Safety: Safe Operations & Food Handling During COVID-19

Su-Lin's career has spanned environmental science, geographic information system (GIS), and technology. Her food sustainability passion started at UC Davis where she studied environmental science and worked in the university's sustainability offices. As Operations Manager at Replate, Su-Lin combines her analytical and environmental interests to redistribute surplus food throughout the US.

As a Senior Advisor in FDA’s Office of Food Safety, Kevin Smith advises FDA leadership on strategic initiatives and program development related to FDA’s food safety mission. In addition to leading FDA’s efforts on food waste and recovery, Kevin co-leads the implementation of regulations for the sanitary transportation of human and animal food. During his 30-year career in Environmental Health, Kevin has worked for a leading third party certification firm and agencies at the federal, state, and local level, including serving as the Director of FDA’s Retail Food Protection Staff for over 8 years. Kevin earned his BS in Food Science from the University of Delaware and his Master of Public Health from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Ben Chapman is a professor and food safety extension specialist at North Carolina State University. As a teenager, a Saturday afternoon viewing of the classic cable movie, Outbreak, sparked his interest in pathogens and public health. With the goal of less foodborne illness, his group designs, implements, and evaluates food safety strategies, messages, and media from farm-to-fork. Through reality-based research, Chapman investigates behaviors and creates interventions aimed at amateur and professional food handlers, managers, and organizational decision-makers; the gatekeepers of safe food. Ben co-hosts a bi-weekly podcast called Food Safety Talk and tries to further engage folks online through Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and, maybe not surprisingly, Pinterest. Follow on Twitter @benjaminchapman.

Tracy Chang is the chef/owner of PAGU restaurant in Cambridge, MA. She is a Boston College alum, with a B.S. in Finance. She also holds certificates in pâtisserie from Le Cordon Bleu Paris. She trained in the kitchen with three star Michelin chef Martin Berasategui in San Sebastian, Spain, worked on his television programming and spearheaded his communications and public relations. She has also been a teaching fellow at the Harvard Science & Cooking Program, founded by Spanish Chef Ferran Adria. Prior to opening PAGU, she founded a pop-up restaurant, Guchi’s Midnight Ramen and hosted events with restaurants, startups, nonprofits, and universities. She is an alum of the James Beard Foundation Bootcamp for Policy & Change program, and a 2020 James Beard Best Chef Northeast semifinalist. Recently she helped launch the Off Their Plate initiative in Boston, feeding healthcare workers in the emergency departments dealing with Covid-19, while providing economic relief to restaurant employees. The initiative has expanded to nine cities nationwide, raised more than $3 million, and restored more than $1.5 million in wages.