Donald W. Schaffner, Ph.D. is Extension Specialist in Food Science and Professor at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

His research interests include quantitative microbial risk assessment and predictive food microbiology. Dr. Schaffner has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters and abstracts. He has educated thousands of Food Industry professionals through numerous short courses and workshops in the United States and more than a dozen countries around the world.

Dr. Schaffner has served on expert committees for US National Academy of Sciences, the World Health Organization and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and has chaired two expert workshops on microbial risk for WHO/FAO. He is currently a member of Institute of Food Technologists Expert Panel developing a quantitative risk ranking framework for the Food and Drug Administration.

Dr. Schaffner is currently serving a 5 year term as Editor for the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. In May 2005 he was also appointed to serve on the National Advisory Committee on Microbial Criteria for Foods (NACMCF).

Dr. Schaffner is active in several scientific associations including the International Association for Food Protection, the Institute of Food Technologists, the Society for Risk Analysis, and the American Society for Microbiology. He holds a B.S. in Food Science from Cornell University and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Food Science and Technology from the University of Georgia.