Meet the Allergen Bureau Management Committee

The Allergen Bureau Management Committee is an advisory body to the AFGC. It is comprised of four Member Representatives elected on a rolling (two x 2 year) biennial basis from Member Company nominees. The recent election of these nominees provides a timely opportunity to introduce the group responsible for directing the overall operations of the Allergen Bureau.

Kirsten Grinter, Regulatory and Scientific Affairs Manager, Nestlé Oceania

Kirsten has many years experience working in Dairy (Unilever, Streets Ice Cream Division), Fats and Oils (Goodman Fielder, Meadow Lea Foods) and Cereals and Snacks (Uncle Tobys) industries both in Australia and New Zealand. Kirsten has worked in Product Development, Quality, Manufacturing, Research and Regulatory departments. In her current role she has responsibility for a team of people who together manage regulatory and scientific affairs across the vast Oceania business.

As a result of her experience in these roles, Kirsten has a wealth of knowledge about allergen issues ranging from manufacturing and regulation, through to the consumer perspective. This gives her a unique understanding of the needs of both the food industry and the allergic community.

Kirsten has been involved with the AFGC Allergen Forum since it was first established and was elected onto the Allergen Bureau Management Committee when it was formed. She was the chairperson of the Allergen Labelling project team, initiated in 2004, which surveyed the food industry approach to allergen labelling and used this information to develop an industry allergen labelling strategy. The project team developed a preferred allergen labelling format that is applicable to all industry sectors. More recently, Kirsten lead the team that completed a follow-up allergen labelling survey in 2009 to track and monitor industry compliance to the voluntary AFGC Allergen Management and Labelling Guide.

Kirsten is also involved with the VITAL Review project and has recently met with representatives of the food industry in the UK to discuss VITAL as well as the industry-developed allergen labelling approach and the potential for industry uptake globally.

Kirsten is the current Chair of the Allergen Bureau Management Committee, having been elected to the position in 2010.

Fiona Fleming, Group Quality and Corporate Affairs Manager, George Weston Foods Limited

Fiona has 25 years experience in the food industry in the areas of dairy, seafood, cereal based foods, smallgoods and more recently tea. For the past 20 years Fiona has worked in various food safety, quality, technical, regulatory and communications roles within George Weston Foods Limited (GWF), a wholly owned subsidiary of Associated British Foods Plc.

In her current role within GWF, Fiona and her team support GWF (ANZ) in the areas of food quality and safety (including allergen management); food policy and regulation; consumer affairs and communication.

Fiona has been involved with the AFGC Allergen Forum since it was first established, having held the role of chair of this group since that time. Fiona was elected onto the Allergen Bureau Management Committee when it was formed and has served as the Chair of the Committee since 2005. She has recently handed this role over to Kirsten Grinter. The Allergen Bureau Management Committee can be credited with engaging the food industry via a range of services and benefits delivered by the Allergen Bureau to Member Companies and the wider industry. This has been achieved while maintaining the budget and successfully securing membership to fund each year of operation.

Fiona was the Team Leader of the VITAL project team, initiated in 2004 to establish a risk based approach to precautionary allergen labelling and is now involved in the VITAL review.

As Chair of the Allergen Bureau Management Committee and as the Team Leader for the VITAL project, Fiona has been an invited speaker and participant at several conferences in Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the US where she has presented the work of the Allergen Bureau and more specifically, VITAL. In September this year, Fiona will once again represent the Allergen Bureau and VITAL at the FAAN conference in Washington DC to provide an update on VITAL.

Robin Sherlock, Technical Director, Food Allergen Control Training and Analysis (FACTA)

FACTA is one of Australia’s leading laboratories providing food allergen analytical services. They also offer specialist training in food allergen awareness and inspection services for the control of food allergens in a facility. Through this and her previous roles working for allergen detection kit producers, Rob has gained significant experience in the problematic area of food allergen testing. She is a qualified work place trainer and assessor, and has run a number of successful food allergen training programs. She is also a member of the Food Allergens working party under Standards Australia Committee which is currently developing the Australian Standard for food allergen testing.

Rob is widely recognised as having a vast amount of technical knowledge about food allergen detection and management, and works with many customers in the food industry to control and manage allergens within various facilities. Her network spans local and national government and regulatory contacts as well as other industry experts and relevant consumer groups both here and overseas.

Rob has made significant voluntary contributions to industry through participation in two of the AFGC Allergen Forum working groups. She was elected as a Member Representative on the Allergen Bureau Management Committee in 2007, bringing with her a unique experience in immunological and clinical elements of the allergen area along with laboratory, industry and training expertise.

Neil Smith, Manager, Scientific & Regulatory Affairs and Nutrition, Kraft Foods, Australia & New Zealand

Neil has over 30 years experience in the food industry in a number of disciplines including Quality Assurance, Production and Product Development. While currently involved in the Confectionery industry, he has also been involved in Dairy, Beverages, and Savoury foods industries, including 15 years with Nestle, mainly in the area of Product Development Applications. He has been with Kraft (Cadbury) for over 8 years in Scientific Affairs and Regulatory Affairs roles.

For Cadbury, Neil represented Australia & New Zealand on the organisation’s Global Allergen Working Group, which was responsible for establishing global policy on issues such as GMP procedures and policy relating to allergen management and declaration. He also provided support on allergen management issues to other business units within the Asia Pacific region. In addition to this, Neil has been the Technical Committee Chair of the Confectionery Manufacturers of Australasia for the past 6 years, having previously held a similar role on the Australian Beverages Council.

Kraft Foods believes it is essential that the Allergen Bureau continues to provide relevant and practical support to the Australian and New Zealand food industry. To this end, Neil was elected as a Member Representative on the Allergen Bureau Management Committee in 2010.