Breakout Session F
Topic: “Electronic Food Safety Inspections”
Speaker: Tom Ford, Vice President, Food Safety, Ecolab

Abstract
Achieving food safety entails control and checks along the entire food chain; from the farm and through the distribution channels, all the way through to the consumer.

However, one of the most challenging links in this chain is effectively managing the food safety practices of the front line associates. Fully knowledgeable and empowered food handlers still must execute proper handling techniques each and every time they handle food.

Tools such as electronic auditing technology, in coordination with a properly trained auditing team, a well designed assessment tool and a quality Assurance function for the process, all can lead to a program that provides data that is reproducible and actionable. Actionable data, after all, should be the goal of any assessment program, for this is the key to process improvement and behavior change.

Biography
Tom Ford is Vice President of Food Safety for Ecolab, Inc. which is headquartered in St. Paul, MN.
His role at Ecolab is to assist customers with their food safety programs, both from the corporate and store/restaurant level. Additionally, he oversees the field auditing quality assurance group and microbiology departments for the Ecolab QSR/Retail businesses.
Tom has worked in the food industry since 1978. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in microbiology from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana and a Master of Public Health degree from Benedictine University. <back>