Even if you're a regular shopper at Stauffers of Kissel Hill, chances are you've never bumped into or heard of Barry Parsons.

But you ought to be very thankful he's there.

The 45-year-old East Hempfield Township man is the food-safety coordinator for all three Stauffers supermarkets, one of only a few grocery stores that have such an expert on-site every day.

Why is that important?

Well, Parsons is responsible for pulling all those recalled and potentially tainted food products from store shelves as quickly as possible.

"Twenty minutes to a half an hour and it's off the shelf," he said.

And given the growing salmonella outbreak, which has sickened more than 500 people and may have killed at least eight across the United States, it would not be an overstatement to say that his role — mostly conducted behind the scenes — is crucial to your well-being.

And he takes that very seriously.

"There's a lot of responsibility being in the food business," Parsons said. "I really care about this.

"Because it could be a child. I've had children myself. Imagine if your child got sick. How would you feel as a parent? The elderly — they're susceptible. My parents are in their 80s. That really hits me."

Parsons keeps his customers' welfare vividly in mind.

"That's how I do it," he said.

The federal government and food companies issue hundreds of recalls every year. When that happens, Parsons gets e-mail alerts from a variety of sources — from the state and federal governments to trade groups to The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network.

Each provides important information about the recalled product.

"You grab every little bit of data you can," Parsons said. "The key is to have all those different sources to make sure you're on top of everything."

When he gets an alert or recall, Parsons searches through Stauffers' database of some 90,000 products to see if any of the items are on his shelves. In the peanut butter product recall, very few were — and they were pulled immediately.

Parsons checks the shelves at the Lititz Pike store, where he is the general manager. And he sends alerts to store managers at the Oregon Pike and Rohrerstown Road supermarkets so they can do the same. He'll alert customer-service workers so they can talk to customers knowledgeably about the issues.

For Parsons, it isn't a job. It's a passion.

Parson has worked in the food industry for decades — from his first job at a Roy Rogers while studying at Peirce College in Philadelphia to consulting to his ongoing teacher position with Penn State University's cooperative extension here.

"You've really got to be dedicated to it, and you've really got to have a sense of caring," Parsons said. "You've got to say, 'No matter what's going to happen, I'm going to make sure my customers are safe, my employers are safe.'

"This is not something I do as a job. It's just what I do. It's who I am."

Parsons has worked for Stauffers since 2001. He pitched the idea of creating the position of food-safety coordinator to company managers in 2002. Stauffers already was advanced in food safety (when Parsons started working there, it already had high-tech $3,500 handwashers for employees) and agreed his idea was a good one.

"I like to think we're one of the best in this area. We're a small independent company, but we've been known to know things before some of the big boys know," he said. "We invest a heck of a lot of money in food safety. We do a lot behind the scenes that consumers don't know about."

At a time when food scares seem to be hitting the news daily, it might be comforting to know there's a guy like Parsons on duty.

"It's a pretty big responsibility. Consumers are concerned. Worried. Their trust has gone down the toilet because of all the recalls," he said. "It's my job to take care of it and protect them."

E-mail: tmurse@lnpnews.com or call 481-6021