Dr. Angela Ferelli Gruber, Senior Manager of Food Safety, has a passion for bringing together effective science communication, translatable research, and intra-agency collaborations to support the execution of food safety management decisions that minimize risk while balancing operational performance. Angela has 6 years’ experience providing food producers scale appropriate solutions to meet GFSI benchmarked audit standards and/or gain Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule (FSMA PSR) compliance. Her specific areas of expertise include hazard assessment of pre- and post-harvest produce, controlled environment, and value-added operations, food safety plan and SOP writing, food safety culture development, worker training, hygienic design evaluation, environmental sampling, recall preparedness, and corrective actions mentoring. 

Angela earned a B.S. in Food Science and Biochemistry at the University of Delaware. She then completed her PhD in Plant Science with a focus in Food Safety at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD). While at UMD, her research focused on describing Salmonella enterica interactions with the tomato immune system as well as S. enterica persistence in surface and reclaimed water. Before joining The Acheson Group, Angela served Maryland agriculture through produce safety extension at UMD.  In addition to her work with individual food producers, in this role she developed education and performed on-farm research to address small and mid-size producer needs. Notably, she organized a cross-functional network of food safety professionals in Maryland to increase collaboration and outreach to stakeholders, led the optimization, execution, and evaluation of a GAP Audit best practices training program, conducted research on alternative food contact surfaces for watermelon harvesting procedures, and collaboratively developed an online course for value-added food producers.   

Angela is a Lead Trainer for the FSMA PSR, is an active member of the Northeast Center for the Advancement of Food Safety (NECAFS) and the International Association of Food Protection (IAFP), is certified in Better Process Control School for low acid and acidified canned goods, and is a Food Defense and Preventive Controls Qualified Individual.