Jim Larson, a 36-year veteran who directs the Bureau of Meat Safety and Inspection, will retire Aug. 12. Pete Haase began duties Aug. 1 as director of the Bureau of Food Safety and Inspection. The two bureaus comprise the Food Safety Division of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.

Larson, a native of Eau Claire, joined the department in 1975 as an inspector in slaughter and meat processing plants. He later became a meat safety consultant and then field services supervisor, overseeing the inspection unit. He was promoted to lead the bureau in 2007.

“I’ve seen the evolution from our licensed establishments being primarily small town slaughter and processing plants with freezer lockers, to an industry with a national reputation for its specialty meat products,” Larson said in a letter to the Wisconsin Association of Meat Processors. At the same time, he said, consumer demand for ready-to-eat and heat-and-serve meals has turned many meat processors into chefs and meal planners.

Safety standards and issues, too, have changed in 36 years. “When I went to training in 1975, E. coli 0157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, or Campylobacter were never even mentioned,” Larson recalled. Now, much of the “process” in meat processing is aimed at preventing introduction of these pathogens into the meat. “To my knowledge, there has never been a food-borne illness traced to a product bearing the Wisconsin mark of inspection,” he said. “We trace this success to cooperation between processors and our program to prevent and solve food safety problems.”

Larson and his wife, Jane, live in Madison with their two teen-age sons. He also has two grown daughters and five grandchildren.

Pete Haase, a Fond du Lac native, joined the department in 2000 as a food safety inspector, responsible for inspecting dairy and food processing plants, dairy farms, and grocery stores and delicatessens. He moved up to being a food safety consultant, then field supervisor in southeastern Wisconsin before being promoted to bureau director. He first joined state service in 1984, working in the Department of Corrections and later, the Department of Health and Social Services (now Health Services). He previously worked as a certified chef in the Fox Valley.

Haase noted the many recent retirements in the Food Safety Division. “We’ve lost very experienced employees, and with them, a lot of institutional knowledge. But we’re poised for many good changes, with the fresh ideas and new ways of thinking that come with new people and a new generation of workers. We’ve done an excellent job over the years, and I’m looking forward to continuing that tradition and improving even further to keep up with the constant changes we see in the food industry.”

Haase and his wife, Denise, live in Oakfield. They have three grown children and three grandchildren.

Haase succeeds Tom Leitzke, who retired in May. Larson’s successor has not been named.