The FSQA Mistake Everyone Makes: Lessons from VP at Whitewave Foods

I recently sat down with Bryan Armentrout for another episode of 30 Food Safety, and within the first ten minutes, he revealed something that made me sit up straight: the biggest mistake in FSQA isn't what you think it is.

It's not poor documentation. It's not inadequate testing. It's not even lack of resources.

The mistake? Trying to do it all yourself.

Bryan's career spans decades in the dairy industry—from microbiologist in a clean room to Vice President of Quality at companies handling hundreds of millions in sales. He's been through multiple Class One recalls. He's restructured quality systems. He's literally written the book on food safety leadership.

And the one lesson he wishes he'd learned earlier? Stop being the lone wolf.

But let me back up and tell you how he figured this out.

Why FSQA Professionals Keep Making the Same Mistake

Before we dive into Bryan's career lessons, let me tell you what he told me near the end of our conversation—the advice he'd give his younger self:

"Don't try and do it all yourself. In quality, we're technical people. We feel that if we just had more tools and more knowledge and more skills, then everything would work. You're gonna fail."

This hit hard because I see this pattern everywhere in FSQA. We think we need to be the expert in everything. We think asking for help shows weakness. We think if we just work harder, learn more, get another certification, then everything will click.

But here's what Bryan learned through brutal experience: You cannot do food safety alone.

Not in your facility. Not in your company. Not in your industry.

And the sooner you accept that, the sooner you become truly effective.

Let me show you how Bryan learned this lesson the hard way—and how it transformed his entire approach to quality leadership.

How the Mistake Shows Up Early in Your Career

Bryan didn't plan to end up in food. Like most of us, life had other ideas. He started pre-med in college, pivoted to medical devices (spending his days in a hot bunny suit in a clean room), and then stumbled into an opportunity at Leprino Foods—a company most people have never heard of but whose mozzarella they've almost certainly eaten.

Here's a fun fact that blew my mind: Leprino Foods is the largest mozzarella manufacturer in the world. And it all started when founder Jim Leprino made a sales call to a small four-store pizza chain in Wichita, Kansas. That chain? Pizza Hut. If you've eaten pizza, you've probably eaten Leprino cheese without knowing it.

The $1.5 Million Lab Test That Changed Everything

One of the most valuable lessons Bryan shared was about learning to speak the language of leadership—specifically, the language of money.

As a young microbiologist, Bryan wanted to implement rapid testing methods that could reduce testing time from five days to three. The problem? The new tests cost three times more per sample. When he first pitched it to his boss focused on the cool technology and faster results, she shut him down immediately: "What's the cost per test? That's not in the budget."

Bryan went back to the drawing board. He talked to the warehouse logistics team and calculated something his boss couldn't ignore: if they could release whey powder two days earlier, they'd save approximately $300,000 per month in storage costs—$1.5 million annually.

"I spoke in her language—the language of management and leadership. What's the bottom line? How does this help the company? What's the return on investment?"

The response? His boss asked why they didn't already have the rapid testing in place. Lesson learned: technical skills make you good at your job, but understanding business impact makes you indispensable.

The Brutal Truth About Recalls

Bryan has been through multiple Class One recalls as the head of quality, and his perspective on crisis management is refreshingly honest.

"A recall never goes the way you expect. You're given incomplete, inaccurate, probably wrong information, and you have to make decisions at that point in time and give it your best guess."

The vulnerability he identified that most people miss? Sales teams. When a recall happens, everyone thinks about legal, QA, and the CEO. But salespeople have decade-long relationships with buyers at retailers. When a crisis hits and that buyer calls the sales rep directly, what happens if the sales rep doesn't know what's going on? They make something up to protect the relationship.

Bryan discovered this the hard way when retailers said, "That's not what I'm hearing," during recall meetings. The sales team had created back channels of communication that undermined the official response.

His advice? Involve sales from day one. Brief them. Give them the talking points. They're going to get called anyway—make sure they're saying the right things.

"If we're in a recall situation, we have failed in some way. Our goal is to make things right, protect consumers, and get back on track. There's no winning that scenario—we've already lost."

