The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has appointed a new chief specialist in environmental health.
Rob Philips will take the reins of this new role, which will see him lead on all aspects of this area, advising on food safety and hygiene issues, and seeking to ensure fair, proportionate and consistent approaches to food-law enforcement.
He will also represent the FSAI at national, EU and international levels and support the wider regulatory affairs and compliance team in the FSAI with issues relating to environmental health, food safety, food hygiene and regulatory affairs.
Additionally, he will lead on compliance building, the development of compliance supports, and will engage with stakeholders to build a culture of food safety within Ireland’s food industry.
His work will also see him engage with government departments, including the Department of Health, as well as the inspectorate in the official agencies and national and international bodies.
The newly appointed specialist has more than 20 years’ experience overseeing food safety and compliance. He has a strong background in environmental health, where he previously held the position of senior environmental health officer with Pembrokeshire County Council in Wales.
In addition, prior to joining the FSAI, he acted as food fraud coordinator in the Welsh Food Fraud Co-Ordination Unit. He has also served as a food-safety expert on the Welsh Heads of Environmental Health Panel; and he was audit and investigations manager with the FSAI since 2018.
Commenting, CEO of FSAI, Dr. Pamela Byrne, expressed the importance of the position in enabling the FSAI to protect consumers through supporting the environmental health service, the food safety laboratory service of the Health Service Executive (HSE) and other official agencies in the consistent and effective implementation and enforcement of food legislation.
“We are delighted to appoint Rob to this key role in the FSAI, where his environmental health qualifications and experience will bring increased benefits to our regulatory partnership approach, in collaboration with environment health officers throughout the country.
“Regulations continually change and adapt, with national and EU policies central to how we work in the FSAI. Adherence to best practice in food safety and hygiene controls are the backbone of the environmental health surveillance approach which is vital to safeguard food for consumers,” says Dr Byrne.