IFPA Announces New Strategic Alignment to Amplify Food Safety Portfolio

July 30, 2025

Washington, DC – International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA) has announced a reorganization at IFPA to enhance and amplify the association’s goals in the areas of produce safety and food safety regulations.

Under the new structure, IFPA’s regulatory and compliance expert, Dr. Paul Lewis will join the Government Relations Team and report to Chief Global Policy Officer, Alexis Taylor. Other members of the Food Safety team including Dr. Angie Fraser, vice president of food safety & quality; Dr. Jorge Quintanilla, food safety manager; and Alison Saltzmann, food safety support coordinator, will join the Science and Technology (SciTech) team under Dr. Max Teplitski.

“Food safety is foundational to our industry’s success,” said Teplitski. “Aligning our experts across our Advocacy and Science teams will help us deliver on the strategic imperatives to future proof our industry, garner worldwide influence, and create more valuable and personalized touchpoints and resources for our members. Food safety is a shared responsibility across every role and every step of the supply chain; and it’s a central part to all of the work the SciTech team does including the on-going work in packaging, FSMA 204 readiness, regenerative ag, and the Supply Chain of the Future initiative.” Alexis Taylor is IFPA’s Chief Global Policy Officer and drives the association’s global public policy agenda through leading IFPA’s Government Relations team. Prior to joining the organization in January, she served as the Under Secretary of Trade & Foreign Agricultural Affairs (TFAA) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), where she oversaw the U.S. Codex Alimentarius office. CODEX Alimentarius is the international food safety standard-setting body.

Dr. Teplitski is the Chief Science Officer at IFPA, overseeing supply chain, packaging, sustainability, innovation and data portfolios. Prior to joining IFPA’s predecessor organization, Teplitski oversaw USDA’s $150M investment into food safety and nutrition research and capacity programs at USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. An author of over 100 scientific studies on food safety and ecosystem health, he was a Professor at the University of Florida and a Fellow at the Smithsonian Institution. His discoveries earned him national and international awards.

The SciTech team also includes the portfolios for the supply chain, ag technology, sustainability, and the global intelligence team which delivers on IFPA’s proprietary research and analysis. This team also serves as critical advisors to the Government Relations team at IFPA.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Paul officially to the Government Relations team,” said IFPA Chief Global Policy Officer, Alexis Taylor. “While we’ve always worked across our teams effectively, this alignment allows us to more meaningfully commit government advocacy resources to food safety on the industry’s behalf in DC and in priority global regions. There are growing pressures on how, where, how much and when we grow and deliver fruits and vegetables across the world. This reorganization will help us to discover and advocate for the most powerful solutions and strategies to ensuring our industry is positioned to not only address these growing challenges but find the opportunities in them as well.”

While the reorganization goes into effect immediately, this won’t result in any changes to work planned for 2025 or any volunteer leadership activities. This work will continue to be supported by the industry leaders and IFPA volunteer liaisons.

IFPA Announces New Strategic Alignment to Amplify Food Safety Portfolio

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