Ep. 84. Scott Brooks: Tyson Takes on COVID

<p>Dr. Scott Brooks is the Senior Vice President of Food Safety and Quality Assurance for Tyson Foods. Previously, Scott held similar food safety, quality, and regulatory executive positions at Kraft Heinz, PepsiCo, and Yum! Brands after serving as a Public Health Officer in the Air Force. His Doctorate is in Veterinary Medicine with Master’s degrees in both Food Microbiology and Preventive Veterinary Medicine. He served on the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods and is a Past-President of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine.<br /> <br /> <strong>In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to Scott [18:29] about:</strong></p> <ul> <li>The centralized corporate structure of Tyson Foods</li> <li>Initial assumptions about the pandemic </li> <li>The challenge in keeping 120,000 team members safe and healthy</li> <li>How Tyson got its hands on PPE for their employees</li> <li>Facility changes as a result of the pandemic</li> <li>Sanitation challenges</li> <li>The creation of a cross-functional group consisting of occupational health and safety and food safety and quality teams</li> <li>What happens when facilities get locked down</li> <li>Challenges unique to the meat industry</li> <li>How to navigate federal guidance when the science is a moving target</li> <li>Positive outcomes as a result of COVID</li> <li>What still remains a challenge</li> <li>Rethinking crisis management plans</li> <li>Bringing healthcare to the workplace</li> <li>Supply chain impacts</li> <li>Unintended consequences of COVID on the food industry</li> </ul> <p><br /> <strong>Resource: </strong><br /> <a href= "https://www.foodsafetymagazine.com/fsm/assets/File/Scientific%20Working%20Group%20-%20%20Promoting%20Workplace%20Safety.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-cke-saved-href= "https://www.foodsafetymagazine.com/fsm/assets/File/Scientific%20Working%20Group%20-%20%20Promoting%20Workplace%20Safety.pdf"> Promoting workplace safety in the era of COVID-19: keeping employees, their families,