I completed my PhD in Food Microbiology back in 2003 and have since worked in the food industry across various roles in quality control / quality assurance / analytical / regulatory / food safety/auditing and people management.

In my career to date I have worked for Diageo Baileys Global Supply (Food Microbiologist Brand Technical Centre), Abbott (Technical Specialist), Nestle (Laboratory Manager), Kellogg (Food Safety/Sanitation Specialist) and Tirlan (Food Safety Manager) plus (Head of Regulatory Food and Feed Safety).

I worked in the following regions: Asia Pacific and South Africa, Europe, Eastern Russia, and Ireland.

Analytical standardization, food safety program creation and governance, quality, food safety and laboratory auditing to relevant customer and ISO standards. After over 20 years working in the food industry I feel I have honed my skill-set to offer a defined set of value add service offerings that can help food business operators (FBO’s) to navigate through: audit compliance, improvements in food safety systems, change in food safety culture, specialized training and guidance on defined areas of risk e.g foreign material, microbiological, allergen, chemical monitoring and control.

In addition experience was gained over the years related to appropriate business response to food safety adverse events linked to comprehensive root cause analysis, business continuity planning and effective corrective and preventative action planning.

I have experience dealing with relevant food industry regulatory bodies via pro-active engagement/collaboration on emerging regulatory issues, incident management and communications.

I joined Kerry Group’s Graduate Programme in 2002, and worked as R&D Technologist, Plant Quality Manager, and Technical Sales Manager for Nutritional Ingredients, based in Ireland and the Netherlands.

I spent 4 years working as Quality Project Manager for Abbott Nutrition with Third Party Manufacturers of Infant Formula, Clinical Nutrition and Adult Nutrition products located in Europe and Oceania.

I have worked with Glanbia Ireland / Tirlán as central Quality function from 2013 to 2024, as Supplier Quality Manager and Food Safety Manager. My role spanned all products manufactured by their facilities and TPM’s, including Dairy Ingredients, Plant Based Ingredients, Consumer Products, Ruminant Feed and Pet Food products. These roles also included risk evaluation of upstream supply chains of vegetable oils, sugars, salt, imported grains and primary packaging. As a global producer of these products, Regulatory compliance for all raw materials had to be verified and maintained.

My primary skill from 22 years’ experience is risk identification in manufacturing facilities and supply chains for Dairy, Nutrition, Prepared Meals and Feed industries. I conducted up to 40 annual local and international supplier approval and investigation audits of raw material suppliers and key service providers. In past two years, I have focused more closely on Food Safety Culture development of my employer’s manufacturing sites. This included the development of Food Safety standards, and the identification/interpretation of Regulatory changes and Food Safety threats to operational facilities.