, I can do it right there on the line. So, you know, it's just about being more efficient and getting that done. But at the end of the day, when anyone starts looking at how to modernize their processes, what we found more valuable was there's barely many tools, but we found one that fits our needs best. You know, what's the return on the investment that we are going to get? And it's something that we wanted to bring on board that everyone was going to welcome and be part of that change.
- [35:38]
C
That's so interesting. And you know, something as simple and inexpensive as having a QR code on a piece of equipment that when you scan it, it shows you the entire, you know, log history of that that equipment's maintenance and service and then, you know, allows you to also put in maintenance requests and things like that. You know, not only does that make it so easy when you're doing your inspections, as you said, but then also, you know, if you're seeing something when you're looking at the equipment, you know, whether that's you or the. Or, you know, if you're talking with somebody from the maintenance team together and you're saying, you know, I think we have might have an issue with this machine, then, you know, you can maybe, you know, perhaps you maybe need to shut it down or. Or have it looked at more closely, something like that, to have the information all right in front of you and instead of, like you said, having to chase people around for it or go somewhere else or go several different places and look it up. Right. You know, on. On paper records or, you know, maybe even buried on a computer file somewhere. So that's. That's, that's. That's incredible. That's a really cool system. So I think. Yeah.
- [36:40]
D
And it's not just limited to me. Anybody that any operator has that access to know what's happening, I'm sure the fuel operator would appreciate to have very handy. When was the last time that that machine that he was running was service and. And what the machine stuff to. So it just makes it so much simpler and it just helps us focus on what's really happening so that we can implement better controls and control the quality and still ensure food safety of our products.
- [37:08]
C
Absolutely. Well, that's really cool. So now at Monin, you also utilize quarterly proficiency testing in your operations. Can you tell us a little more about that and also explain how it contributes to food safety and quality assurance for Monin products?
- [37:23]
D
Oh, sure. I. I love those not. I know my staff loves them so much, but I just see that doing the proficiency test is a really good way to measure their skill set, also ensure consistency, see where there are gaps, and see if we need to tailor the training to their needs. We cannot gauge and see are they really understand what are the expectations, what they need to do. For example, one quarter my test is going to involve do they understand how to use the equipment that they have in the lab to measure product, test product, do they know how to calibrate it if the equipment fails? Do they know how to troubleshoot so they can continue doing their work? Maybe another quarter my focus on shadowing them. I can send a tag out and have supervisors shadow them to see do they understand what they need to be Doing and why and in case something does fail, do they take the corrective actions? And also one that I think for me is really fun. I don't know they appreciate so much, but I do like to challenge them a little bit more. So I do sensory evaluation testing. And so that consists, I'll give them a couple of samples, let's say vanilla, strawberry, banana, hazelnut flavors, and have them tasted. What they not know is that I may have added a little bit of mint to the vanilla because I want to see if they can detect that nuance, that difference in the vanilla, because that's part of their test. They're testing to make sure that everything has the right taste, the right color. And so sometimes when I give them the test, I think I'm contaminate all of them, that I'm tricking them. But it's just so that they, I can understand where I need to focus the training and just make sure they align with our best practices.
- [39:12]
C
Interesting. So, you know, really making sure that everybody is sharp and on top of, you know, knowing what they need to know and having all the knowledge they need to be able to put out these safe and quality products.
- [39:25]
D
What's really fun is that it really brings their, they're very competitive. So they're like, how did I do? How did I do? I'm like, oh, wait, yeah, yeah.
- [39:33]
C
It gets a little bit of a competitive, you know, kind of a game spirit, I suppose.
- [39:37]
D
They're like, did I get it right? Did you add this to that? So it's, it's really good that they, they don't see this as like, oh, here comes another test. It's, they, they understand the, the, the reason behind it.
- [39:48]
C
Yeah, it's a challenge. And so it's kind of like, you know, people want to know how they personally did on something like this. So, you know, it's kind of in a way making it fun, you know, and kind of like fun in quotes for them. So.
- [40:00]
A
Interesting.
- [40:01]
D
Yeah, you gotta have fun at work.
- [40:02]
C
Yeah, yeah, it's important. So another question I have for you is about the advancements that Monin has made in monitoring for non conformances. Can you tell me a little bit about that?
- [40:14]
D
Yeah. So we, you know, just like all manufacturers, we have non conformances and mistakes do happen and we understand that. What's most important about it is like when something does happen, we need to take the approach of being blameless problem solvers. It's not as who did what, who did not do what they were supposed to do. Something happened. Okay, let's work together. Let's just bring everyone together to the table, see what's happened and how we can improve it and how we can fix it. And the way that we approach non conformances and how we're successful is that it's not seen as this is a manufacturing defect. This is the company, this is a product defect. So we need IT support. We may need marketing support, we may need R and D support. So we all come together to the table and we work together because we have the same goal. We don't want this to happen again. But one thing that we've done is we've taken a little bit further and non conformance sounds kind of negative. So we're calling it now Quality improvement process. So short for quip. So now when something does happen, it's like, oh, we have a quip. And so we take that approach and we just, like I said, we just bring everyone together because everybody has a different perspective. And we have staff that are very capable. They have great ideas and they have a lot to contribute and they have a lot of things to improve our processes. One of the things that as a quality professional doing audits and during inspection we struggle is documents. I'm in the middle of an audit and an auditor wants to see my clean documents. And now I'm like calling manufacturing and I can find all of them, but I'm missing a month. So recently one of our manufacturing managers, he took the initiative to say, I am going to utilize the software that quality has and I'm going to make my clean records digital. And that's how I'm going to improve the process so that I no longer have missing documents. And, and that's just really refreshing to see.
