Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Food Science, Oregon State University, 1974
  • M.S., Food Science, University of British Columbia, 1970
  • B.S., Agriculture, Dairy, and Food Industries, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1968
Professional Honors
  • Certified Food Scientist, awarded 2013, renewed 2018
  • Food Safety Award by the National Center for Food Science and Technology, 2007
  • Fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists, 2006
  • HHS Secretary's Award for Distinguished Service as a member of the FDA Counter / Bioterrorism Preparedness Team, 2003
  • FDA Group Recognition Award as a member of the Listeria monocytogenes Risk Assessment, 2001
  • USDA Superior Service Award for efforts on the Microbial Food Safety team that developed the microbial pathogen models, 1993
  • USDA, ARS Edminster Award, for Outstanding Research Associate Proposal in ARS, 1989
  • Alpha Zeta, Agriculture Honors Fraternity, U. Wisconsin, 1966
Professional Affiliations
  • Institute of Food Technologists, 1969-present
    • Philadelphia Section: Section newsletter editor, 1983-1987; elected to National Council, 1985-1989; elected Secretary, 1987, 1988; elected Section Chairman, 1993-1994
    • National: Elected Muscle Food Division Director, 1992-1994; Nomination Committee for Food Microbiology Division, 1992; Research Committee, 1998; Associate Editor for Reviews and New Concepts, J Food Science, 2000-present; Elected Fellow, 2006
    International Association for Food Protection (formerly IAMFES), 1997-present
  • Editorial Board for J. Food Protection (former)
  • Chair, Risk Analysis Professional Development Group, 2002-2004
  • Society for Risk Analysis, 1998

Dr. Whiting has over 45 years of experience in food science and technology research with extensive knowledge of microbial food safety issues from production to retail, food service, and consumers. At Exponent, he has qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated the safety of food processes via hazard analyses, risk profiles, and risk assessments to identify microbial contamination routes, deficient food processing practices and appropriate mitigation steps.

Dr. Whiting has designed experimental procedures to demonstrate process safety, evaluated HACCP/management systems and microbial sampling plans intended to assure safety, performed root cause analyses to determine the likely cause of product failures, and assisted clients with regulatory issues. Dr. Whiting advises clients on issues in food science and technology, microbiological modeling and risk assessment, and consumer product safety.


Dr. Whiting is internationally recognized for his research and applications in mathematical modeling of food borne microorganisms to estimate the growth, survival, or inactivation of harmful and spoilage bacteria in foods. He has used these to determine the level of risk that a food has and the reduction in risk that different processing steps could achieve. Dr. Whiting's contributions have been applied by linking this innovative science to individual food processing steps and to entire manufacturing processes to estimate the final quality and safety of foods. He has made major contributions to the development of the Food Safety Objective concept, which links food processing interventions to public health goals, and the use of microbial risk assessments to serve as the science base for the design of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) systems to ensure food safety.


Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Whiting was a Senior Scientist with the Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (FDA, CFSAN). At FDA, he was a technical leader, advising senior managers and shaping the design of microbial risk assessments, including the Listeria monocytogenes risk assessment in ready-to-eat foods (2003). In addition, he contributed to developing harmonized international standards for food safety. He was an expert consultant to the Codex Committee for Food Hygiene, Working Group on Standards for L. monocytogenes and a member of team that conducted the Codex risk assessment on L. monocytogenes (2004). At FDA he also conducted research on microbial modeling and led a research group on microbial threat agents in foods. From 1977 to 1998, Dr. Whiting was a research food technologist at the USDA, Agricultural Research Service, Eastern Regional Research Laboratory. There he conducted research on muscle biochemistry and meat quality and safety, including the functionality and microbial safety of reduced-salt meat products. Shifting to research to microbial pathogens, he advanced the conceptual approaches for modeling growth of foodborne pathogens that became the USDA's Pathogen Modeling Program, including L. monocytogenes, Salmonella, and Escherichia coli O157:H7, and directed research that led to the creation of survival models for Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7 and probability-of-growth models for Clostridium botulinum. He began his research career as a fellow in the Department of Food Science at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.

Dr. Whiting has published over 155 research papers, book chapters, risk assessments and other scientific works. He has lectured extensively in the U.S. and internationally on predictive microbiology and microbial risk assessments, and has participated in numerous workshops/training programs in this area. He has served on the Editorial Boards for Journal of Food Protection, International Journal of Food Microbiology and as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Food Science. In recognition of his contributions to food science and food microbiology, Dr. Whiting was presented with the Food Safety Award by the National Center for Food Science and Technology and was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists in 2006.  He was recognized as a Certified Food Scientist in 2013.