Dr. De La Zerda has recently joined IEH as Director of Technical and Regulatory Services, Meat Division. Prior to joining IEH, Dr. De La Zerda was Director - Corporate Food Safety Quality Management at Coleman Natural Foods. In this position he provided HACCP and regulatory oversight, quality management and animal care system development, audit support, and technical customer service support for Coleman's operating companies.

Throughout his career, he has focused his effort to improve meat safety from live production through harvest. Starting with his Beef Quality Assurance and research management role at Texas Beef Council to his most recent role of directing the meat safety programs at the operating company and producer levels for Coleman Natural Foods, he has been actively involved in driving the effort to reduce/eliminate pathogens from the meat and poultry supply.

Ph.D. in Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 2001
M.S. in Animal Science, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, TX, 1997
B.S. in Animal Science, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, TX , 1994