Otto "Chip" D. Simmons, III

Bio

Dr. Simmons is an Area Specialized Agent for Food Safety with responsibilities for eastern North Carolina. His background is in environmental and public health microbiology, studying the potential sources, transport, and fate of microbial pathogens and indicator organisms in the environment. His specific expertise and interests lie in pre-harvest food safety, quantity and quality of water used by vegetable and fruit production systems, irrigation water quality and mitigation strategies, worker hygiene during harvest and processing, and potential impacts to vegetable production by food animal production systems as well as by feral animals. Dr. Simmons’ current role as a Food Safety Area Specialized Agent (ASA) seeks to assist the North Carolina food industry with the implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Through collaborative efforts with other ASAs and North Carolina stakeholders, he is responsible for education and training to meet the federal requirements outlined in the Preventive Controls for Human Food Rule and Produce Safety Rule, as well as other FSMA-related rules.