Roberto Bellavia
Partner, Senior Consultant
Areas of Expertise: Food safety, quality assurance, GFSI certification, supplier management/approval programs, strategic planning, systems development, policy and procedure development, regulatory support, vendor management, export programs
Education/Certification: M.S. in Animal Production Science, University of Camerino (Italy); GFSI certified for FSSC 22000; ISO 22000:2005 Lead Auditor certified; ISO 9001 Internal Auditor certified; Food HACCP and Seafood HACCP certified; FDA – Food Safety and Preventive Controls for Human Food certified; fluent in English, Italian, and Spanish
Roberto is a KTL Partner and Senior Consultant with over 20 years of experience developing and implementing food safety and quality assurance (FSQA) programs and driving certification and compliance initiatives for companies operating within the global food supply chain. He has deep knowledge of FDA and USDA food safety compliance, HACCP principles, GFSI-recognized standards (SQF, BRC, FSSC22000 and IFS) and ISO standards. Roberto balances compliance and continuous improvement in food safety management. He is skilled in strategic planning, systems development, project management, and team leadership.
As a recognized industry expert, Roberto leads the implementation of KTL’s FSQA solutions, including:
- Developing and implementing food safety programs to ensure processes, documentation, controls, and reporting meet rigorous USDA and FDA – Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) requirements
- Building strategies, assessing readiness, and leading certification and audit support projects to assist clients in attaining/maintaining certification with GFSI-recognized standards (FSSC 22000, SQF, BRCGS, IFS)
- Managing communications with regulatory agencies (USDA, FDA, APHIS/AMS, and local authorities)
- Developing and delivering programs for employee training (PCQI, HACCP, FSVP, food labeling, product quality)
- Managing vendor/supplier approval programs, recall initiatives, and emergency response for food safety risk
- Designing value-added metrics, scorecards, and reporting tools to assist in evaluating and optimizing quality and safety within high-risk food environments
- Performing FSQA due diligence for private equity firms on acquisition targets, including conducting interviews, evaluating food safety programs, collecting data, and reporting results
- Leveraging information technology (Microsoft SharePoint®) to develop food safety management systems (FSMS)
In addition, Roberto excels at developing an ISO culture within organizations to help ensure ongoing quality and compliance. He has implemented Lean Six Sigma projects for vendor management and preventive maintenance and met with vendors and suppliers to evaluate and close out contracts. He has also been responsible for export programs and pursued export orders for Mexico, Canada, Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan, Singapore, and Dominican Republic.
Prior to joining KTL, Roberto held a number of senior management roles in his nine years at US Foods, a major food distributor. He planned and implemented GFSI certification for FSSC 22000 at 13 locations; managed and developed HACCP, GMP, SSOP, and SOP programs; centralized regulatory labeling approval process; and reduced nationwide USDA non-compliances by 33%. As the Red Meat Supplier Manager at US Foods, he managed all beef, lamb, veal, and pork product supplier programs, which included handling quarterly scorecards, quality evaluations, and product complaints. He also worked with the product development team to develop and approve new product specifications and coordinated efforts to ensure product compliance between suppliers and the product development team.
Roberto has also worked in food manufacturing research and development, where he developed new products, including creation of new formulas, sample testing, and analysis of yield, and was responsible conducting USDA-required product testing. He managed all aspects of a bread and pastry production, including implementing total quality control policies and procedures, production sampling, and product tallies (HACCP, GMP, SSOP); overseeing emergency, safety, sanitation, and employee training programs; proposing alternative production procedures to improve plant efficiency; and supervising packaging, shipping, and receiving operations.