Dr. John A. Henson has been a member of the ASAE faculty at CSU –Fresno for 23 years. He teaches courses and conducts applied research in the areas of Meat Science, Food Safety and Market Animal Evaluation. Dr. Henson graduated from Fresno State with a B.S. in Meat Technology in 1990. In 1992 Dr. Henson earned his M.S. from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, with a Meat Science emphasis. He received his Ph.D. from South Dakota State University in 1995. Dr. Henson was the Plant Manager at Busseto Foods prior to returning to academia. Dr. Henson works closely with industry partners across the country in the areas of food safety, plant design and innovative production practices.

Dr. Meryl Silverman is a Senior Food Technologist who has worked for the Food Safety and Inspection Service for over 13 years. Meryl is a subject matter expert on policies related to Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system validation, lethality and stabilization of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products, use of predictive microbiology programs, and policy effectiveness evaluation. Meryl holds a Ph.D. in Food Science from the University of Maryland, an M.S. in Food Science from Cornell University, and a B.S. in Food Science from the University of Maryland.