Lisa M. Berger, MPH, CP-FS

 

Professional Biography

Background:

After earning a Masters degree in Public Health, Ms. Berger later worked for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health as an Epidemiologist. She was in charge of 50 towns in the Boston Metropolitan area investigating communicable disease outbreaks which involved restaurants, daycare centers, prison facilities, public and private schools, hospitals, and medical offices.

In non-outbreak settings, Ms. Berger conducted seminars outlining control measures for the prevention of such outbreaks at medical conferences, schools, hospitals, daycare centers, doctors offices, and neighborhood centers.

In 1997, Ms. Berger founded Berger Food Safety Consulting to work with local food service establishments in reducing the number of foodborne illnesses that were on the rise.  Since then, with the help of employees and contractors, she has been able to reach out to food service establishments in the greater New England area.  While now running the "business", Ms. Berger continues to work as a food safety consultant conducting food protection certification seminars (ServSafe), teaching basic sanitation courses for non-certified employees, providing third party audits, developing HACCP plans and working with new establishments on their plan reviews.

She has worked as a consultant for Boston area establishments and venues such as: Hamersley's Bistro, The Four Seasons Hotel, TD Banknorth Garden, Harvard University, Mistral, Gillette Stadium, Spire, Agganis Arena, Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, Costa, Dimock Community Health Center, Dunkin Donuts, Emerson College, Fire and Ice, Fuddruckers, Grill 23 and the Liberty Hotel.  She has also consulted for special events such as the 1999 Ryder Cup in Brookline, MA, the 2004 Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the FleetCenter in Boston, MA and the 2009 Mayors Conference at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, RI.

Ms. Berger is a frequent speaker for public health organizations (the Massachusetts Health Officers Association, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Local Public Health Institute of Massachusetts), the Massachusetts Restaurant Association (MRA), and the food service industry.  She has appeared often on local and national TV programs and is author of the  prominent food safety training book "Food Safety for Managers".

 

Experience/Qualifications:

Epidemiologist, Massachusetts Department of Public Health May 1992 - September 1996

 

Certified Instructor and Proctor for the National Registry of Food Safety Professionals Certification Program

 

Certified Instructor and Proctor for the National Restaurant Association's Educational Foundation's ServSafe Certification Program

 

Certified Instructor and Proctor for Rhode Island Food Protection Program

 

Quality Assurance Inspector for retail food establishments

 

Subject Expert for the National Restaurant Association Solutions - Instructor Requirments

 

Education:

Boston University, Boston, MA

Masters of Public Health (MPH) May, 1992

 

Mills College, Oakland, CA

Bachelor of Arts (BA): Sociology May, 1988

 

Certification:

NEHA:

Certified Professional - Food Safety (CP-FS) October, 2002

 

NRA Educational Foundation:

ServSafe Certified,  January 2012, January, 2007, February 2002, February 1997

Training:

 

NEHA On-line Training on Meat and Poultry Processing at Retail, September, 2009

NEHA On-line Training on Food Safety for High Risk Populations, September, 2009

FDA 3 Day Conference on Plan Review, June, 2006

FDA 3 Day Conference on Foodborne Illness Investigations, September, 2004

FDA 3 Day Conference on Violation and Field Verification of HACCP, January, 2003

FDA 2 Day Conference on Acidified Foods, Certified December, 2002

FDA/MDPH 5 Day conference on the 1999 FDA Food Code, Spring, 2000

 

Professional Organizations:

International Association for Food Protection

Massachusetts Health Officers Association (MHOA)

Massachusetts Restaurant Association (MRA)

National Environmental Health Association (NEHA)