Ann Marie McNamara

Ann Marie McNamara is an American microbiologist and was formerly Vice President for Food Safety and Quality for the Supply Chain at US Foods. She has received a Distinguished Service Award from the United States Department of Agriculture, and received the International Association for Food Protection Fellow Award in 2012 and Food Safety Award in 2022.

Early life and education McNamara attended Quinnipiac University for undergraduate studies, where she coordinated the first screening program for Tay–Sachs disease at any university in the United States. She earned her M.S degree at the University of Minnesota, with a focus on microbiology. In Minnesota, she completed a research project on the detection of antibodies to La Crosse encephalitis virus. McNamara earned her doctoral degree in Infectious Diseases and Microbiology at University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health. She was a lead investigator at FSIS for the 1992-1993 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak.

McNamara joined Sara Lee Corporation in 1999, where she was responsible for food safety and the implementation of a listeria control project following a major Listeria outbreak. She established a food safety research fund at Georgetown University, and developed a program for Listeria control and environmental monitoring. She joined Target Corporation in 2017 as their first Vice-President of Food Safety. 2014 Food Safety Magazine Distinguished Service Award 2018 International Association for Food Protection John H. Silliker Lecture 2022 International Association for Food Protection Food Safety Award

Selected publications