The Hall of Fame Moment: Creating the Yellow Zone

Bryan's career-defining breakthrough came early in his first quality director role. Two weeks after starting, an auditor (from the automotive industry, no less) tore the facility apart. A page and a half of non-conformances. The plant barely passed.

The core problem? The quality system looked great on paper but failed in the real world. Every procedure documented how to do things right, but nobody had documented what to do when things went wrong.

Here's the scenario that kept repeating: Milk arrives at 41°F. The specification says 40°F or cooler. The receiver wants to reject it. The supervisor escalates. The plant manager calls the co-op, who apologizes and asks for a favor—"It's only one degree." Pressure mounts. Quality gets beat down and accepts the milk "just this time."

Result? The floor loses all respect for quality standards. "We only follow the rules when they're convenient."

Bryan's solution was brilliant in its simplicity: create spheres of responsibility with predetermined decision trees.

Green Zone (40°F and below): Accept immediately
Yellow Zone (41-45°F): Management review required, but business decision can be made to accept
Red Zone (46°F and above): Automatic rejection, no exceptions

"We decided in advance how we react to a quality issue. When milk comes in at 41°F, everybody knows what they need to do. When it comes in at 48°F, the conversation is completely different."

Now when the plant manager tries to pressure quality to accept 48°F milk, the quality manager can say: "You remember that conversation we had as a team where we all agreed 46°F and higher causes quality defects? If you want to call the VP of Quality at corporate and explain why this is now okay, I'm sure he'd love to hear it."

The plant manager backs down every time.

This system transformed quality from "the cops" into problem-solving business partners. The floor understood the rules. Management had clear decision-making authority at each level. And quality had the backing to hold the line on real food safety issues.

Quality: The Devil and Angel on the Plant Manager's Shoulder

Bryan's analogy for effective quality management is perfect: you're both the devil and the angel on the plant manager's shoulder.

One side says: "Things are going awesome. Complaints are down. Audit results are great."

The other side says: "I'm a little worried. Complaints are trending up. We're making decisions that are creeping toward the edge."

"You're not saying 'I told you so' after the fact. You're giving insight before it becomes a crisis."

This requires understanding that plant managers have one of the toughest jobs in the industry. They live at the plant. They see it more than their families. Your job as a quality leader is to give them the information they need to guide the operation successfully.

The Hottest Take: We Keep Getting the Same Results

When I asked Bryan for his hottest take in food safety, he didn't hold back.

"I can predict the top three recall categories for 2025 right now: foreign material, allergens, and Salmonella. They may be in different order, but those will be the top three. Again."

Why? Because audits aren't the answer. Audits are good at maintaining standards—checking if you're doing what you said you'd do. But they don't drive improvement.

What's missing? Dynamic risk assessment.

Bryan pointed to a brilliant example: when the war in Ukraine started, sunflower oil supplies disappeared overnight. Beverage companies using sunflower oil in plant-based products suddenly had procurement teams scrambling for alternatives. Prime territory for food fraud.

Did risk change? Absolutely. Did companies reassess their food safety plans? Most didn't.

"Risk is not static. We create a food safety plan and say 'awesome, until something changes I don't need to look at it.' But we forget the 'something changes' part."

The Corporate Blind Spot

Bryan's launching a new food safety protection policy focused on an area nobody talks about: what's corporate doing?

Everyone audits plants. But what about mergers and acquisitions? M&A teams evaluate financials, multiples, earnings. They make an offer. The deal closes. Then food safety people walk the new facility and discover it needs $20 million in improvements.

Why not send quality people in during due diligence? Adjust the offer price by $20 million upfront based on what needs to be fixed. Let negotiations begin with accurate information.

The same applies to CEO decisions. Many excellent CEOs come from outside the food industry. Bryan worked under a CEO who came from Gillette—the razor company. Fantastic CEO. Knew nothing about food when he started.

Is that okay from a business perspective? Sure. From a food safety perspective? There's risk.

"Companies don't understand their overall risk in their category and for their company itself. You need to shine light on those through attorney-client privilege and use those systems to improve."

This approach isn't for companies just trying to get certified. It's for good food companies that want to become world-class.

The Park Doctrine: Personal Liability Nobody Talks About

Bryan educates CEOs on something most don't know: the Park Doctrine.

