Western Growers welcomes Joelle Mosso as Associate Vice President, Science Programs. Joelle is a seasoned scientist with a passion for pathogenic food microbiology, risk assessment and working toward practical solutions for the food industry. She brings to Western Growers her expertise in the produce and food testing industries, and a track record of contributing to innovative food safety solutions.

In her previous role, Joelle served as Senior Director of Technical and Regulatory Affairs for the Organic Trade Association (OTA), leading the association’s efforts on science-related issues and regulatory topics. Prior to OTA, Joelle served as Chief Scientific Officer for the Eurofins Produce segment, where she worked directly with food testing laboratories and the produce industry to meet testing and food safety challenges and requirements. Joelle has also worked in the produce industry, holding food safety and business leadership roles at Earthbound Farm and Olam Spice & Vegetable Ingredients.

Joelle has been actively involved in serving on industry technical groups throughout her career, which previously include the Center for Produce Safety Technical Committee, International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA) Food Safety Council, USDA National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF), and the USDA National Organic Standards Board (NOSB).

She holds a B.S from the University of Maryland in Microbiology, with Honors in Cell and Molecular biology. While at Maryland, she served as a Howard Hughes research fellow, performing research on Mycobacterium tuberculosis. She completed her M.S. in Food Science at the University of California, Davis, where she studied pathogenic food microbiology and built Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessments (QMRAs).

In December 2022, Joelle appeared as a featured guest on Western Growers’ Voices of the Valley podcast. You can listen to the episode here.

Joelle’s expertise is a valuable contribution to advancing the mission of Western Growers Science, which aims to ensure a safe and secure food supply, healthy crops, reliable natural resources and to advance climate smart practices and sustainability for its members.