Our series of Best-in-Class webinars provides a quick study on various topics related to core food safety concepts. Each course is performed as a 2-hour “lunch and learn”-style presentation. Lead instructor, Mike Cramer of the Eurofins Advanced Learning Institute, delivers practical guidance and basic tools through the viewpoint of his 40+ years of experience in meat and food manufacturing.
These free webinar sessions are valuable for food industry personnel involved in all phases of food manufacturing, distribution, retail, and storage, and are critical to the foundation of a strong, well-rounded food safety culture.
MEET THE HOST
Michael Cramer | Trainer, Eurofins Advanced Learning Institute
Michael Cramer started his career at Swift & Company in Pennsylvania as a summer employee. He worked his way up to QA Manager (Pennsylvania and North Carolina), Production Specialist and Corporate Documentation Manager (Illinois) to QA Manager at the Swift-Eckrich plant in Chicago and then QA Director for the Armour processed meat and poultry plants. He then moved to Specialty Brands, Inc./Windsor Foods/Ajinomoto Foods North America where he stayed from 1993 to his retirement in 2023. There he served as Director of Food Safety and Quality assurance before being promoted to Senior Director of FSQA.
Mike is known for his in-depth knowledge of food plant sanitation and has written a book, now in its 3rd edition, “Food Plant Sanitation, Design, Maintenance and Good Manufacturing Practices.” He is also a member of the editorial board of Food Safety Magazine and has over twenty articles published dealing with Listeria control, Biosecurity, Sanitation and Sanitary Design, Sanitation 5S, and Allergens. As well, he is a contributing member of the American Frozen Foods Institute Listeria Working Group. You can find multiple Food Safety Matters podcasts and food sanitation webinars that he has led.
Upcoming Live Webinars
Sign up for one of our upcoming live sessions. Calendar already booked up during this time? No problem! Register today, and you will receive a copy of the webinar recording within three business days after the live event.
Integrated Pest Management | June 3, 2026 | Register
Recall Policy and Action Plan | June 24, 2026 | Register
Root Cause Analysis | July 15, 2026 | Coming Soon
Regulatory Response | August 5, 2026 | Coming Soon
Listeria Management | August 26, 2026 | Coming Soon
Sign up here to be notified when registration for future episodes becomes available.
On-Demand Webinars
Check out past webinars in the Best in Class webinar series below.
Eurofins Microbiology Laboratory (EML) New England adds Alicyclobacillus spp. testing to its ISO 17025:2017 scope of biological services. This is an expansion to their existing scope that includes routine pathogen and indicator organism testing for food, food products, beverages, environmental samples, and pet food.
Learn how data-driven E. coli testing improves process control and food safety in beef plants. Explore sampling strategies, harvest monitoring, and microbial analytics to reduce contamination risks and enhance regulatory compliance.
Low water activity foods (LWAFs) have historically been considered low-risk for microbiological hazards because their limited “free” (unbound) water in the formulation prevents bacterial growth. However, foodborne illness outbreaks revealed that pathogens can survive for extended periods in LWAFs, even in the absence of growth. Watch now to learn what is required to validate control measures to reduce microbial risks in LWAFs. Originally Aired on June 18, 2025.
Are microbial stability challenges affecting the formulation or shelf life of your nutritional bar or natural product? Food safety is essential in product development, ensuring consumers enjoy innovative flavors with confidence. Join Dr. Malcond Valladares and Ed Collins in this webinar as they explore food safety concerns specific to nutritional bars natural products and share formulation strategies to enhance microbial stability. Originally Recorded on June 19, 2025
The Eurofins team of process authorities routinely provides expert guidance to food manufacturers to prepare microbiologically safe products. In this service, we encounter many questions that span across a variety of food products and manufacturing processes. Here we list and will continue to compile the most common questions and answers asked of a process authority and the responses. Use this information as a guide in your scheduled process or as you work through the formulation and development of your new food product. You may also use this as a tool to submit your own questions for a process authority!
When it comes to food safety and regulatory compliance, acidified foods stand out as a unique category that demands careful attention. These shelf-stable products, ranging from pickled vegetables to tangy condiments, rely on precise pH control and proper processing to ensure they remain safe and stable for consumers. In this webinar, we’ll simplify the complexities of acid and acidified foods, breaking down key factors regarding microbiological safety, stability, and regulatory compliance.
Join experts from two leading Eurofins labs in this in-depth webinar as they break down the latest preservative testing methodologies, covering both natural and synthetic preservatives.
Food safety risks in fruit and vegetable processing environments can come from many different sources. Agricultural items are inherently dirty products, which can introduce risk- including microbial pathogens- to a facility from the outside environment. If your Environmental Monitoring Program (EMP) and sanitation programs are not sufficient to control these risks, these products could be potentially cross contaminating other products that are subsequently processed in the facility. It is therefore imperative that we think about risks from both our incoming products and our processes when designing environmental monitoring programs.
Non-culturable presumptive (NCP)- samples that yield positive pathogen detection results by PCR screening methods but do not confirm by cultural methods- can be frustrating and disruptive to clients. These situations are not unique to a testing company or the methods that are run, but it is possible to understand the root causes of NCPs, and to identify additional procedures to reduce the frequency with which they occur and minimize the likelihood of these situations impacting your data.
When you submit a sample to the laboratory for microbiology testing, what happens? Follow a Listeria spp. sample through the lab workflow in this infographic.
