US-based berry producer-marketer Naturipe Farms has appointed former Walmart quality control manager Michael Bentel as its new director of food safety and quality assurance.
In this newly created position, Mr Bentel will be responsible for developing, implementing and monitoring Naturipe Farms’ protocols and performance in the crucial areas of food quality, food safety, food security, labelling and packaging, product standards, palletising, shipping protocols and GAP farm practices.
Mr Bentel worked for Walmart for 16 years in a number of roles. His responsibilities were in food safety, store operations and developing specifications and quality control processes for perishable items sold in Walmart Supercenters and Sam’s Club stores.
For the last four and a half years he worked as a regional quality control manager, overseeing a group of quality control professionals in multiple locations throughout the US. His team focused on cold chain management, produce and fresh meat specification compliance, and the implementation of HACCP food safety programmes.
Michael will report to Naturipe's vice-president of operations, Michael McCartney, who said the appointment would greatly benefit the company.“Michael will play an active role in our continuous improvement approach to delivering world class food safety and assuring our customers and consumer receive the highest quality of fruit on the market,” he commented. “He will be a key member of the Naturipe Farms’ Quality Assurance, Traceability, Food Safety and Crisis Management teams and will be in close contact with his peers at our customers and growers.”
Mr Bentel said he was 'thrilled' with his new role. “The opportunity to work on the supplier / grower side at Naturipe Farms is very exciting,' he said. 'The grower partners at Naturipe Farms have a strong focus on delivering premium quality and safe products – I am looking forward to expanding and developing the great programmes that are in place today at Naturipe Farms.”
No comments yet