About

Our customer-focused approach is designed to enable your staff, working with our experts, to create a workable, sustainable program designed to exceed regulatory obligations and delight your customers – without jeopardizing the bottom line.

The food industry is challenged every day with an increasingly complex regulatory compliance environment. New and higher expectations are being introduced frequently and often companies don’t now where to turn. Having a partner with experience in the food-manufacturing field with practical knowledge to connect reality with consumer and regulatory expectations is critical.

At Ranck & Associates it is our goal is to provide each client with customized methods to promote food safety, food quality, regulatory compliance, and effective crisis management.

While offering a customized solution to each challenge we are driven by overarching values which affect each of our interactions:

A philosophy of evidence, not opinion –

Emotional decisions seldom produce effective results. Our staff is specially trained to consider all elements of the process and environment but ultimately to allow the data in the situation to dictate the response.

Real-world expertise –

Our experts bring real-world experience and hands-on involvement to every engagement. With over 25 years of experience in food manufacturing we have worked with all aspects of food and environmental regulators as well as various customer sizes and programs. We are uniquely positioned to understand your challenges because we have been in your position and have successfully implemented changes to meet expectations. We continue to build experience and exposure to all sectors of the food and pet food industry.

Strategic foresight –

Solutions are not effective if they do not consider all aspects of your business. We make certain that our solutions address not only your primary concern but also work closely with senior leadership staff to ensure all understand the effectiveness and financial implications of their decisions.

Susan M Ranck, RS, CFS – President – Ranck and Associates, LLC

Susan Ranck founded Ranck & Associates, LLC in February 2012 after almost 20 years in the food manufacturing industry. She started her career with the United States Department of Agriculture performing screening tests for the Market Cattle Slaughter program. With the introduction of HACCP by USDA she joined industry developing Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point plans for implementation. Since the initial wave of HACCP in 1994 Susan has developed, implemented and managed HACCP plans and SSOP programs for numerous companies and food platforms including meat, frozen foods, grain mills and bakeries. During the implementation of HACCP by USDA inspected plants she served as an instructor for University of Maryland training small and very small plants on the practical development and use of HACCP plans in their organizations. She has recently returned to education, serving as a Corporate Faculty Member for Harrisburg University.

Susan has been on the forefront of animal welfare programs over the past decade, developing and implementing plans for various livestock species and assisting slaughter plants and their customers with training and auditing programs to ensure programs were properly developed and sustainable. In addition to on-farm programs she has been integral in various environmental remediation efforts throughout the industry as well as day-to-day quality and food safety management programs while serving as a Quality Assurance Manager in various plant settings.

Most recently Susan has focused her efforts on continuous improvement and sustainability in FDA inspected facilities. With the passage of the Food Safety Modernization Act these facilities now find themselves in a position similar to that of the USDA facilities in the early 1990’s.

Ms. Ranck has a Bachelor of Science degree from The Pennsylvania State University in Agricultural Sciences and a Master of Agriculture degree from Texas A & M University in Poultry Science. In addition she has completed the Applied Sensory Certificate Program at University of California – Davis. She was an inaugural member of the Certified Food Scientist program with the Institute of Food Technologists, holds a Pesticide Control Operator license in the State of Pennsylvania and is a Registered Sanitarian with the State of Texas.