Food Safety Matters – Episode 210

Guest: Campbell Mitchell, Head of Food Safety and Compliance, Kraft Heinz North America
Date: January 27, 2026
Host: Adrian Bloom (with Stacey Acheson & Bob Ferguson)

Episode Overview

This episode explores executive-level leadership in food safety with Campbell Mitchell of Kraft Heinz North America. Drawing on his decades of international experience, Campbell discusses adapting to shifting regulations, strengthening enterprise-wide food safety culture, leading through complexity, and leveraging digital and AI tools to manage risk in global supply chains.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Campbell Mitchell's Global Career & Background

• Early Adaptability through International Upbringing
  • Campbell shares, “When I was 15, we’d lived in 15 different houses, so change was the norm...the only constant is change.” (38:54)
  • Lived in multiple countries across Asia, Europe, Africa; credits this with agility and openness to new challenges.
• Impactful Career Move:
  • “My first real exposure to a strange cultural environment was moving from Australia to Saudi Arabia…That was one of the best things I could have done.” (40:56)
• Global Leadership Posts:
  • Held senior roles at FairLife (Coca-Cola), Kerry Group, Almarai (Middle East), plus consultancy for Tiger Brands in Africa.

2. Inspiration & Entry into Food Safety

• Unexpected Path:
  • “I was doing pre-med...spent too much time at the pub...didn’t get into medicine...microbiology is far more interesting.” (42:22)
• Microbiology as a Career:
  • Inspired by job security & the dynamism of the field; enjoys being the 'translator' of complex science for decision makers.

3. Executive Responsibility in Modern Food Safety

• Leadership at Kraft Heinz North America:
  • Joined mid-2025 during an organizational transition: “I like to be part of an organization when they’re…at the tipping point where they need more structure and more systems.” (44:37)
  • Emphasizes that food safety is not just technical: “Food safety is every decision that’s made within the organization...if we do it right, nobody hears about us. If we do it wrong, it can have huge consequences.” (46:37)
• Role:
  • Engaging cross-functional business leaders (operations, R&D, marketing, HR) in food safety; not “just about lab testing”.

4. Navigating Regulatory and Consumer-Driven Change

• Phasing Out Artificial Colors (MAHA Policy) (47:30–49:39):
  • Kraft Heinz (and many US food firms) will eliminate synthetic food colorings by end of 2027, prompted by regulatory and consumer pressure under the “Make America Healthy Again” campaign.
  • “It’s a huge challenge actually...We’re taking the opportunity to reformulate a lot of the products to be future-facing, which has meant a whole lot of work for people in my department...800 products need to be reevaluated for food safety.”
  • Notes state-by-state regulatory patchwork is accelerating change; sees convergence with stricter EU-style standards.
• Reformulation Complexities:
  • E.g., Switching from liquid to powdered dyes affects blending, safety validation, and process controls: “All that has to be validated before you can say that product is reformulated and you can sign off on it.” (49:39)

5. Balancing Global Standards & Regulatory Complexity

• Cross-Regional Complexity:
  • “Every country has its own little regulation...when I was in the Middle East, I was looking after 89 countries, importing from 160 factories.” (50:17)
  • Importance of zooming in on micro details and zooming out for macro perspective: “You need to be able to get the facts right, get the details, but you’ve also got to see the big picture.” (50:17)

6. Meeting Consumer Expectations & Future-Proofing

• Aligning with Consumer Demands (53:46–54:58):
  • Consumers increasingly conflate food safety with chemicals, additives, packaging, not just pathogens.
  • “Our testing capabilities are getting tougher...we’re finding microplastics, PFAS, all these things.” (54:58)
  • “At the end of the day, we all want to provide safe, quality food....food safety is the number one impact consumers see.”

7. Food Safety Culture: Building & Measuring

• Enterprise-wide Approach:
  • Plans to deploy a comprehensive “food safety culture” survey—not just at plant-level but including procurement, marketing, logistics, etc.
  • Advocates for using global benchmarking tools like Campden BRI’s Culture Excellence Survey (based on GFSI standards) (56:22–58:09)
  • Campbell contributed to PAS320, a guidance for building mature food safety cultures: “There’s a lot more research out there now on what nudges we can put in place, what good companies are doing to improve food safety culture.” (56:22)

8. Digital Transformation & Predictive Analytics

• Next Generation Risk Management:
  • Kraft Heinz piloting AI for “digital CIP” (Cleaning in Place)—predicting when cleaning is needed using real-time data, not just schedules.
  • "We're trying to digitize all [environmental monitoring/pathogen monitoring] that...AI can see patterns and trends things that the human eye can't see." (58:26)
  • Predictive analytics for environmental monitoring and potentially supplier risk; current hurdles: integration of various databases and data-cleanliness.
  • “Nestle is doing a fantastic job of linking up all the HACCP plans across all their 200 facilities...Kraft Heinz is using the same technology.” (58:26)
  • Looks ahead to two or three years for truly powerful predictive analytics once integrations mature.

Noteworthy Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Adaptability:
  “Wherever I lay my hat, that’s my home. That was my motto.” (39:13, Mitchell)
• On food safety roles:
  “Quality and food safety, if we do it right, nobody hears about us. But if we do it wrong, it can have huge consequences.” (46:19, Mitchell)
• On being proactive:
  “We’re taking the opportunity to reformulate a lot of the products to be future-facing, which has meant a whole lot of work for people in my department... 800 products need to be reevaluated for food safety.” (48:56, Mitchell)
• On food safety culture:
  “Food safety culture is not just about the quality people or the operations people…everybody needs to understand, you know, food safety culture.” (56:22, Mitchell)
• On digital tools & risk:
  “You can start to determine the break point and then the AI will tell you before it gets to the break point: you need to start to do your CIP now.” (58:26, Mitchell)

Important Timestamps

• 38:28 – Campbell Mitchell introduction, early global experiences
• 41:12 – International leadership and global food industry insights
• 42:22 – Origin story: microbiology, early career pivots
• 44:37 – Joining Kraft Heinz; transition and leadership role explained
• 47:30 – Phasing out artificial food colorings; regulatory challenges and reformulation
• 50:17 – Navigating differing global food regulations and import/export compliance
• 53:46 – Addressing consumer concerns and evolving definitions of food safety
• 56:22 – Building & measuring food safety culture across the whole enterprise
• 58:26 – Leveraging AI and digital tools for proactive food safety and predictive analytics
• 61:53 – Outlook on future predictive analytics and integrated supplier risk management
• 62:35 – Closing statements and appreciation

Summary: For Food Safety Leaders and Professionals

This episode offers a rare executive perspective on global food safety leadership, underscoring:

• The importance of adaptability and cross-cultural agility for global compliance;
• How consumer expectations—and government policy—are accelerating clean-label reforms and enterprise-wide scrutiny of ingredients (notably, synthetic dyes and artificial additives);
• The shift from reactive to proactive, digitally-enabled risk management—as companies mature in their use of real-time data and AI for compliance and continuous improvement;
• The necessity of embedding food safety culture at every level and function, far beyond the factory floor.

Campbell’s experience and anecdotes provide actionable insights for leaders tasked with steering organizations through regulatory changes, consumer shifts, and technical complexity—all while fostering a robust, future-proof culture of safety and excellence.