Science and Regulatory Committee

ASTA has combined the Food Safety Committee and Government Relations Committee, Task Forces and Working Groups and rebranded the work under one committee to better align identification for projects into smaller working groups. The strategic goal is to facilitate food safety by providing resources to support industry efforts ensuring clean, safe spice & utilize global alliances to reach the entire supply chain. Through regulatory and policy developments, maintaining strong relationships with agencies, legislators, state governments and other key stakeholders, ASTA is able to develop comments and positions on emerging regulations to advocate for the spice industry and provide tools and resources on new policies and developments.

Science and Regulatory Committee Member Roster 2022-2023
Goals

  • Monitor new and emerging issues in the food safety arena that impact the spice industry
  • Provide tools and resources to educate the industry on food safety issues and ensure a supply of clean and safe spices
  • Conduct research on food safety issues specific to the spice industry as needed
  • Publish science-based recommendations for compliance with FSMA Preventive Controls and other food safety requirements
  • Review and update ASTA methods and oversee the ASTA “check sample” program
  • Monitor regulatory and policy developments
  • Maintain strong relationships with federal agencies, legislators, state governments and other key policy stakeholders
  • Develop comments and positions on emerging regulations to advocate for the spice industry
  • Provide tools and resources to educate the spice industry on new policy and regulatory developments including FSMA and much more
  • Plan the ASTA Regulatory Workshop held in Washington DC annually 
Troy Ayers, Eurofins
Safia Babiker
, Advanced Spice & Trading, Inc.
Jenny Becker, P.K. Kinder Co., Inc.
David Bolliet, Kalsec
Erin Brathwaite, Elite Spice Inc.
Ashley Brooks, Fuchs North America
R.D. Cathey, Foreign Trade Services
Anne Carr, Oregon Spice Company
Heather Chick, Kalsec, Inc.
Steven Clemenson, Nedspice Group
Brent Cross, Harris Spice Co., Inc.
Danielle Dalheim, PepsiCo
Ron Elton, John H. Elton, Inc.
Leonard Fong, olam food ingredients (ofi)
Abdul Gaba, Kalustyan
Jill Hoffman, McCormick & Company
Ben Howard, Certified Laboratories, Inc.
Aaron Huckabee, Eurofins
Rick James, Givaudan Flavors Corp.
Suzanne Jenkins, Red Monkey Foods
Sebnam Karasu, Karasu Consulting
Miriad Keka, Buhler
Carol Kitchen, B&G Foods
Erik Knedgen, Kalsec, Inc.
Dan Hemming, Sensient Natural Ingredients, LLC
Andrew Kuszynski, olam food ingredients (ofi)
Lynda Lathrop, Griffith Foods
Amy Lytle, B&G Foods, Inc.
Doug Marshall, Eurofins
Kurt Martin, Wm. E. Martin & Sons Co., Inc.
Gerado Morantes, Buhler Inc.
Ramesh Manoharan, olam food ingredients (ofi)
AJ McCardell, Certified Laboratories, Inc.
James Miller, Trece Inc.
Kathryn Nixa, Givaudan Flavors Corp.
Lisa Patel, Kalsec, Inc.
Ozge Turk, Birlik A.S.
Mark Davis, Pepsico
Tracey Roane, Givaudan Flavors Corp.
Kari Romanov, Wixon, Inc.
Peter Sayia, (Board Liaison), A.A. Sayia & Co., Inc.
Oliver Shapiro, olam food ingredients (ofi)
Supat Sirivhica, Eurofins
Allison Slaybaugh, Red Monkey Foods
Tim Sonntag, Wixon, Inc.
Vinay Sreekumar, olam food ingredients (ofi)
Chris Stevenson, (Chair), McCormick & Co., Inc.
Jen Stivers, Frontier Co-op
Gabe Wilson, Hormel Foods
Robert Wong, Agri-Neo, Inc.
Leslie Thompson-Strehlow, SGS Vanguard Sciences, Inc
Steven Yeager, Mountain Rose Herbs
Shannen Kelly, ASTA Staff Liaison
Laura Shumow
, ASTA Staff Liaison
Analytical Methods Subcommittee

Goals

  • Update ASTA analytical methods
  • Develop new methods as necessary
  • Identify methods for deletion and revision
Gerardo Albornoz, McCormick & Co., Inc. 
Shankar Bhattacharya
, Certified Laboratories, Inc. 
David Bolliet, Kalsec, Inc.
John Cyprien, McCormick & Co., Inc.
Leonard Fong, (Chair), olam food ingredients (ofi)
Daniel Ferry, Griffith Foods
Paul Ford, McCormick & Co., Inc.
Jane Guido, Kalsec, Inc.
Mohamed Hamad, Certified Laboratories, Inc.
Dan Hemming, Sensient Natural Ingredients
Benjamin Howard, Certified Laboratories, Inc.
Aaron Huckabee, Eurofins
Ramin Jahromi, Eurofins
Lynda Lathrop, Griffith Foods
Amy Lytle, B&G Foods
Paul Maneesh, MANE, Inc.
Ben Pointer, Eurofins
Joanna Pratt, McCormick & Co., Inc.
Kari Romanov, Wixon, Inc.
Supat Sirivicha, Eurofins
Cheryl Stephenson, Eurofins
Tongtong Xu, USP
Task Force on Lead in Spices

Goals

  • Monitor and respond to regulatory developments on heavy metals in spices
  • Conduct research on heavy metals
  • Develop education and resources for the industry 
Steven Clemenson, Nedspice Group
Shawn Godspeed
, Chesapeake Spice Company, LLC
Andrew Kuszynski
, Gel Spice Company, Inc.
Ramesh Manoharan
, Olam Spices
Supat Sirivicha, Eurofins
Laura Shumow, ASTA Staff Liaison
Shannen Kelly, ASTA Staff Liaison
Validation Task Force

Goals

  • Develop resources and education on validation for the spice industry 
  • Oversee research projects on validation of spices 
Karen Burns, Cosmed Group
Eerdogan Ceylan, Merieux
James Dickson, Iowa State University
Barbora Dubovcova, Buhler Group
Abdul Gaba, Kalustyan
Greg Gamble, Asenzya
Benjamin Howard, Certified Laboratories, Inc.
Sherman Mah, Certified Laboratories
Steve Markus, Sterigenics
Douglas Marshall, Eurofins
Gerardo Morantes, Buhler Group
Laurie Pujol, Novolyze
Greg Sommerville, Frontier Co-Op
Leslie Thompson-Strehlow
, SGS Vanguard Sciences, Inc.
Robert Wong, Agri-Neo
Nishand Dhurandhar, Microtrol India
Laura Shumow, ASTA Staff Liaison 
Shannen Kelly
, ASTA Staff Liaison