IDFA and its members are committed to maintaining and enhancing the high quality and safety of U.S. dairy foods products. The IDFA Food Safety Leadership Award recognizes outstanding leadership and efforts by individuals, groups or organizations within its membership to enhance food safety. Now in its tenth year, the 2026 IDFA Food Safety Leadership Award will honor an individual from our membership who has demonstrated outstanding leadership toward enhancing food safety within the dairy products industry. The award, presented during Dairy Forum, alternates annually between honoring companies or groups in odd years and individuals in even years.
Nominations for the 2026 award are now open! To submit a nomination, complete the nomination form and send all required materials to Matt Herrick, IDFA Executive Vice President, Chief Impact Officer at mherrick@idfa.org. The deadline to submit a nomination for the 2026 award is October 31, 2025. The winner will be honored at Dairy Forum 2026.
In even years, the winner will be an employee of an IDFA member company that processes, manufactures, markets, or distributes dairy products; or a supplier company that supports the food safety efforts of dairy processors in North America. The winning individual must demonstrate outstanding leadership and contributions to the field of food safety for the dairy foods industry. Previous recipients are not eligible to be nominated.
In odd years, the winning group will be selected from an IDFA member company that processes, manufactures, markets, or distributes dairy products; a supplier that supports the food safety efforts of dairy processors in North America; or an IDFA-organized group of volunteers, such as a committee, task force or working group.
Blue Bell Creameries (2025)
Rob Shumaker, Sr. Manager, Food Safety and Laboratory Sanitation, Great Lakes Cheese (2024)
Schreiber Foods, Inc. Food Safety Team (2023)
Jeremy Travis, Vice President of Quality & Technical Services, Hilmar Cheese Company, Inc. (2022)
DFA Dairy Brands Division Food Safety and Quality Assurance Team (2021)
Edith Wilkin, Staff Vice President and Fellow, Food Safety and Regulatory Compliance, Leprino Foods (2020)
Rich Draper, CEO, and Heather Draper, Director, The Ice Cream Club, Inc. (2019)
Brian Kraus, Director of Food Safety and Regulatory Compliance, Wells Enterprises, Inc. (2018)
Cornell University Dairy Foods Extension team (2017)
For more information, contact Matt Herrick, IDFA Executive Vice President, Chief Impact Officer, at mherrick@idfa.org.
Executive Vice President, Chief Impact Officer
