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
Food Allergen Management | April 15, 2026 | Register
Foreign Material Prevention | May 6, 2026 | Register
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
In this webinar Dr. Demarco, Associate Scientific Director of Eurofins Microbiology, discusses problems from the perspective of the spice manufacturer, rapid and conventional cultural methods most commonly used when testing for pathogens in spices, issues with testing methods and most commonly used approaches to circumvent them, as well as opportunities for improvements. Original airdate April 27, 2023.
Do you work with animal veterinary products? Join Kari Nichols and Leo Schilling as they help you navigate the process for animal veterinary product development. Original airdate March 29, 2023.
Are you incorporating novel or upcycled protein materials in your products? If so join Mollie Van Alst for this webinar to learn more about the determination of protein and carbohydrates from that material. Original airdate March 30, 2023
This webinar outlines the concept, design and execution of appropriate validation strategies and procedures intended to mitigate microbiological hazards in Low-Water Activity Foods. In the context of FDA regulations, low-water activity foods (LWAF) are those products with a water activity (aw) of less than 0.85. For many decades, these products were believed to present a low microbiological hazard risk. Various food related illness outbreaks, starting with a massive outbreak of salmonellosis due to peanut butter consumption in 2008-2009, raised awareness of the risk resulting from extended survival of pathogens in these products even in the absence of active growth. Original airdate August 23, 2022.
Learn about frequent causes of off-flavor, off-odor, and flavor scalping in packaged foods, beverages, and pet food products, including analytical techniques ranging from GCMS to ICP to LCMSMS for troubleshooting and detection, with a focus on SPME-GC-MS analysis. Learn how improper product packaging, production, or transportation issues can cause your product to be recalled. Factors that can negatively impact flavor and aroma. The analytical techniques range from GCMS to ICP to LCMSMS for troubleshooting and detection.
The botanical supplement and cosmetic industries are rapidly changing, and the increase in consumer demand calls for upscaling raw material sourcing. This means there is higher pressure for scientifically-valid contaminant testing, including screens for pesticides and heavy metals, while maintaining a fast turn-around time. Watch this webinar to learn modern approaches to contaminant detection, with an emphasis on market trends, broad dietary supplement applications, and OTC cosmetics.
Watch this webinar to learn more about Human Milk Oligosaccharides and Proteins, what they are, and how they can be analyzed. The webinar will provide some background on HMOs and cover an analytical method that is capable of quantifying up to six different HMOs within infant formula and adult nutritionals and will focus on the most prevalent human milk proteins targeted for infant formula, and how modern proteomics tools are used to address the challenges of targeted protein analysis in protein rich matrices such as infant formula.
Watch this webinar to gain an understanding of the difference between the USDA and FDA labeling regulations. Also, learn which products fall into which regulation.
Analytical method development and validation is a complex topic; in this webinar, Josh Rhein and Leo Schilling attempt to break it down for you and discuss some best practices.
This webinar focuses on best practices for testing dietary supplements with a focus on using scientifically valid test methods. Original air date: April 25, 2022
