Kraft Foods

First to the Table

Q&A on Food Safety

With Dr. Matilda Freund, Kraft Foods, Inc.

The role of leader in the food industry is one that is taken seriously by Kraft Foods. Its impressive portfolio of products is part of everyday life in most American homes. So it's not surprising that food safety receives an enormous amount of attention by Kraft — from farm to fork. In fact, it is ingrained in the company's culture.

But the focus is not only internal. Kraft has reached out to its own suppliers, retailers, trade associations, universities and the government in a sustained effort to lead the industry towards improving the safety of its food supply.

To learn about Kraft's work in food safety, Supermarket News sat down with Dr. Matilda Freund, senior director of food safety, who has focused on this area for most of her 20 years at the company.

SN: Could you outline the timeline for Kraft's food safety initiative. When did it start and what have been the significant developments thus far?

Freund: Kraft Foods has always placed a strong emphasis on food safety. In the early ‘80s, we implemented food safety plans across all of our manufacturing facilities. We have been leading the industry in food safety advances since then. When our research is related to food safety, we share it with the industry and the public.

SN: For some companies, food safety is a top-down initiative; that is, the chief executive drives the initiative throughout the organization. Has this been the case at Kraft?

Freund: At Kraft Foods, we take the approach that food safety is everyone's responsibility. It is our company's highest priority and is at the center of all we do. By having food safety ingrained in our culture at every level, it doesn't necessarily need to be top-down driven.

We strongly believe in a culture of continuous improvement. We have an integrated system to make sure our food is both safe and delicious.

SN: Does that help Kraft maintain its focus and momentum on food safety?

Freund: Definitely. We maintain the momentum by constantly challenging our system and our approach to food safety. We do this by benchmarking with our industry peers, as well as working with various universities and the government. We are constantly looking at events, both internally and externally, and developing and sharing lessons learned from those events. We act with foresight and vigilance. We believe these qualities are critical to maintaining an effective food safety effort.

SN: When you reach out to these various organizations, have they been receptive to your overtures? How does that relationship develop?

Freund: People are interested in safe food. They are interested in doing whatever is possible to maintain a safe food supply and continuously improve it.

Often we are sharing our knowledge, and we have had great cooperation. For example, I sit on the board of directors for the University of Georgia's Center for Food Safety. There are about 20 industry members on the board. We help direct the research at the university in areas that we think will improve food safety. They have recently been conducting some research into different ways to treat produce to reduce the bacterial load.

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Have a burning question related to food safety? Ask Kraft Foods' food safety expert, Dr. Matilda Freund, who has devoted nearly 20 years to this important issue.