Dr. Rolando González is the Vice President of Public Health with The Acheson Group (TAG).  He has held technical and thought leadership roles at major national and global companies including Target Corporation, Bühler AG, and 3M Food Safety.  Dr. González brings over 15 years of practical food safety and quality management experience across a broad variety of food platforms spanning from perishables to dry and low moisture foods, with primary focus on risk mitigation and brand protection.

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Rolando has completed specialized training to become a lead instructor to teach the “Intentional Adulteration Vulnerability Assessment Utilizing the Three Elements” approach, which allows companies to fulfill the IA Rule requirement for a Food Defense Qualified Individual.  Currently, Rolando is one of the few people in the world trained by the FDA and FSPCA to teach that course, which is only available in person. 

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His specific areas of expertise include food defense, sanitary design of food handling facilities and equipment, development and implementation of cleaning and sanitation and microbial environmental monitoring programs, using risk analysis tools to estimate food safety risk throughout the chain, and the application of food science, microbiology and public health principles to assisting primary production, manufacturing and retail operations achieve the next level in compliance with internal, regulatory and third-party standards by strengthening their quality and food safety systems.

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At an international level, Dr. González has provided expert level support to local and global scale food suppliers, manufacturing companies and retail outlets within the United States, Latin America and Asia for developing processes, implementing food safety monitoring and testing protocols, and applying novel food safety approaches and technologies to enhance the safety and quality of food throughout the supply chain.

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Dr. González earned his Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Microbiology and Master of Science in Food Science and Technology from the University of Puerto Rico, and a PhD in Food Science and Public Health at the University of Minnesota.  He is an active member of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP), the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA), a HACCP Train-the-Trainer (International HACCP Alliance), and the American Public Health Association (APHA).  Dr. González is also a member of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) Food Safety Culture Technical Working Group, a Registered Environmental Health Sanitarian (NEHA), and a Lead Instructor for both Intentional Adulteration Vulnerability Assessment and the Human and Animal US Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Preventive Controls Rules.