Joe Stout is president and founder of Commercial Food Sanitation.

DES MOINES, IOWA — Joe Stout has been selected as the 2015 Sanitarian of the Year by the International Association for Food Protection (I.A.F.P.). Mr. Stout is the president and founder of Commercial Food Sanitation, an Intralox company that provides solutions to food safety and sanitation challenges for food processing plants across the globe. He is also a contributing editor for Baking & Snack magazine.

The Sanitarian Award recognizes an active member of the I.A.F.P. for dedicated and exceptional service to the profession of sanitarian, serving the public and the food industry.

“Joe’s passion for food safety and the breadth of his knowledge gained after 35 years of hands-on experience in food processing plants around the world is what sets him apart in this field,” said Edel Blanks, president and general manager of Intralox. “It’s gratifying to see that kind of commitment recognized in such a meaningful way.”

Mr. Stout founded Commercial Food Sanitation after a nearly 30-year career at Kraft Foods, and in 2012 Commercial Food Sanitation teamed up with Intralox, New Orleans, to form a strategic alliance that offers cooperative strategies that enable food processors to achieve world-class sanitation and food safety standards. While at Kraft, he held a variety of positions related to operations, quality, and sanitation, and had global responsibility for plant cleaning controls and processes, allergen and pathogen control programs, pest control and hygienic design for facilities and equipment used in more than 200 Kraft plants.

Mr. Stout also led the American Meat Institute’s Equipment Design Task Force and has ledListeriaintervention training for the A.M.I. and the American Frozen Food Institute. He has an active role with the U.S. Dairy Innovation Center and leads its Dairy Food Safety training classes. He became a registered sanitarian in the state of Pennsylvania in May 1985. In addition to his involvement with these and many other industry organizations, Mr. Stout is a published authority on the subjects of food safety, sanitation, hygiene and other related areas.