Dr. Busta is Director Emeritus and Senior Science Advisor for the National Center for Food Protection and Defense (NCFPD). Since 1999 he has been professor emeritus of food microbiology at the University of Minnesota, participating in resident instruction, research, and outreach. He has held faculty positions at the University of Minnesota, North Carolina State University, and the University of Florida, serving as chair of the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition from 1984 to 1987 at the University of Florida and head of the Department of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Minnesota, from 1987 to 1997.

He is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Institute of Food Science and Technology (United Kingdom), and the Academy of the International Union of Food Science and Technology. At IFT, Dr. Busta was on the executive committee and the long-range planning committee, served as president, and currently is senior science advisor of IFT's FDA contract titled "Analysis and Review of Topics in the Areas of Food Safety, Food Processing and Human Health." He serves on the FDA Food Advisory Committee and recently served on the US Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board and as chair of the State of Minnesota Food Safety Advisory Committee.

Internationally, Dr. Busta is chief technology advisor on a United Nations Development Programme project in China on agri-processing within the World Trade Organization framework. After 15 years of service, Dr. Busta recently retired from the International Commission on the Microbiological Specifications for Food.

Dr. Busta's research has focused in the areas of food safety, growth and survival of microorganisms after environmental stress in food, and microbial ecology of the colon. He has published more than 125 refereed research papers and continues to contribute his expertise to courses such as food microbiology and issues in food science. His positions during sabbatical leaves have included visiting scientist with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Australia; manager of international market development, Capsule Laboratories, Ecolab; and visiting professor in microbiology products at 3M.

Honors received by Dr. Busta include the IFT Microbiology Division Distinquished Service Award, the International Association of Food Protection Educator Award, and the Philadelphia Section IFT Scientific Lecturer Award. He presented the IFT Food Microbiology Division Lecture at the 1992 annual meeting and gave the William Frazier Lecture at the Food Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1997. He received the Center for Food Safety and Animal Nutrition (CFSAN) Director's Special Citation in 2003 for outstanding contributions to CFSAN through expert and independent food security threat assessments.

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