Miguel Ramirez is a seasoned food manufacturing executive with more than three decades of operational leadership experience in the food industry. He currently serves as Vice President of Operations at Fresca Foods Inc. in Louisville, Colorado, where he has held progressive leadership roles over the past 13 years including Plant Manager, Director of Operations, and his current VP role. Prior to Fresca Foods, Miguel spent over 24 years with Butterball LLC, where he managed more than 12 production lines across a two-shift operation with a workforce of 350 employees.
Known for championing food safety culture at the operational level, Miguel brings a rare perspective to food safety conversations—that of a senior operations leader who understands that food safety and operational excellence are not competing priorities, but instead, are deeply interconnected.
Madisen Hodgson, M.S. is a food safety and quality assurance professional with nearly a decade of progressive experience spanning food manufacturing, retail bakery, beverage, and airline catering environments. She currently serves as a Quality Assurance Manager for a protein and nutritional bar manufacturer in Denver, Colorado, where she oversees the full food safety management system and leads a multi-shift quality assurance team across multiple production lines.
Madisen holds an M.S. degree in Food Safety from the University of Arkansas and carries certifications including PCQI, SQF Practitioner, HACCP Coordinator, and CP-FS. She is passionate about building strong food safety cultures, developing food safety professionals, and bridging the gap between regulatory compliance and practical, operational food safety.
In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak with Miguel and Madisen [30:31] about:
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News and Resources
News
New Research Reveals Addictive Design, Health Harms of Ultra-Processed Foods; Calls for Systemic Change [2:48]
Study Suggests Food Processing, Not Just Nutrient Content, May Affect Health Impacts of UPFs
Global Foodborne Disease Burden Comparable to Malaria, Per Updated WHO Estimates [14:34]
After Infant Botulism Outbreak, FDA Shares Root Cause Analysis Findings from ByHeart Formula Plants [23:00]
Eight Sick, One Dead in Three-Year Listeria Outbreak Linked to Soft Cheese [25:23]
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