The recipient of the 2016 GMA Food Safety Award is R. Dale Morton.  This year’s award honors an individual’s preeminence in and outstanding contributions to the field of food safety.  Dale is a food safety professional with over 35 years of corporate food safety program development experience.  Dale is the current President of Morton Food Safety Associates, LLC.  A 28-year member of IAFP, Dale received his B.S. in Botany from Ohio University and his M.S. in Food Microbiology from the University of Maryland – College Park.  He started his career at the National Food Processors Association in Washington D.C. in the Microbiology and Thermal Processing area, and then worked for Armour – Dial in Phoenix.  He joined Quaker Oats (now PepsiCo) in 1995, retiring from the company last year as the Sr. Director of Global Food Safety at PepsiCo.  Dale successfully developed and oversaw programs designed to ensure food safety for all products produced globally for PepsiCo, the second largest food and beverage company in the world.  Dale was instrumental in creating the Executive Product Integrity Council, comprised of PepsiCo cross-functional leaders dedicated to promoting product integrity and a food safety culture.  He was the leader of the PepsiCo Food Safety Forum and developed standard and measurable food safety programs at all PepsiCo manufacturing facilities across the globe. Dale was able to lay a foundation which has impacted the food and beverage industry as a whole, through partnerships, industry and academic presentations and best practice sharing. He has continuously sought to educate others, share lessons learned and findings critical to evolving food protection matters.  Dale is a recognized process authority and has developed qualification criteria for many thermal process and aseptic technologies. He was an active contributor to the Steering Committee of the Food Industry Micro Roundtable and hosted the meeting in 2002 and 2007.  He was a contributing Board member for AIB International and the Food Research Institute.