Lisa M. Berger MPH CP-FS

Professional Biography

Background:

After earning a Masters degree in Public Health, Ms. Berger began working for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health as an Epidemiologist. She was in charge of 50 towns in the Boston Metropolitan area investigating communicable disease outbreaks which involved restaurants, daycare centers, prison facilities, public and private schools, hospitals, and medical offices.

In non-outbreak settings, Ms. Berger conducted seminars outlining control measures for the prevention of such outbreaks at medical conferences, schools, hospitals, daycare centers, doctors offices, and neighborhood centers.

While running the “business,” Ms. Berger continues to work as a food safety consultant conducting food protection certification seminars (ServSafe), teaching basic sanitation courses for non-certified employees, providing third party audits, developing HACCP plans and working with new establishments on their plan reviews.

She has worked as a consultant for Boston area establishments, restaurant groups and venues such as: Hamersley’s Bistro, The Four Seasons Hotel, TD Banknorth Garden, Harvard University, Columbus Hospitality Group, Gillette Stadium, Spire, Agganis Arena, Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, Costa, Dunkin Donuts, Emerson College, Fire and Ice, Fuddruckers, Grill 23 and the Liberty Hotel just to name a few. Nationally, she has worked for the Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group, citizenM (a Netherlands-based hotel chain), Jake’s Wayback Burgers, and Smokey Bones.  She has also consulted for special events such as the 1999 Ryder Cup in Brookline, MA; the 2004 Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the FleetCenter in Boston, MA; the 2009 Mayors Conference at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, RI; and Singapore Day in New York, NY in 2012 and in San Francisco in 2016.

Ms. Berger is a frequent speaker for public health organizations (the Massachusetts Health Officers Association, the Massachusetts Environmental Health Association, the Food and Drug Administration [FDA], the Local Public Health Institute of Massachusetts), the Massachusetts Restaurant Association (MRA), and the food service industry. She has appeared often on local and national TV programs and is author of the prominent food safety training book “Food Safety for Managers”.

Recently, Ms. Berger co-founded Relavent Systems which provides inspection software for retail food safety, housing and pool inspections.

Experience/Qualifications:

  • Epidemiologist, Massachusetts Department of Public Health May 1992 – September 1996
  • Certified Instructor and Proctor for the National Registry of Food Safety Professionals Certification Program
  • Certified Instructor and Proctor for the National Restaurant Association’s Educational Foundation’s ServSafe Certification Program
  • Certified Instructor and Proctor for Rhode Island Food Protection Program
  • Quality Assurance Inspector for retail food establishments
  • Subject Matter Expert for the National Restaurant Association Solutions – Instructor Requirements

Education:

  • Boston University, Boston, MA
  • Masters of Public Health (MPH) May, 1992
  • Mills College, Oakland, CA
  • Bachelor of Arts (BA): Sociology May, 1988

Certification:

  • NEHA: Certified Professional – Food Safety (CP-FS) October 2002
  • NRA Educational Foundation:
  • ServSafe Certified: January 2017, January 2012, January, 2007, February 2002, February 1997, October 2020.

Training:

  • FDA 2 Day Conference on Risk-Based Inspection Methods at Retail, March 2014
  • FDA 2 Day Conference on Special Processes at the Retail Level, April 2012
  • NEHA On-line Training on Food Safety for High Risk Populations, September 2009
  • FDA 3 Day Conference on Plan Review, June 2006
  • FDA 3 Day Conference on Foodborne Illness Investigations, September 2004
  • FDA 3 Day Conference on Violation and Field Verification of HACCP, January 2003
  • FDA 2 Day Conference on Acidified Foods, Certified December 2002
  • FDA/MDPH 5 Day conference on the 1999 FDA Food Code, Spring 2000

Professional Organizations:

  • International Association for Food Protection
  • Massachusetts Health Officers Association (MHOA)
  • Massachusetts Restaurant Association (MRA)
  • National Environmental Health Association (NEHA)