National Food Safety Month Spotlights

OAKWOOD, GA (September 17, 2025) –

At Wayne-Sanderson Farms, our most important responsibility is providing safe and delicious chicken to families around the world. Every product we prepare reflects a promise to uphold the highest standards of food safety and quality from farm to fork.

That promise is carried out each day by our food safety and quality professionals, whose work goes beyond compliance to combine innovation, science, and consumer education. Their dedication delivers trust in every bite.

In recognition of National Food Safety Month, and in collaboration with the Partnership for Food Safety Education (PFSE), we are proud to spotlight three members of our corporate food safety leadership team. These leaders set the tone for rigor and innovation across our company, upholding every process to reflect the highest standards of excellence.

The Science Behind Safe Chicken

Dr. Jonathan James
Senior Director, Food Safety & Lab Services

Dr. Jonathan James has always viewed food safety through the lens of public health. While earning a master’s degree in veterinary medical sciences with a focus on poultry, he was drawn to the responsibility veterinarians hold to uphold public health. That sense of responsibility convinced him that food safety was a way to make a direct impact on families every day.

Today, as Senior Director of Food Safety & Lab Services at Wayne-Sanderson Farms, Jonathan leads the company’s corporate laboratory team. His group conducts microbiology and chemistry testing that provides the data needed to confirm food safety systems are working at every processing facility. “Our lab work is about verifying that our programs are working as intended,” Jonathan explained. “Through testing, we confirm that plants are processing birds in the cleanest, safest way possible and maintaining sanitary conditions throughout the plant.”

But the work does not end with producing lab results. Jonathan is committed to ensuring that data is translated into action. Under his leadership, the lab evaluates results from across Wayne-Sanderson Farms’ operations. By testing for bacteria such as Salmonella and Campylobacter and monitoring microbial loads, the team provides insights that plants can use to refine food safety plans, strengthen sanitation programs, and improve daily practices. “The data itself has to be unquestioned,” he said. “That is why we put the right people in place and make sure they have the right procedures to run. When those results come out, we can have full confidence in making our decisions based on them.”

Jonathan also takes pride in making science accessible for operations. He sees it as his responsibility to turn technical findings into clear information complex leaders can use to improve performance. For him, success means giving operations the right tools to succeed. “If we have given the plants the right tools, the right data, and the right programs, then we have done our job,” he said. “A successful plant means my department was successful.”

For Jonathan, the work is about more than testing samples in a lab. It is about building trust — in the plants that rely on his team’s data, in the families who depend on safe food, and in an industry that must move forward together. His leadership reflects Wayne-Sanderson Farms’ commitment to progress through science and collaboration, keeping food safety at the core of everything the company does.

Fighting Bacteria Without Fear

Kerry Fohner
Senior Director, Quality & Food Safety – Prepared Foods

Kerry Fohner has spent more than 25 years in poultry quality assurance, but her path into food safety began in a different place: breast cancer research. That early experience sharpened her focus on science and data, tools she continues to rely on today as Senior Director of Quality & Food Safety for Prepared Foods. At the Decatur, Alabama, and Flowood, Mississippi plants, she oversees a team of professionals who safeguard every step of production, from incoming ingredients to finished chicken products bound for store shelves and restaurants around the world.

“What drives me is the challenge of using data to determine next steps,” Kerry said. “Food safety requires the same discipline, looking at the evidence and building solutions around it.”

When she first transitioned into Prepared Foods, Kerry admits she was hesitant. “I once told an auditor I would never work in prepared foods because of the challenges with Listeria,” she recalled. Those challenges remain, but today she sees them as motivation. “What I have learned is the best way to fight bacteria is to have good plans in place.”

Her approach is rooted in both prevention and agility. Kerry often compares food safety to football, where both offense and defense are critical. “You need a strong offense, with plans based on science and good data, and you need a defense, ready to react quickly when conditions change,” she explained. “Bacteria adapts, so our strategies have to evolve too.”

Kerry oversees a team of complex QA leaders who check every step of the process and meet weekly with sanitation, maintenance, production, purchasing, and other departments to review microbial data and agree on solutions. For her, continuous improvement is about making systems easier and more reliable for the people who run them. “A lot of times when you have a gap, it is not because somebody intentionally did something wrong, it is because we did not have the best way of doing it for them,” she said.

