Before joining the faculty at Texas A&M University, Dr. Hardin was employed in the meat industry as Director of Food Safety with Sara Lee Foods, Director of Food Safety with Smithfield and as Director of Food Safety and Quality Assurance with Boar’s Head.  She also worked as Director of Pork Safety with the National Pork Producer’s Council and as a research scientist and HACCP instructor with the National Food Processor’s Association.

Dr. Hardin’s research interests are in the areas of interventions for both raw and RTE meat products, process control, process validation and shelf-life.  She has published multiple journal articles and co-authored two book chapters.  Dr. Hardin teaches the graduate course in food microbiology and guest lectures in undergraduate and graduate food safety and food microbiology courses.

Dr. Hardin’s professional memberships include the American Society for Microbiology, the International Association for Food Protection, the Institute for Food Science, the Society for Applied Microbiology and the American Meat Science Association.  She is a member of the Editorial Board for the International Journal of Food Microbiology and on the Editorial Advisory Board for Food Safety Magazine.  She has served as a member of both the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Food and the National Advisory Committee for Meat and Poultry Inspection.