Michael Cramer began his food career with Swift & Company at a turkey processing facility in eastern Pennsylvania while attending West Chester University in West Chester, PA. He graduated in May, 1977 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Education, then returned to work in the turkey operation through the remainder of the processing season. During his career with Swift & Company he was Quality Assurance Manager at plants in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Illinois as well as Production Specialist and Documentation Manager at the Corporate HQ then was promoted to QA Director for the Armour food plants of Armour Swift-Eckrich.

In 1993, Michael joined Specialty Brands, Inc. in Ontario, CA where he was Director of Food Safety and Quality. He spent 27 years with the company, through multiple ownership changes, and remained as Sr. Director FSQA through the purchase by Ajinomoto Foods North America Inc. Here, he developed and implemented programs to assure production of safe, quality ethnic frozen foods. Michael retired from AFNA in July, 2021.

Michael has been a member of the International Association for Food Protection, and was part of the FSQA team at Ajinomoto Foods that won the prestigious Black Pearl Award in 2020. In addition to his book, Food Plant Sanitation, he is on the editorial board of Food Safety Magazine and has written articles for Food Safety Magazine dealing with Listeria control, Biosecurity, Sanitation and Sanitary Design and Allergens. He was a contributing member of the American Frozen Foods Institute Listeria Working Group. In addition, he has participated in multiple Food Safety Matters podcasts, conducted food sanitation webinars, developed Cramer’s Corner, a regular posting,  and has been a presenter at numerous food safety and quality conferences. He remains active in retirement, giving back to the industry where he spent almost 43 years.