Food Technology Expert Witnesses: 5

David Rutecki's career spans 39 years of Restaurant and Hospitality related experience. Working in more than 20 restaurants and involved in the opening of more than a dozen, he has worked every position possible within this industry. Mr. Rutecki currently owns and operates Mountain Deli in Hendersonville, garnering the 2016, 2017 & 2018 Blue Ridge Growth Award. He is a Member of the North Carolina and National Restaurant Associations. Mr. Rutecki has been invloved in the following selected restaurants:

• Fancy’s Food and Wine, Gourmet Shop, Coral Gables, South Miami & Grove Isle, Fl.
• Susie’s Bagels, Breakfast Restaurant, South Miami, Fl.
• Pizzaria Uno, Full Service Restaurant, Miami, Fl.
• Baystreet, Full Service Seafood Restaurant, Miami, Fl.
• Rusty Pelican, Upscale Seafood, Key Biscayne, Miami, Fl.
• Rudolph's BBQ, Upscale BBQ, Miami, Fl.
• Signature Gardens, Upscale Catering Hall, Miami, Fl.
• Chart House, Upscale Seafood, Coconut grove, Fl.
• Cafe Tu Tu Tango, Coconut Grove, Fl.
• Gatsby’s, Upscale Billiards and Cigar Bar, Boca Raton, Fl.
• Prezzo, Casual Italian, Boca Raton, Fl.
• Maxwell’s Chophouse, Upscale Steakhouse, Boca Raton, Fl.
• Mountain Deli, Delicatessen, Downtown Hendersonville, NC
• Tabica Grill, Upscale American, Jupiter, Fl.
• Jonathon's Landing Marina Club, Upscale Boating Club, Jupiter, Fl
• Jetty's, Upscale Seafood, Jupiter, Fl.
• Austin Grill, Casual, Washington, DC.

Litigation Support - David Rutecki offers expert witness and litigation support for restaurant related issues in the United States. His services are available to counsel representing both Plaintiff and Defendant. Areas of Expertise:

• Restaurant and Kitchen Design, Menu Development
• Food Safety and Sanitation
• Bar Operations & Liquor Liability... Dram Shop
• Safety & Security - Slips, Trips and Falls
• Daily Operations & Management, Employee & Staffing Issues
• Retail Operations
• Staff & Mgmt Training Programs & Handbooks
• Business Plan Development

Catherine Adams Hutt, PhD, RD, CFS, has senior public and private experience as a Chief Science & Regulatory Officer in the Food Safety Industry. She is a Registered Dietitian and Certified Food Scientist.

With experience in the public and private sectors, Dr. Adams Hutt provides advice and guidance on a wide range of topics, including regulatory compliance, food safety, quality systems management, supply chain, health and wellness, business strategy, product development, and software solutions for management of quality and product development processes.

Dr. Adams Hutt was formerly Chief Quality, Food Safety, and Nutrition Officer for McDonald’s Corporation and led Supplier and Restaurant Food Safety teams for YUM! Brands. She was Chief Quality Officer for Coors Brewing Company, led the North America Quality team at H.J. Heinz, and developed next generation Quality programs for the Campbell Soup Company. Dr. Adams Hutt was Assistant Administrator for the US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) where she led the development of HACCP as a regulatory tool. She has been an active participant in international programs, and led the U.S Delegation for the Codex Food Hygiene Committee.

Litigation Support - Catherine Adams Hutt has high-level training and senior experience in a variety of food related fields, including food manufacturing, food service, food regulations, and nutrition. Her diverse background makes her ideally suited for challenging cases where it is important or helpful to be able to integrate information from a number of different disciplines. Her professional experience is truly unique and her credentials make her unimpeachable. Most of Dr. Adams Hutt's cases are settled before going to trial on the strength of her expert opinion. She has experience with both deposition and trial, understanding the art of the exercise, and works to deliver the optimal results for her clients - plaintiff or defendant.

Areas of Expertise:

Food Safety Food Manufacturing Nutrition Foodborne Illness Food Fraud Food Forensics

Food Poisoning Food Adulteration Dietary Supplements Food Labeling Quality Management Health Claims

Texas Office 4568 Elm Bottom Circle Aubrey, TX 76227

Virginia Office 124 South Fairfax Alexandria, VA 22314

View Dr. Adams Hutt's Consulting Profile.

Claire K. Sand, PhD, is a Global Packaging Technology  Leader with over 35 years of Food Science and Packaging experience. 

