The Food Industry Intelligence Network (fiin) has appointed its first full-time employee as member numbers increase, as well as a new advisor to the board to drive the food integrity agenda.
As programme manager, Sophie Lawrence will use her considerable breadth of experience in academia and the public and corporate sectors to ensure fiin is delivering the best possible insights to combat food fraud and increase the provision of member resources.
With a master’s degree in Food Policy from City University, Ms Lawrence has just submitted her PhD thesis to Queens University Belfast, focusing on the prevalence and the situational susceptibility of seafood supply chains to food fraud.
Her experience working in intelligence in the Food Standards Agency’s National Food Crime Unit has given her direct experience of the issues that are challenging the food and beverage sectors. Challenges that show no signs of abating.
Fellow appointee, Saskia van Ruth will be advising the fiin board to further fiin’s mission to ensure food integrity by enabling a collaborative and targeted approach to supply chain assurance.
As professor of Food Supply Chain Integrity at University College Dublin in the School of Agriculture and Food Science, she is well versed in food authenticity and integrity issues with a particular interest in the prevention and comprehension of food fraud.
Having worked in various universities across Europe, Ms van Ruth has experience with a range of stakeholders including regulatory bodies, retail, food service, certification organisations, farmers, traders, commercial laboratories and technology providers.
Fiin board member and group technical and sustainability director at ABP Food Group, Dean Holroyd, is looking forward to the possibilities that the new appointments will bring.
“As fiin’s membership continues to grow, the organisation must continue to be a useful resource for members, and appointing its first full-time employee will help to increase the organisation’s value,” he said.
