Introduction
Your privacy is important to us.
We collect personal information by lawful and fair means and, where appropriate, with your knowledge or consent.
Before or at the time of collecting personal information, we will identify the purposes for which information is being collected.
We collect and use personal information solely for fulfilling those purposes specified below unless we obtain your consent or as required by law.
Types of personal information we collect
We may collect your name, postal address, email address, telephone number to identify and communicate with you.
We may collect information about your education and qualifications, extent and number of years’ experience, and employment history for the purposes of assessing your suitability for membership and registration.
We may collect gender, date of birth, and other characteristics to measure the effectiveness of our equal opportunity policies.
If you visit our websites, your computer type, operating system, length of visit, page views and browsing habits (including your Internet Protocol (‘IP’) address, geographical location, browser address and other information relating to your visit) may be tracked (we may use cookies) to enable us to monitor traffic and make improvements to our websites.
Purpose for collecting personal information
We use your personal data to keep you updated with relevant information which forms part of your package of services and/or membership benefits, and in pursuit of our charitable object, which is the general advancement and application of food science and technology, for the benefit, safety and health of the public.
Our communications with you may be by post, telephone or e-mail, and may originate from IFST or our regional branches and subject interest groups. Visitors to our web sites may receive communications via their own personal area on the sites.
We use your personal data to arrange for the distribution of IFST publications.
We will not pass on your details to unrelated third-parties unless you specifically opt-in to this type of communication.
We may publish some details (your name, category of membership or registration, and date membership/registration granted - but never your contact details) of members in our publications and on our website. Our publications are sent to members worldwide and may be bought by non-members e.g. university libraries. There is also unrestricted access to our websites.
You may opt-out of receiving a chosen communication at any time by following the unsubscribe directions provided (if appropriate), by updating your contact preferences on our websites or by contacting us (email or write to us at the address below).
Legal bases of processing personal information
We collect and process personal information with your consent (GDPR 6(1)(a)), because processing is necessary for the performance of a contract (6(1)(b)), because the processing is necessary for the performance of task carried out in the public interest (6(1)(e), or because the processing is necessary for the purposes of legitimate interests (6(1)(f)).
Who has access to your personal data and to whom is it disclosed?
We may disclose information about you to any of our team (employees and volunteers), suppliers or subcontractors (such as the publishers of IFST publications or our accountants) as reasonably necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy policy.
In addition, we may disclose your personal information:
To the extent we are required to by law;
In connection with any legal proceedings;
In order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights.
Your personal information may only be shared with good reason as follows:
Assessors will be given access to information necessary to assess your application for membership, registration or revalidation;
Employers or potential employers, on request, will receive confirmation of your membership or registration status;
Our regions and interest groups may be given access to information necessary to provide you with local, personalised service;
If registered on a Science Council register (as a Chartered Scientist, Registered Scientist, Registered Science Technician) your name, registration award, membership and registration status, registrant ID and other information to correctly identify you will be shared with the Science Council;
If registered on one of IFST’s registers, such as the Register of Professional Food Auditors and Mentors or the Register of Food Safety Professionals, your name, registration number and fields of operation, or level of registration may be published on our websites.
How do we protect and safeguard your information?
We will protect personal information by using reasonable security safeguards against loss or theft, as well as unauthorised access, disclosure, copying, use or modification.
Our employees and, where relevant, volunteers (including assessors) receive training in data protection and are bound by IFST policies.
How can you verify, modify or delete your information?
We aim to ensure that the information we hold is as accurate as possible. We may contact you periodically to ensure the data we hold is complete, accurate and up to date. We encourage you to update us of any changes.
If you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please write to or email us as soon as possible, at the address below. We will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect.
You may request details of personal information which we hold about you. A small fee will be payable. If you would like a copy of the information held on you, please write to us at the address below.
How long do we keep your personal data?
We will only retain personal information for as long as necessary for the fulfilment of the purposes stated above.
We do not hold more information than we need to provide your package of services or membership benefits, or in pursuit of our charitable object. We may ask you for information to inform our policy work, such as reporting on the nature of the food science workforce.
We do not hold your data longer than we need to. For applicants, current members and registrants this is a lifetime record, which extends to a maximum two years post-mortem. For former members and registrants, records are reviewed annually and normally destroyed or anonymised after six years of inactivity. For all other contacts, records are reviewed annually and normally destroyed or anonymised after two years of inactivity.
Contact information
We are committed to and carry out our business in accordance with data protection principles. If, for whatever reason, you wish to comment or raise a concern, please write to our Honorary Treasurer, who is responsible for data protection matters on behalf of the Board:
Hon. Treasurer
Institute of Food Science and Technology
5 Cambridge Court
210 Shepherds Bush Road
London W6 7NJ
Our websites use cookies
A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer's hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site.
You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies but you can normally modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.
Links to other websites
Our website contains links to other websites. We do not have any control over other websites and we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information you provide whilst visiting such sites; such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the websites in question.
More information
We are registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner. Our registration can be found on the Information Commissioner's Office website:
https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/what-we-do/register-of-data-controllers/