- [42:20]
C
That's cool. Yeah, I'm hearing a lot of, you know, the theme of not only collaboration but also, you know, this digitization that, you know, Monin is really focusing on and you know, that's, that's, it's great to hear. It's certainly, you know, a lot of really great initiatives that are happening at the company now. You talked about some of this collaborative of collaborative process for ensuring food safety and quality. How does all this work contribute to the company receiving an excellent rating for food safety practices?
- [42:56]
D
So we're very proud of that. We had our Clearwater facility sqf certified over 10 years ago when we opened our facility in Sparks. We had it shortly after we opened and we are very proud. Our staff is really proud of our scores. We scored above 95% every time and we have done so over the years. And we do that because we spend a lot of time training our staff to make sure they have the right skills and they have the right tools to support all of these food safety programs that we have. Food safety programs such as our sanitation, our GMPs, our foreign material control, those are things that impact the quality and safety of the product. And by them having the tools that and the knowledge really kind of helps build and support the achievements. We also like to include them as part of the process of these certifications. So let's say we have the organic audit, which we actually have into their facility in Sparks. This is not just a quality audit. We have warehouse, we have manufacturing, we have maintenance. Everyone is part of that. And when they are part of that, they really just kind of embrace it and they're more likely. That's how they support the initiatives. That's how they just. Because they are a part of that process.
- [44:20]
C
And, you know, with these, the achievement of the SQF and organic certifications for the Clearwater and the Sparks facilities, what activities do you need to do to uphold these certifications and keep them current?
- [44:32]
D
To keep them current, we do. We just have a document policy. So all of our policies and everything that supports all the requirements under the GFSI scheme are reviewed annually. And these are policies and programs that we review to make sure that they not just meet what the requirements are for the GFSI audits, but also do they follow along with our company values, our commitments to quality and safety. You know, we don't just want to fit into this box. We just meet these requirements because that's what they say. We want to exceed, we want to excel. And I have to say, I'm really lucky to work with a group, with a team that are so willing to explore ways of making things better and improving it. And not just going with, well, we do it because it's how we always done it. They're just so, you know, motivated by making a lot of changes and just modernizing the way we do things in general.
- [45:36]
C
And, you know, speaking of those company values and commitment at Monin, you say that you're dedicated to a culture of consistent improvement.
- [45:44]
D
So.
- [45:44]
C
And as VP of Quality Assurance, how do you and other company leaders reinforce this mission to the food safety and quality team and. And to all workers in the organization? Organization.
- [45:55]
D
So the one thing about culture and having a good culture, quality and safety, is that it does need to come from the top down. It has to come from us, the VPs, the executive, and we need to demonstrate that. And it's not something that we just talk about and we say, but it's actually we, it is built into our mission, our values. And one of the values that it's listed on our mission is that we have a passion and commitment to quality and we never compromise our standards. And these are posted throughout the facility because food safety is at the core of everything we do and it's part of our mindset. So everyone that comes in, every office, the break room, they're posted. So we live it. And it's not just culture to the respect of the work itself, but we are a family business and we just see each other as we are all partners and we all collaborate together. And when someone fails something fails, we help them get up, we help each other and we take the approach of not telling them, do this and do that. It's easy to kind of say, well, go test this, go do that. But they explain them the why. When they understand why they are doing that task or why we're asking them to do that task and how that impacts the product, they really get it. They're like, yes, it's really important. So I'm going to make sure that I do it and if I see something that it's not good, I'm going to let someone know at the end of the day, at the end of the day, I'm sorry, our employees are going to take that product home and they're going to share with family and friends and I know they're not going to take anything that they don't feel is safe. So they just, they're just really good at embracing that type of culture. And we empowered them by, you know, sharing successes. When somebody does a really good job, we have an intranet in a company, we call it Moaning Connect and we do high fives. So let's say that is someone and was on the line and cut that. We had upside down labels or something like that. He cut it and stopped it before it went out to the customer. We'll put that on the Internet. And it's like, hey, high five for this employee for, you know, catching a mistake before it went out the door. I mean that, that is the goal, to help and support each other. And sometimes it's the simple things that make the biggest difference. It's not culture is not just a manufacturing thing. It's how we work together day by day. We had recently our housekeeping person had to, to leave for a couple of days for an emergency and I could not feel that position, you know, that space very quickly. So I'm like, oh my God, what are we going to do? And surprisingly, well, not surprisingly, but I was very pleased and happy to see that I'm not. Not just didn't have manufacturing, but I have marketing, I had innovation, I had R and D. They started helping, taking the trash out, stocking the bathrooms, tidying up the break room. So that just shows that we just, we're just a really tight knit family and that we have a really good, strong culture.
