New Year Honours for Michael Bell, IFST Vice President and senior Northern Ireland food industry figures
IFST congratulates Vice President Michael Bell for the award of OBE for services to the food and drink industry and to the region's economy in the latest honours list. This year Michael will celebrate membership with IFST for 40 years and is currently Vice President and a trustee. He is a fellow of IFST, and a chartered scientist.
His professional role is Executive Director of the Northern Ireland Food and Drink Association (NIFDA), which supports the food and drink industry, currently Northern Ireland’s largest manufacturing sector. As well as his commitments with IFST Michael is also Chairman of the Northern Ireland Agricultural Research and Development Council (Agrisearch) and a member of the Safefood Expert Advisory Committee.
In addition, Michael is a member of the Northern Ireland Food and Feed Advisory panel for the Food Standards Agency Northern Ireland and a board member of Agri-Quest - the Food Innovation Competence Centre.
Other recipients of new year honours are Maria Jennings who is Director of Food Standards in Northern Ireland and is responsible for the NI office, People and Organisational Change. Maria is an associate member of IFST and a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health. Maria received the award of CBE for services to public health.
In addition, Ursula Lavery, technical and R&D director of Moy Park Europe has received an MBE for services to the Agri-Food Industry and to the Economy in Northern Ireland.