R. Bruce Tompkin recently was recognized for his achievements in food safety with the 2006 Howard Bauman Award. The Bauman Award, the highest food-safety honor presented by USDA, recognizes an individual who has exhibited leadership and a longstanding commitment to improving food safety. Tompkin began his career as a food microbiologist with what is now ConAgra Foods in 1962 and retired as vice president of product safety in 2002. Some of his most significant research was on the control of microbiological hazards in meat and poultry products. His work on salmonella control helped shape sampling protocols, methodology and controls still used today. Tompkin also was an early proponent of the use of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system, helping to implement it at ConAgra long before it was required.

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