Bongil (Bon) Lee
Laboratory Supervisor
Email: info@wmcinc.org

When quality control veteran Bon Lee joined the Wheat Marketing Center, he brought more than 15 years of corporate flour and food industry experience.

After receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Food Science and Technology from Oregon State University, Lee began his career as a QC Technician and soon rose to management positions, first while at Pendleton Flour Mills, where he helped achieve a “Select Supplier” status from the Campbell Soup Company.

Later, with an USDA Meat & Poultry Inspection plant, he managed the Quality Assurance Department for frozen food production and developed a Total Quality Control Program for company.

A native of Chiba, Japan, Lee is fluent in Japanese and English, speaking, writing, and reading both languages. He lists many post graduate, keep-on-learning training and professional development courses, several with the American Institute of Baking (Flour Quality Control and Principles of Bakery Production) and the American Association of Cereal Chemists, where course curriculum included milling, starch, wheat gluten, and even microwave study.

Lee supervises a staff of five wheat and flour research, development, and test technologists at the Wheat Marketing Center’s laboratory and experimental flour mill. Here, assistance and training is provided for visiting researchers and milling technicians from around the world. Some of the many benefits include the development of milling configurations, flour stream selections, and wheat blends.

Results: the visiting researchers, and/or teams, then learn-by-doing-and-seeing how to optimize process economics while meeting their specific final product quality expectations.