Elanco forms food safety business unit

 

 

Elanco will launch a new business platform focused on food safety, marketing food safety products and services to the livestock industry through Elanco Food Solutions.

 

This development is in response to higher consumer expectations on food safety, and Elanco Food Solutions will provide technologies to reduce food-borne pathogens such as E. coli and salmonella in packing and processing plants, said K. Douglas Miller, director of Elanco Food Solutions.

 

Simmons, president of Elanco, cited a 2008 Gallup study4 which revealed that 60% of US consumers report avoiding certain foods or brands as a result of government-issued food safety recalls or advisories. Food safety concerns are still top priorities to consumers even during tough economic conditions, Simmons noted.

 

In addition to providing multiple food safety technologies, Elanco Food Solutions also will offer the Food Safety Knowledge Solutions programme, a unique benchmarking system that uses statistical process control (SPC) methodology to help packers and processors effectively manage their pathogen-control systems. It is available exclusively for Elanco Food Solutions customers.

 

Food Safety Knowledge Solutions is a systematic, objective way for packers to analyse and compare their data against industry standards and to identify the factors that contribute to higher or lower pathogen levels in their facilities, said Miller.

 

Because the programme helps packers and processors analyse both pathogen data and operational data, it allows them to more effectively manage their total pathogen-control systems, according to Miller.

 

Simmons said the company will introduce several food safety technologies in the coming months for beef and poultry packers and processors.

 

Miller will lead the Elanco Food Solutions team as director of business operations. He joined Elanco in 2000 and has served in several clinical research and product development roles in the US and abroad. Miller earned his bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees in animal science from the University of Illinois.

 

David Cobb is the director of marketing. Cobb joined Elanco in 1982 and has worked in the company's cattle, poultry and swine businesses, leading new product launches in more than 15 countries. Cobb has a bachelor's degree in marketing from the University of Tennessee and an MBA from Duke University.

 

Tom Nicholson is director of sales and technical services. He has more than 20 years of experience in the animal health industry and food chain with such companies as Ivy Natural Solutions, VetLife, Syntex Animal Health and Pfizer Animal Health. Nicholson has spent the last several years developing and commercialising new food safety technologies. He earned a bachelor's degree in animal science from Iowa State University.

 

Patrick Mies, PhD, is technical consultant responsible for supporting the company's beef food safety technologies. Mies earned a bachelor's in animal science and doctorate degree in meat science from Texas A&M University, and a master's degree in meat science from Colorado State University. He has led food safety programmes for Booth Creek Natural Foods and Harris Ranch Beef Company.

 

Rob Ames is associate brand manager. After earning a bachelor's degree in animal science from Kansas State University and a master's of agriculture degree from Colorado State University, Ames was named the first executive director of Certified Hereford Beef LLC. He was a coauthor of the 1995 National Beef Quality Audit, and focused on sales and marketing programs for Ivy Natural Solutions' food-safety technologies and direct-fed microbials prior to joining Elanco.

 

Elanco is a global company that develops and markets products to improve animal health, food-animal production and food safety in more than 75 countries. Elanco has offices in more than 40 countries, and is a division of Eli Lilly and Company, a leading global pharmaceutical corporation.