Karen McCarty of Agropur was recognized with the International Dairy Foods Association’s (IDFA) 2026 Food Safety Leadership Award during IDFA’s Dairy Forum. The award, now in its tenth year, honors an individual, group or organization for demonstrating outstanding leadership directed at enhancing food safety within the dairy products industry.

As Agropur’s senior director of commercial quality, McCarty has made significant contributions to food safety across the dairy industry, through active participation on both IDFA and Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy food safety committees, working collaboratively with academia, and participating on a variety of regulatory groups.  

 “Karen’s leadership is defined by a consistent and credible presence in the field. She brings a practical, grounded approach to food safety challenges, and her work often serves as a catalyst for change,” said Michèle Théberge, Agropur’s vice-president of health & safety, quality, and environment, in her letter of support. 

 Wagner added: “IDFA is pleased to present the 2026 Food Safety Leadership Award to Karen McCarty and to recognize her outstanding commitment to advancing innovations in food safety for the benefit of the entire dairy industry.” 

In addition to several testimonials from colleagues and experts, Wagner said that it was McCarty’s continuous leadership and clear impact on dairy industry approaches to food safety that set her apart.

 “Our industry has made incredible advances in technology and science-based process controls to ensure we continue to provide safe, wholesome dairy products to our consumers.  We recognize those advances add little value if they are not executed by skilled, engaged individuals supported by a strong quality culture; our people have always been the key to our success,” McCarty said. “This award is recognizing the efforts of all the food safety professionals, and their organizations, that are volunteering resources, sharing knowledge and generating practical solutions to serve our industry.  I’m thankful to Agropur for their support and humbled to be recognized for work that I truly enjoy.”

McCarty leads three cross-company best-practice teams that are focused on controlling Salmonella and Cronobacter in dairy powders, she has been instrumental in developing and implementing Cronobacter control strategies that are now in use on an industry-wide basis. She has also pioneered approaches to integrating whole genome sequencing (WGS) and metagenomic tools in dairy facility monitoring. Additionally, McCarty frequently goes above and beyond and volunteers her personal time to coach, teach, mentor, and support peers in food safety. 

 McCarty joins previous recipients of the award including Blue Bell Creameries, LLP (2025); Rob Shumaker, director, food safety, sanitation and laboratory sciences, Great Lakes Cheese (2024); Schreiber Foods, Inc. (2023); Jeremy Travis, vice president of quality & technical services, Hilmar Cheese Company, Inc. (2022); Dairy Farmers of America (2021); Edith Wilkin, staff vice president and fellow, food safety and regulatory compliance, Leprino Foods (2020); The Ice Cream Club, Inc. (2019); Brian Kraus, director of food safety and regulatory compliance, Wells Enterprises, Inc. (2018); and the Cornell University Dairy Foods Extension team (2017).