Joelle Mosso is an entrepreneurial scientist with a passion for pathogenic food microbiology, risk assessment, and working towards practical solutions for the food industry. Joelle currently is Western Growers Assoc. VP of Science Programs, working alongside growers to develop improved approaches to food safety and sustainability challenges. She has a background in Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (QMRA), building microbial testing laboratories, evaluating and designing microbial diagnostic tools/approaches, and firsthand produce experience, managing food safety for complex international supply chains. Before Western Growers, she was Sr. Director of Technical & Regulatory Affairs for the Organic Trade Association (OTA), was the chief scientific officer for the Eurofins Produce, and held food safety and business leadership roles at Earthbound Farm and Olam Spice & Vegetable Ingredients. She holds a B.S from the University of Maryland in Microbiology with honors in Molecular Biology and holds a M.S. in Food Science focused on pathogenic food microbiology from the University of California, Davis. Joelle has served on numerous industry technical groups including the Center for Produce Safety Technical Committee, the 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).
