What has been your main involvement in food safety professionally?
I have had a long and varied journey, starting at the Natural Resources Institute (NRI), working in international development, providing assistance to developing country governments, overseas trade bodies, farmer groups and the
food manufacturing industry overseas. My focus there was on mould contamination of food, so a lot of work on mycotoxin prevention and alleviation, as well as running food safety microbiology and HACCP training courses for overseas staff.
At Leatherhead Food Research, the emphasis was firstly on food safety training for our clients from the UK, Europe and further afield. I then worked more in food safety consultancy, risk assessments, process validations, food safety modelling, in-factory trouble shooting and expert witness work, which has been my focus over the past few years. In the latter instance, in criminal, civil and arbitration cases.
I left Leatherhead recently, to carry out the same sort of work but as an independent consultant; it's early stages yet!
How have you obtained the skills necessary to support your successful involvement with food safety?
That is a very good question! To look at my degree etc. you would not see the direct connection! A BSc in Agricultural Science, and a PhD in plant pathology, researching a disease complex of glasshouse and field lettuce! From there, on the job training at both NRI and Leatherhead, coupled with attendance at meetings, conferences and workshops, to gain relevant Continuing Professional Development (CPD). Taking training courses in environmental management, HACCP, ISO 9000 and BRC Global Standard for Food Safety, to develop quality management and audit skills. The preparation involved in delivery of conference presentations and organising and delivering training courses also helped to obtain the right skills, including receiving presentation skills training.
How have you seen food safety management change over time?
I have seen a change from a reactive, passive approach to one which expects the food business to take control of their processes properly, and not wait for issues to occur. A change from 'do the course, develop the system, get the paperwork, let it gather dust on a shelf' to a more interactive and proactive approach. An understanding that having an operational and live Food Safety Culture is the critical factor that determines if a business will get in control of its processes and stay in control. Most of the bigger food safety issues that have hit the headlines in the past few years, and before, have been caused by, or exacerbated by, a poor or it's almost complete absence. Companies with a good
How important is educating school children about food safety and what do you believe is the best approach?
This is a really important area of work because the sooner we can get a correct understanding into people, the more successful we will be in changing food safety practices for the better, when they go out to work, and of course when they are preparing food at home. I think the key aspects to consider are to keep it simple, understandable, relevant to everyday life, short, in bite-sized chunks and above all, interactive, varied and fun!
What are the main food safety challenges for small food businesses and what approach would you recommend for addressing these?
I think that, for small businesses, some of the key issues can be keeping up to date with the legislation and sometimes the barrage of compliance issues, be it GDPR, Brexit, food authenticity etc.If they start to look to supply some of the major retailers, then they will have to address how to comply with what can be a much more bureaucratic approach to supplier assurance and food safety.So for small businesses, it can be to have a friendly face to act as a mentor who can guide, but not control, their systems and written outputs for compliance. They need to own their systems, but at the same time they often need help in getting to that state of compliance. This is where the smaller consultancy firms can step in to help.