News

Since our inception in July 2015, we have been fortunate to have had Dr Mark Woolfe as our Secretary.

Mark has had a long and distinguished career applying science to Government food policy. He represented the UK in negotiations on EU food law and implementation into national food law ,and also in international food standards on numerous EU, BSI, CEN and Codex Alimentarius Committees. Mark was Head of the Food Authenticity Programme at the Food Standards Agency and was responsible for the creation of the food authenticity programme, which developed state of the art methods to authenticate food, enforce food standards legislation and prevent food fraud.

Mark has decided that it is time to retire from his role as Secretary of the Food Authenticity Network (FAN). I want to thank Mark sincerely for his hard work and dedication that have helped make FAN the success it is today. Although Mark is leaving the Secretary role, I am delighted to announce that he will remain part of the FAN team, becoming our Chief Scientific Advisor from 1 April 2023.

The new FAN Secretary from 1 April 2023 will be John Points. John’s background is as an analytical chemist and he has been working in the food measurement arena for over 30 years. John is an independent consultant advising food businesses on identification and mitigation of fraud and authenticity risks. John is the Chair of the Institute of Food Science and Technology (IFST) Scientific Committee, a member of the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) Food Interest Group and is listed on the Food Standards Agency’s Register of Specialists for topics relating to food authenticity testing.

I look forward to working with John as our Secretary.

Selvarani Elahi

Executive Director, Food Authenticity Network

The Food Authenticity Network has worked with Defra, FSA, FSS, NFCU, SFCIU and the Food Authenticity Centres of Expertise to agree a framework for a co-ordinated response from food authenticity Centres of Expertise to national / international food and feed fraud incidents / investigations.

Official controls of food and feed labelling and compositional standards involves the verification of labelled product information and requires a wide range of analytical and molecular biological techniques to be deployed, many with exacting instrumentation requirements and in-depth scientific interpretation of the datasets generated. In recognition that no single institution could field the complete range of such techniques with the required expertise in all of the food and feed commodity groups, a number of Food Authenticity Centres of Expertise (CoEs) have been acknowledged (see below for list and further information). 

It was envisaged that the virtual network of  CoEs would function in a similar way to a National Reference Laboratory by helping to ensure that authenticity testing methods employed are fit for purpose and offer expert advice to the food authenticity analytical community as required. 

A framework has been produced for collaboration of Food Authenticity Centres of Expertise to facilitate the formulation a collective technical view, in response to a request from UK Government, during an emergency food or feed fraud incident/investigation. A collective technical view will facilitate UK Government in making evidence-based decisions in a timely manner so as to minimise the impact on legitimate businesses and protect consumers.

The Framework is not a public document but the process flow diagram is presented above to illustrate the process agreed. An accessible version is available here.

The Framework flow chart and the accessible version have also been added to the CoE page on this network.

1. Job Purpose

LGC’s National Laboratories, based in Teddington, deliver a range of expert science functions and services in partnership with the UK Government, business and academia. The business unit manages and operates several national laboratories on behalf of government agencies, as well as hosting the unique function of the ‘Government Chemist’.

 As home to many world-leading scientists, LGC’s National Laboratories provide a wide range of expert analytical science services and subject matter expertise to a broad spectrum of customers, stakeholders and global forums.

 This role is an exciting full time opportunity to work across several externally facing networks; including the Community for Analytical Measurement Science and the Food Authenticity Network. Both are membership based communities aimed at promoting world-class analytical measurement science training, research and innovation by bringing together a network of industrial and academic partners with interests in these fields.

2. Key Responsibilities

• Delivery of network co-ordination activities, ensuring the smooth day-to-day running of virtual communities.
• Organise and facilitate virtual and in-person events.
• Co-ordinate Secretariat activities.
• Support note taking, recording meeting actions and decisions.
• Co-ordination of network finances, liaising with Legal and Financial Leads, as well as network members.
• Prepare stakeholder updates and digital content.
• Facilitate marketing, website and social media channel activities.
• Actively support network growth, championing activities in-keeping with networks’ strategic aims. 

3. LGC Values

The job holder will be able to demonstrate the following behaviours in line with LGC’s values:

• Passion: desire to promote and champion network aims and activities.
• Integrity: a deep seated belief in the importance of customer satisfaction and providing a professional and valued service.
• Curiosity: always striving to improve ways of working and delivering efficiencies that benefit both individual members and the broader network/community. 

4. Person Specification - Knowledge, Experience and Technical Skills

LGC is seeking an organised and personable individual, with a strong work ethic and self-motivation. The individual must have a can-do attitude, taking ownership and responsibility for driving outcomes.

As the successful candidate you will be able to demonstrate evidence of having/being:

• Prior experience (ca. 3 years) of network and/or project co-ordination.
• Able to engage professionally with a wide range of members and stakeholders.

• Comfortable working as part of an in-person and virtual team.
• Well organised with an excellent eye for detail.
• Able to multi-task and prioritise work to meet deadlines when required.
• Strong IT (Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint) and communications skills – both written and verbal.
• Experience of arranging and hosting events (both virtual and in-person).

Also desirable: Experience of web/social media design, editorial skills and producing various forms of digital content for professional purposes.

If you feel you have the skills and experience to succeed in this role, and are excited by the opportunity, we’d welcome your application. Please submit a 2 page CV and covering letter - outlining why you would like to join the team - via the LGC recruitment portal: https://lgcgroup-jobs.sabacloud.com/Saba/Web_spf/EU2PRD0129/jobs-careers/career/home/