Carolyn Smith DeWaal

After graduating from the University of Vermont and Antioch School of Law, Caroline Smith DeWaal pursued a career to advance the safety of the U.S. and world food supply.  From 1994 to 2015, she directed the food safety program of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), where she led the formulation and execution of food safety research and advocacy.  From 2015 to 2020, she served as the International Food Safety Policy Manager at the Food and Drug Administration, where she managed bilateral partnership projects involving FDA units and their counterparts in other countries.  From 2020 to 2024, she was the deputy director of Eat Safe, where she managed a food safety program focused on improving food hygiene controls in local markets to benefit consumers most impacted by malnutrition.  This USAID-funded pilot program was implemented in malnutrition in 14 countries several African countries, specifically Nigeria and Ethiopia.  In 2024, this project resulted in adoption of new the global Guidelines for Food Hygiene Controls in Traditional Markets for Food at the Codex Alimentarius Commission, based on research and a proposal for Guidelines Committee on Food Hygiene, initiated by DeWaal on behalf of GAIN in 2022., were approved.

In these positions, DeWaal has had numerous opportunities to research, write, and speak about food safety issues.  These include publishing research in scholarly and legal journals, presenting papers at more than 100 scientific and public policy conferences, and testifying more than 20twenty times before the U.S. Congress.  She has also participated in World Health Organization consultations on food safety, and on FDA, USDA, and CDC food safety advisory panels.  DeWaal was a professorial lecturer at George Washington University, served as president of the International Association of Consumer Food Organizations, and co-authored the book, Our Food Safe? A Consumer’s Guide to Protecting Your Health and the Environment. In 2024, the International Association of Food Protection recognized DeWaal for her long-standing contributions to improving food safety for consumers both nationally and internationally with the IAFP Food Safety Award.