[Tallahassee, Fla] Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Nicole “Nikki” Fried has asked Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association Senior Vice President of Education and Training Geoff Luebkemann to serve as an Industry Group-Retail representative for the Florida Food Safety and Food Defense Council.
“Since 2006, Geoff has guided FRLA’s statewide food safety training activity and has served in numerous state and national industry stakeholder groups,” remarks FRLA President and CEO Carol Dover. “He is the perfect representative for this council, and I look forward to continuing to strengthen our partnership with Commissioner Fried as we work to ensure food safety and defense for the state of Florida.”
Starting with 15 years in food and beverage operations, Luebkemann worked for local independents and opened national full-service restaurants across the southeast. In the public sector, Luebkemann served as Director of DBPR’s Division of Hotels & Restaurants, the statewide food and lodging regulator. While there, he oversaw eight offices responsible for more than 85,000 licensees and hundreds of thousands of sanitation and safety inspections annually.
As created by section 5000.033, Florida Statutes, the Florida Food Safety and Food Defense Council serves as a forum for presenting, investigating and evaluating issues of current importance to the assurance of a safe and secure food supply for the citizens of Florida.