Editor’s note: Stephanie Weinand has published three years of video interviews for the Industry Insights series and has recently expanded to get expert insights in print as well. Enjoy!
SW: What is your background in food safety and why is it something you are passionate about?
I am a microbiologist who analysed food in her own laboratory. My intention was to support my customers with my knowledge about hygiene and most importantly help them to produce safe and healthy food. In fact, I wanted to have safe food also for my children! Based on the findings in my studies regarding food safety, I audited companies and checked their processes. In a joint effort we optimized their HACCP-systems. As a result, the laboratory results improved which made me and the customers very happy!
SW: How is CPM helping food safety professionals? In which sectors of the food industry do you find experts to work with?
CPM and the Food Safety Senior Expert (FSSE) team that I have gathered offers consulting, auditing, and training for the main topics of food safety and the most important certification standards and requirements. What sets us apart is the team effort. We support each other and have a huge knowledge database for the FSSEs. We not only have the possibilities to combine the power of 35 FSSEs for big projects, yet also combine a tremendous amount of knowledge. The FSSEs I accredited have decades of practical experiences and know-how. All of them have qualified in different fields. This enables us to respect work safety or sustainability in a food safety project and send the right auditor who is expert in food logistics. We combine not only food safety knowledge itself but also the expertise for the topics that might have an impact on food safety. Our customers who come from the entire food chain do not need to search for the right consultant by themselves, they just ask me. We work for food production, logistics, retail, restaurants, or primary production as well as for the packaging industries.
SW: Can you tell us about your mission and what´s coming up in 2023 that you are excited about?
My mission is to avoid mistakes in the food production. Lots of problems are based on a lack of attention, incorrectly constructed risk analyses, unwillingness and lack of knowledge. By supporting food safety culture projects, providing training for HACCP / TACCP / VACCP-analysis, suggesting practicable solutions, and developing sophisticated trainings we support our customers to do better. In 2023 we will also organise the 8th Karlsruher Lebensmittelsymposium (Karlsruher Food Symposium), that is designed to provide knowledge and share expertise covering most of the topics a quality manager needs to know in 2023.
SW: If you could change one thing in the industry what would that be?
I would love to help managers realise the tremendous chance food safety culture will bring to the industry. Not enough attention is given to the important psychological influences a company culture has. We could overcome lots of highly important food safety problems if only we would learn to influence the behaviour of the employees - culture can.
SW: How can you be contacted? Where can people find you?
You can contact me via email: ab.dreusch@cp-management.de or through the contact form on CPM´s website www.cp-management.de.
