Food Protection Trends - July/August 2022 - 320

BEYOND the BIO
Name: Lone Jespersen
Employment: Cultivate SA
Location: Switzerland
Jespersen's Quest to Intersect Social Science and Food Safety
In 2008, Lone Jespersen's career did an about-face. Just four years prior, she had joined
Maple Leaf Foods (Canada) to lead their SixSigma process within the engineering teams. Fast
forward to 2008, and an outbreak of listeriosis from Maple Leaf ready-to-eat sliced cold cuts
spread across Canada and was linked to the death of 23 people.
" At the time [in 2008], Maple Leaf was a
hopping organization, " Jespersen said. " Almost
from one day to the next, the company was
overshadowed by this deep grief for what
had happened due to the outbreak. At that
time, I was brought on to a new team to start
a new food safety strategy, led by Dr. Randy
Huffman. It was really my first introduction to
food safety. I had never dreamt my engineering
background would place me in a food company,
working in food protection. "
From the get go, Jespersen was all in.
While she already held a master's degree in
mechanical engineering from Denmark, her
desire to learn the scientific and theoretical
study behind food safety fueled her to go back
to school and earn her master's degree and
Ph.D. in food science at University of Guelph,
supervised by Dr. Mansel Griffiths. Much of
her inspiration to learn and grow in the field
came from working with Hoffman, whom she
considers a lifelong mentor.
" Dr. Hoffman looked past me not having
an actual food science degree and saw my
experience, my passion for understanding
why things like the outbreak happened and
the responsibility we have, as food safety
professionals, to produce safe food. "
As more information related to the outbreak
unfolded, Jespersen saw how organizational
behavior and practices could have a heavy
influence upon the overall food safety attitudes
and outcomes of a company. As part of her
graduate research, Jespersen delved into the
intersection of social science and food science,
taking common food safety practices and
organizational culture norms and uncovering
what it takes to make food safety a top-of-mind
process for all.
" My schooling gave me the luxury to sink
into really understanding the social science
(sociological, psychological) as well as the
motivations and responses employees have to
food safety messages, " Jespersen said. " When
we're able to understand that, we can get to
much more impactful types of messaging and
work. It really is such an important intersection
and absolutely fascinating. "
When Jespersen thinks back to some of the
most poignant research projects of her career,
she is quick to recall her doctoral research
working with five major U.S. food production
companies to discover core behaviors in the
culture of food safety within the company
and how to change them. She recalls that at
the time, her research focus was significantly
different than that of her peers. Today, she
supervises graduate students across the world
interested in this critical line of business.
" The more minds we can get into this field,
we can better figure out how to actually make
a change, " Jespersen said. " Take sociology,
for example. It's the study of how a person is
influenced by groups and group norms. When
we put it together with food science and food
safety, we have a lot of opportunity in front of
us and how we can reduce the likelihood of
food safety risks. "
In 2015, Jespersen founded Cultivate
SA, an organization dedicated to helping
businesses evaluate, understand and shift
food safety culture and attitudes. In addition
to her professional network, Jespersen said
the " unwavering " support of her husband and
brother were critical to her success.
" Having people support and believe in
your abilities to accomplish anything is just
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