- [49:19]
C
Yeah. Again, that collaboration aspect and, and certainly that positive reinforcement you talked about is important to a strong culture. So thanks for highlighting those. Now, aside from, you know, your internal organization here, how do you also to ensure and reinforce an excellent food safety and quality culture among your raw ingredient suppliers?
- [49:40]
D
When it comes to suppliers, it's important for us to see them as not just a company that we buy this ingredient or this gap or this bottle, but our suppliers are partners and they play a very critical role in the success of the business. If we're successful, they do well. They also do well. So we work with them when we bring in as part of the morning family, so we like to call them, you know, you're part of the money family now. When we do an onboarding process and during that onboarding process, we make sure that they align with our food safety standards and also with our culture. And the onboarding process will include things like, you know, are they GFSI compliant? You know, do they have your basic food safety and quality systems that we all really want? Because that's really important to us. Starting with really good raw materials in the end result is you have really good quality products, finished products, and do they align with our food safety culture? Because as we know, that's what really keeps these programs successful and running and being efficient. And we like to keep an open communication and collaboration with our suppliers and they know their products. We know that sometimes things happen. A cab may not just be running well on a line or a bottle maybe getting stuck somewhere. And you know, having that relationship to kind of help and tackle those issues when they arise is very helpful. And you know, our suppliers are not just, it's only purchasing that talks to them. They come in here and they have a really good collaboration, very good relationship with a marketing team, our research team, quality teams. We recently, we just today had a supplier in here giving us a demo on some new products. So, you know, they, they bring some really good ideas to the table that we just really appreciate and you know, see them as also part of the family.
- [51:45]
C
Okay, interesting. And you Know, actually I'm going to throw up one more question for you if you'd like to answer. So, within the types of products that Monin produces, you know, flavorings and things like that, what is one like food safety consideration that, you know, I, you think is unique to the types of products that Monin produces that you kind of wish that the rest of the food industry knew about or that you think is maybe not so widely known?
- [52:12]
D
As far as. One of the things that I think we do differently is that, you know, quality control, it's something that, you know, a lot of QC techs are responsible of doing, making sure that you know, the, the sugar content, the ph, the bricks, the labels, the codes are important. But one thing that, that we do that's really important and I'm pretty sure a lot of other companies do, but it's the working side by side with the production employees, the, the line operators. When we're checking the labels, they're checking the labels with us. When we're checking the bottle coast, they're checking the codes with us because they're going to run that equipment and they want to be assured that everything is running correctly. So it's that working hand by hand that is really important to ensuring quality and safety. That it's not just a quality technician's responsibility, it's just a mutual responsibility. It's a mutual understanding that working together really ensures that we meet our customers expectations and that we maintain our mission and our reputation of being the trusted brand of choice.
- [53:24]
C
And you know, again, that theme of collaboration emerges, emerges with, you know, the process you just talked about in how, you know, people work, the, the production people work. You know, you're both, you're both looking at the labels, you're both looking at things happening on the line. So. Really interesting and thank you.
- [53:39]
D
Yeah, I mean, no, no one wins alone correctly. So it takes a village, it takes a family, know, having a strong culture to get all this accomplished.
- [53:48]
C
Yeah. And, and I think that, you know, rang through everything that we talked about today is that that spirit of collaboration, that strong culture, especially with this, you know, strong family, you know, owned business here. And then also, you know, this, the, the strong theme of digital digitalization and, and digitization and, and making sure that, you know, you're moving into the future with that and that, you know, you're able to, you know, keep all of your records, you know, so that it's all easily accessible and so that you've got everything that is, you know, easy to find, easy to organize and then also, you know, makes your processes go smoother and easier too. So thank you so much, Johanna, for this really interesting and insightful interview. It's been a pleasure talking with you and learning more about what Monin Americas does and how how you assure food safety and quality for your products products. So thank you so much for being a guest on the podcast today.
- [54:49]
D
Thank you. It was my pleasure.
- [54:51]
A
Thanks again to Johanna Velez for joining us on the podcast today. And of course, thanks to all of you for listening. You know, you know we do. We love hearing from you. So don't hesitate. Send us your questions or suggestions to podcastood-safety.com or post a note on LinkedIn X or Facebook. We always love to get your feedback. And to make sure that new and bonus episodes magically appear in your podcast player, all you have to do is click that Follow or Subscribe button in the player of your choice and presto, they magically appear. And while you're there, please throw some stars our way by rating the podcast, especially if you enjoyed it. It only takes a moment and it's good for everyone. And just like that kind of magic, that's it for us today. Our next next Regular episode will post on November 26th. So in the meantime, take good care of yourselves and those around you and we'll talk to you then.