The Canadian food company behind the massive Listeria-related recall of sunflower kernels that has led to secondary recalls of dozens of snack products from the likes of Planters, Kellogg, Nature Valley and Trader Joe’s is shuffling executives in an effort to clean up operations and prepare the company for possible sale. Top leaders of SunOpta Inc. of Toronto, Ontario, referred to the reassignment of quality assurance functions to Jim Gratzek, senior vice president for research and development, as part of their work to accelerate growth and enhance shareholder value.

“Recently, management and some members of the board of directors met directly with many of the company’s largest shareholders, including Tourbillon Capital Partners,” SunOpta officials said in a June 27 news release. “Following these consultations and reflecting the views expressed by a number of these large shareholders, including that now is not the right time to commence an outright sale of the company, the board of directors has hired Rothschild Inc., supported by legal advisors Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, to review the company’s operating plan and evaluate a complete range of strategic and financial actions that SunOpta could undertake to maximize shareholder value.” The 900-word news release and “forward-looking statement” did not specifically reference the recalls spurred by the discovery of Listeria monocytogenes in SunOpta’s sunflower kernels. Rather, it referred to “recent quality issues” in the announcement of Gratzek’s new duties. Until now, SunOpta’s “quality assurance” had been the responsibility of the company’s operations department. Gratzek has extensive experience in food quality, process improvement and technology development and is charged with enhancing SunOpta’s food quality and safety processes and procedures. He will also continue to lead SunOpta’s research and development efforts, according to the release. “The same disciplined, focused approach which Jim has employed so successfully in our R&D function will help us to more rapidly address the process challenges at the root of our recent quality issues,” SunOpta president and CEO Rik Jacobs said in the release. “This change will also allow our operations teams to more single-mindedly focus on efficiency improvements in our plants and in our global supply chain, thereby enhancing our ability to achieve our stated goal of increasing gross margins.” Before joining SunOpta in June 2014, Gratzek worked for more than a decade at General Mills, focusing on product development, cost and process improvement and technology development, according to his biography on the SunOpta website. Earlier in his career, Gratzek worked at Tetra Pak as aseptic technology director where he oversaw Tetra Pak’s North American Product Development Center, Regulatory Affairs and Machine System Validation Protocol. He has a doctorate in food science and technology from the University of Georgia and engineering degrees from Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Minnesota. As for the future of SunOpta, “there is no set timetable for the completion of this review process. SunOpta does not intend to disclose or comment on its review, unless and until the board of directors approves a specific action, or otherwise concludes its review,” according to the release. (To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)