Church Brothers Farms Strengthens FSQA Leadership with Two Director Appointments; Megan Chedwick Comments

SALINAS, CA - Church Brothers Farms announced two leadership appointments in its Food Safety and Quality Assurance (FSQA) department. Abraham Cardenas has joined the company as Director of Quality Control, and Victor Soto has been promoted to Director of Field Food Safety. Both will report to Megan Chedwick, Vice President of Food Safety, Quality & Regulatory Compliance.

Cardenas will own Quality across field, harvest, cooler, facility, and supplier operations. This includes product integrity, defects, shelf life, and customer claims. Cardenas joins Church Brothers from Taylor Fresh Foods, where he spent five years as Corporate Food Safety & Quality Manager, overseeing more than 30 manufacturing facilities across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. He previously served as Food Safety & Quality Manager at Taylor Farms Retail in Gonzales, California, and began his career as a microbiologist at Primus Labs.

Cardenas holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Northern Arizona University and is currently completing a Master of Science in Food Safety at Michigan State University. He is PCQI and HACCP certified, has completed SPC training through ASQ, and is a former site SQF Practitioner.

Soto, promoted from Field Food Safety Manager, has spent nearly a decade with Church Brothers, joining the company in November 2016 and stepping into the Food Safety Manager role in 2023. In his new position, he will lead field food safety from grower through harvest across the company’s full U.S. footprint, totaling roughly 900 harvest employees across five counties in two states.

Soto oversees the company's LGMA, PrimusGFS, and customer audit programs. He also holds nine industry certifications, including HACCP, PSA Grower Training, four LGMA harvest certificates, pre-harvest risk assessment, and CFS sanitation, and has studied Agricultural Production and Food Safety.

“As Church Brothers continues to grow, so does our commitment to food safety and quality,” said Megan Chedwick, Vice President of Food Safety, Quality & Regulatory Compliance at Church Brothers Farms, in the recent release. “Abraham and Victor each bring a distinct set of expertise, and together they strengthen a leadership bench that’s built to move this program forward.”