Dr. Sand is the owner and founder of Packaging Technology and Research, LLC.   She is also an Adjunct Professor at Michigan State University and CalPoly, and a monthly contributor to Packaging Digest. 

Dr. Sand's background includes working with Total Quality Marketing, Nestle, General Mills, Kraft Heinz, Safeway, and academia, as well as in basic research, development market research, and marketing in Germany, Colombia, and Thailand.

She is an IFT Fellow, a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement in Food Packaging Award , a member of numerous Editorial Boards, the author of the Packaging Value Chain, and is in several leadership positions.

Litigation Support - Dr. Claire Sand is an experienced food packaging expert witness for attorneys representing plaintiff and defendant. Claire has served as an expert witness in 18 cases since 2016, involving 8 patents, 4 food packaging and food spoilage cases, and 6 other cases.

Her cases include Food and Beverage, Packaging and Labeling, and Patent and Intellectual Property litigation and lawsuits. Dr. Sand is available to consult, construct and write expert reports, serve as expert in depositions and testify.

Areas of Expertise:

• Patent Infringement and Invalidity - including patent infringement, patent invalidity, forensics related to patents and related lawsuits, design and utility patent infringement, food packaging patents, Patent or design infringement
• Trademark, Trade Dress or Trade Secret Disputes
• Food Package Interactions - including food damage and spoilage, food packaging safety, foods and how packaging interacts with food,
• Food Package Design - including flexible film, rigid packaging - bottles, cans jars, etc., semi-rigid packaging- foam trays, Food packaging product development, Integrity of packaged goods for warehousing
• Food Package and Packaging Forensics  - including failure analysis, defective packaging
• Material Science - including paperboard, polymers and plastics
• Probable Cause in Food Packaging Contamination
• Food Package Testing
• Food Packaging FDA Regulations & GMPs
• Food Packaging Machinery / Line Operations

View Packaging Technology Consultants' Business Consulting Profile.

mdi Consultants, Inc - Experts in FDA regulatory affairs, quality assurance and ISO 9000 certification. With 6 years in the FDA and 26 years consulting to the industry, mdi Consultants, Inc. has been an invited Speaker worldwide on FDA regulations and policies and has obtained FDA expert status as third party auditors.

OUR APPROACH

We utilize the following three part approach to providing high quality services to our clients:

Unsurpassed consultant experience – we identify and recruit only top quality consultants with deep industry knowledge to provide the most complete and insightful advice to our clients

Up-to-date systems and processes – we have highly defined systems (e.g. manuals, training programs, technical files) and processes (e.g. audit methodologies, 510(k) submission, validations) that are constantly refined and kept current across the ever changing regulatory environment

Involvement in regulation development – we stay ahead of policies by participating in the development of regulation (e.g. HACCP, Scientific Advisor to U.S. Congressmen)

Karl L. Linck, PE, is an expert in Food Industry Production and Packaging with over 45 years of experience. A Professional Engineer in WI, IL, AZ, CA, FL, and ID, his main area of experience is with Sanitary Systems and their Design in Hygienic Food Processing. 

Litigation Support -  Along with design of many food processing / packaging systems and engineering department development and leadership, Mr. Linck has provided expert witness testimony for cases involving IP and Contract issues. His services are available to attorneys representing plaintiff and defendant and include site inspection, thorough reporting, depositions, and trial testimony as needed. 

Areas of Expertise:

Sanitary Food Systems Food Processing Systems Food Processing Equipment Facility Sanitary / Hygienic Design Facility Automation Site Selection

Equipment and Engineering Contracting Packaging Material Engineering Packaging / Production Line Efficiency MAP - Modified Atmosphere Packaging Food Packaging Systems / Equipment Food Production Operations

 Background Experience - Much of Mr. Linck's career has focused around dry, oils, refrigerated and frozen products in the pasta, natural cheese, processed cheese, appetizer, and entrée areas. He has led strategic growth of engineering functions, including procurement and customization of production equipment, production line layouts and facilities design, automation, packaging material engineering, site selection, and support engineering functions for all production operations and distribution/office needs.  

From 1992 to 2019, Mr. Linck served as Vice President of Engineering for Sargento Foods, Inc., where he provided key technical direction and management critical to growth and assembled the engineering department to support innovation, improvements, and production support with proper engineering/technician skill sets, among other duties.

Mr. Linck is currently the sole proprietor and engineer for Karl Linck, Technical Consulting, where he specializes in engineering educational material development, manufacturing consulting, expert witness work, and expert advice for the food industry.