In simple terms, the CEO is personally responsible for food safety. Not just as head of the business—personally. And those duties cannot be delegated.

If you're the CEO and something happens, you can't say in court, "Not my fault. I told the quality director to handle it." The legal precedent says no—you're responsible.

High-profile cases like Blue Bell ice cream and Peanut Corporation of America saw CEOs prosecuted under the Park Doctrine. People have faced significant fines and jail time.

Ignorance is not bliss under the Park Doctrine. Most CEOs don't understand this. Those who do? They tend to pay much closer attention to food safety programs.

One Piece of Advice for the Next Generation

If Bryan could go back in time, what would he tell his younger self?

"Don't try and do it all yourself. In quality, we're technical people. We feel that if we just had more tools and more knowledge and more skills, then everything would work. You're gonna fail."

Food safety is not a point of competition. When Blue Bell had a recall, it didn't just hurt Blue Bell—it hurt the entire ice cream industry. When McDonald's had issues with onions, consumers started avoiding all fast food.

Share your knowledge. Reach out. Learn from other experts. Find mentors who've been there and done that—they're invaluable.

How to find them:

Join LinkedIn groups and communities like the food safety chat
Go to conferences (the connections matter more than the sessions)
Don't limit yourself to your industry—receiving, processing, packaging, and warehousing are universal. The meat industry has incredible advances in pathogen control that dairy can learn from. Produce operations have traceability systems that can inspire other sectors.

Cross-pollinate ideas. Everyone's solving the same fundamental problems with different details.

The Future: AI and What's Next

When I asked Bryan who he'd want to see interviewed next, his answer surprised me: AI experts.

He's quick to clarify—don't use AI to write food safety plans. Use it to generate ideas and consider possibilities. But the future applications are fascinating.

Dubai's health ministry already uses AI to monitor restaurants. Cameras detect when someone doesn't wash their hands coming out of the bathroom. Systems monitor when cutting boards aren't cleaned properly. They predict when equipment is failing before it breaks.

"AI has the ability to liberate us from mundane activities. Can I stand at the handwashing station all day? No. Plus it alters behavior. Can AI monitor handwashing 24/7? Absolutely."

The bigger question Bryan poses: we're flooded with data, but what are we doing with it to make it actionable information?

Get rid of what's not actionable. Focus on what drives improvement.

Final Thoughts: Breaking the Cycle

Talking with Bryan reminded me why I love these conversations. He's been through the trenches—Class One recalls, brutal audits, the transition from technical expert to leader. He's made mistakes and learned from them. And most importantly, he's willing to share those lessons so the rest of us don't have to learn them the hard way.

The FSQA mistake everyone makes isn't about technical competence—it's about isolation.

We think we have to figure it out alone. We think we have to be the expert in everything. We think asking for help is weakness.

But food safety is not a point of competition. When Blue Bell had a recall, it didn't just hurt Blue Bell—it hurt the entire ice cream industry. When McDonald's had issues with onions, consumers started avoiding all fast food.

The golden thread through Bryan's career? Learning to balance technical excellence with business acumen, quality standards with operational reality, and personal expertise with collaborative problem-solving.

Whether you're a microbiologist in a lab wondering about your next career move, or a quality director trying to influence C-suite decisions, Bryan's journey offers a roadmap.

Just remember: speak the language of leadership, define your yellow zones, build your network, and for the love of Jim Leprino's mozzarella—don't try to do it all yourself.

How to Stop Making the Mistake

Join communities - LinkedIn groups, the food safety chat, industry forums
Go to conferences - The connections matter more than the sessions
Cross-pollinate ideas - Don't limit yourself to your industry. The meat industry has pathogen control advances dairy can learn from. Produce has traceability systems that inspire other sectors.
Find mentors - People who've been there and made the mistakes already
Share openly - Your "failure" story might save someone else's career

The people who thrive in FSQA aren't the ones who know everything. They're the ones who know who to call when they don't.

Want to connect with Bryan? Find him on LinkedIn. And if you haven't already, check out his book "The New Manager Mindset" for deep dives into the technical-to-management transition.

This interview is part of 30 Food Safety, where we have 30-minute conversations with the brightest minds in food safety. Because sometimes the best lessons come from someone who's already made the mistakes for you.