That mindset drives her philosophy of being proactive rather than reactive. “We strive to be proactive and innovative, using data to stay ahead rather than reacting after the fact,” Kerry noted. She believes this approach helps keep risks low and makes food safety a habit, not just a requirement.

For Kerry, the work is deeply personal. “We take pride in what we produce. Our own families eat this food too,” she said. She also stresses the importance of consumer education, since many food safety risks occur in restaurants or home kitchens. “Education is critical,” Kerry emphasized. “The more families know, the safer we all are.”

Kerry’s leadership shows how the toughest challenges can also inspire the strongest solutions. By combining science with practical problem-solving, she has built a culture of food safety in Prepared Foods that is proactive, collaborative, and personal.

How Regulatory Management Moves the Needle in Food Safety

Billy Erp
Senior Director, QA Systems & Regulatory Affairs

As Senior Director of QA Systems & Regulatory Affairs, Billy Erp leads the teams responsible for the details that connect food safety to consumer trust. From product labels to regulatory compliance, his work ensures that every promise printed on a package reflects the highest standards of accuracy and care. “The labels consumers see on our products are a direct result of the work we do,” he explained. “From the net weight and USDA mark to the way ingredients are named and allergens are declared, everything has to be accurate and consistent. That accuracy is essential to consumer confidence.”

Billy has spent his career ensuring that confidence holds strong. His team manages the details families rarely see but depend on every day: creating ingredient statements, verifying allergen declarations, and preparing the documentation that customers request. Just as importantly, they manage the behind-the-scenes data systems that tie quality information from every plant into a single picture. “We collect all of the data that QA techs produce in the plants and analyze it to help us understand where we are and where we have been,” Billy said.

That focus on data allows Billy’s group to act before problems arise. Compliance, in his view, is the floor, not the ceiling. “There is a minimum we have to meet, but we do not want to stop there,” he said. “We want to anticipate changes and be ready before new rules take effect.” His team demonstrated that approach when sesame was added as a major allergen in 2024, adjusting labels across all affected products well ahead of deadlines. They are now preparing for upcoming “Product of the USA” standards, ensuring multi-ingredient products meet sourcing requirements before they become mandatory in 2026.

Data dashboards make this readiness practical. By compiling complaints, food safety opportunities, and complex QA results into real-time views, Billy’s group provides an early-warning system for managers.

Billy sees his work as part of a larger responsibility. “As an industry, there are no secrets when it comes to food safety,” he said. “So, we share what we can to make sure we are all producing safe food, together.”

For Billy, regulatory management is not paperwork. It is the foundation that keeps consumers’ trust intact, detail by detail, label by label, system by system. His work reflects Wayne-Sanderson Farms’ broader commitment to integrity and accountability, ensuring that families can have confidence in the chicken they bring home every day.

Conclusion

This National Food Safety Education Month, we are proud to celebrate the individuals whose dedication protects our products and strengthens the trust families place in us, reflecting our shared commitment to responsibility, innovation, and consumer confidence.

About Wayne-Sanderson Farms

Wayne-Sanderson Farms is an industry leader and the nation’s third-largest poultry producer, serving customers, consumers and communities with integrity, leadership and responsible farm, workplace and business practices. With a diverse portfolio of products, a strong operating culture and an industry-leading workforce of more than 27,000 people and over 2,000 farm partners, Wayne-Sanderson Farms owns and operates 24 fresh and further-processing facilities across Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and Texas. Wayne-Sanderson Farms produces affordable, high-quality poultry products for retail, foodservice, restaurant, industrial and institutional segments under the brand names of SANDERSON FARMS® COVINGTON FARMS®, NAKED TRUTH®, BUFFALOOS®, FLY’N SAUCERS®, CRISPY FLIERS®, PLATINUM HARVEST®, CHEF’S CRAFT®, WAYNE FARMS®, and WAYNE-SANDERSON FARMS®. Wayne-Sanderson Farms is proud to be the “Official Chicken of the Southeastern Conference (SEC).” For more information, visit WayneSandersonFarms.com or follow Wayne-Sanderson Farms on LinkedIn, Facebook, X (Twitter) and Instagram.