Dr. Peter J. Slade
Dr. Peter Slade is Senior Director, Food Safety Technical Affairs, Maple Leaf Foods, where he assesses risks associated with new food processing technologies and new product development. He advises on allergen management strategies, supplier approvals, analytical methods, and shelf-life and challenge study protocols. Prior to joining MLF, Dr. Slade consulted on new business development in China as Chief Science and Technology Officer, Amerita (Tianjin) Food and Drug Laboratories. Previously, he was located in China as General Manager at Sino Analytica, an ISO 17025 accredited food testing and inspection service with laboratories in Qingdao and Ningbo.
Dr. Slade was educated in the United Kingdom, and obtained his B.Sc. in Food Science and Microbiology (Hons) at the University of Leeds in 1978. He worked for three years at Campden BRI, Chipping Campden, U.K., mainly researching the properties of foodborne pathogens in frozen foods. Dr. Slade spent five years in Saudi Arabia with Midwest Research Institute, Kansas City, Missouri, working within the Department of Consumer Protection, Ministry of Commerce. There he trained Saudi counterparts and helped develop capability in food microbiology and examination for extraneous matter, including analytical entomology. He earned his Ph.D. in Food Science at the University of Guelph, Ontario in 1991. The title of his thesis was “Genotypical Characterization of Listeria spp. from Food, Environmental and Clinical Sources,” in which he pioneered the use of ribotyping to subtype strains of L. monocytogenes.
Dr. Slade spent three years with the Campbell Soup Company in Camden, New Jersey, as Manager of Research Microbiology and later as Manager of Technical Services and Analytical Microbiology, where he mainly worked with company QC laboratories and corporate QA on various quality issues. From 1994–98, Dr. Slade worked for McDonald’s Corporation in Oak Brook, Illinois, where he was QA/Food Safety Manager, North America, within Supply Chain Management. He worked on several food safety projects, including development and management of the McDonald’s Supplier HACCP program and the McDonald’s Stock Recovery program. He was also a member of the corporate Crisis Avoidance Team and a liaison with Menu Management on new product development.
Dr. Slade worked for 10 years at the National Center for Food Safety and Technology (NCFST), now the Institute for Food Safety and Health (IFSH), a consortium of the FDA, Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and industry members, near Chicago. He chaired the committee that developed the standardized Juice HACCP Training Curriculum based on FDA’s Juice HACCP regulation, and was co-Chair of NCFST’s Chemical Constituents and Allergens working group. He also co-led the joint NCFST/International Sprout Growers Association (ISGA) Sprout Task Force. Additionally, Dr. Slade developed and presented early training courses on food defense, based on Operational Risk Management (ORM). As Director, Academic Programs and Outreach, Dr. Slade also oversaw significant growth in the NCFST/IIT academic program, and was the primary research adviser to twelve IIT Masters’ students. His most recent research at NCFST was on methods for rapid detection of E. coli O157:H7 in leafy greens processing water, and development of gaseous sterilant applications for inactivation of Bacillus spores in food environments.
Dr. Slade has been active in IAFP for over 25 years. Along with participation in various PDGs, he was a member of the Program Advisory Committee (1997–98); the Audiovisual Library Committee (2001–06); Food Protection Trends Management (2002–05); and the Nominating Committee (2002–04; 2007–08). Dr. Slade chaired the ad hoc HACCP Task Force (1999–2002) and Tellers Committee (2002–03), and was Vice Chair (2006–08) and Chair (2008–10) of the Food Chemical Hazards and Food Allergens PDG. He currently serves on the editorial board for Food Protection Trends (2012–14). Dr. Slade has published dozens of peer-reviewed scientific and trade articles, has given many invited presentations, and has authored and co-authored several posters and oral presentations at IAFP and other professional meetings.