Director-at-Large, 2024-2025
Ms. Pamela Wilger is the Fellow Scientist – Microbiology with Post Consumer Brands, in Lakeville, Minnesota. Ms. Wilger is the Technical Leader and Resource of Microbiology, Quality, and Food Safety for the manufacturing facilities, third party laboratories, corporate leadership, engineers, R&D, supply chain, regulatory, customers, and suppliers. She plans, directs, and leads validation studies for pathogen reduction, as well as science-based solutions to minimize risk of product contamination including those related to adverse events. She writes and enhances policies, procedures, and work instructions associated with microbial safety and quality related to products, ingredients, equipment, and processes, and conducts training as needed to facilitate compliance with food safety procedures and management of microbial risks. Ms. Wilger also provides guidance to promote environmental pathogen control to minimize risk of product contamination and approves and manages the relationships with outside laboratories used to conduct microbiological testing. In addition, she leads the integration of Quality and Food Safety microbiology programs following business acquisitions.
Previously, Ms. Wilger spent 21 years with Cargill in its Corporate Food Safety, Quality & Regulatory Affairs Department as an Applied Microbiologist and Food Safety Expert, working closely with its international businesses’ manufacturing facilities and laboratories, customers, external research institutions, governments, and non-government organizations. Prior to that position, she was with Quest International for 11 years as the facility microbiologist and lab supervisor, then as a researcher in product development of fermented hydrocolloid.
Ms. Wilger has been an active IAFP Member since 2001 when she volunteered on the Local Arrangements Committee for IAFP’s Annual Meeting in Minneapolis. She received the IAFP Harold Barnum Industry Award in 2018 and the President’s Recognition Award in 2021 and 2023. In February the members of IAFP voted Pam to a five-year term on the IAFP Executive Board starting as Secretary.
Ms. Wilger is a U.S. representative of the Technical Advisory Group to the ISO Technical Committee 34 on Food Products, Sub-Committee 9 on Microbiology, actively working on international standard development for Method Validation, Challenge Studies, Sampling, and Environmental Surface sampling to name a few since 2010. She is a member of the MicroVal General Committee (MGC); a reviewer of research grants for the U.S. Government; and served as a delegate on the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene, working on the Revision of the General Principles of Food Hygiene (CAC/RCP 1-1969) and its HACCP Annex.
Ms. Wilger received her B.S. and M.S. in Bacteriology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, while also working at the Food Research Institute.
