Regulatory horizons - a forward-thinking seminar for the food and drink industry

Ed Allen, Campden BRI

Ed holds an MSc in Human Nutrition and Metabolism from the University of Aberdeen and Executive MBA from HULT Ashridge Business School. Ed has 10 years of experience within the food, beverage, and food supplement industry, including regulatory compliance and nutritional review of current and innovative products and brands. Ed graduated from his Executive MBA in 2023, which included completing a 6-month work-based project on developing a sustainability-led brand strategy. At Campden BRI, Ed focuses on identifying future regulatory changes and trends within the nutrition and sustainability policy environment, while providing regulatory consultancy to a wide range of industry partners.

Helen Arrowsmith, Campden BRI

Helen is a Regulatory Affairs Manager and Allergen Specialist who uses her knowledge and expertise to provide advice, training and consultancy on all aspects of UK and harmonised EU legislation, as well as food allergen analysis, cleaning validation and management. Helen presents on scheduled and tailored training courses on food law and food allergens, and oversees the production of our Food Law Alert.

After her PhD, Helen joined Campden BRI in 2004 when she spent a year as Technical Support Officer in the Food Composition Section. The next nine years were spent in the Biochemistry Section, where Helen managed the provision of technical contract services in the area of food allergen detection, provided interpretation of testing results, consultancy, research and advice on food allergen testing.

In 2014, Helen moved to our Regulatory team where she has gained comprehensive understanding and experience of food law, not just relating to food allergens.

Helen has managed various research projects; in 2023 she supervised and contributed to a Review of the literature and guidance on food allergen cleaning for the Food Standards Agency . Helen has also co-authored two guidance documents for the food industry on ‘Validation of cleaning to remove food allergens’ (Campden BRI Guideline 59) and ‘Food allergens: practical risk analysis, testing and action levels’ (Campden BRI Guideline 71).

Tiago Gois, Campden BRI

Tiago Gois is the Team Manager for Investigatory Chemistry and Packaging at Campden BRI, specializing in the Food Contact Materials industry. With three years of dedicated experience, Tiago has developed and implemented new methods to meet the stringent requirements of current legislations. His innovative approaches facilitate the testing of novel products that are yet to have harmonized legislation within the EU.

Tiago's expertise lies in navigating the complex regulatory requirements and testing approaches for food contact materials. His work ensures that products meet safety standards while advancing the field with cutting-edge testing methodologies.

Tiago holds a Bachelor's degree in Biotechnology, which provides a solid foundation for his work in investigatory chemistry. His commitment to excellence and regulatory compliance has made him a valuable asset in the field.

Maria Masoura, Campden BRI

Maria joined us in 2022 as a Food and Drink Risk Consultant (Regulatory Science), and specialises in risk assessment, as well as regulatory compliance.

Before this, Maria worked as Scientific Officer (Regulatory Science) at EFSA (Pesticides Peer Review Unit), Researcher/ Investigator (Post-Doc Fellow) at Procter and Gamble, a Research Fellow at UTC (France) and KRIBB (Korea), and a Consultant (Food Analysis) at Interlab.

Maria is a certified Food Safety Expert Witness, including expert witness report writing.

Craig Leadley, Campden BRI

From more than 30 years in the food and drink industry, the majority of which spent supporting clients and conducting research here at Campden BRI, Craig has a vast range of knowledge and experience, as well as extensive industrial and academic connectivity.

Over his career he has built our multi-partner collaborations, developed grant applications, overseen our research programme, and been involved in food preservation and manufacturing (with a particular focus on thermal processing and emerging technologies, about which he has published a number of books and journals).

Craig supports companies with accessing grants, and is currently focused on start-up and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through grant funding.

Louise Allen, Senior Executive (Diet & Health), FDF

Throughout her 22 years at the Food and Drink Federation, Louise has worked with a variety of companies from all food sectors. Louise's role as Senior Diet and Health Executive includes looking at the science behind the headlines, and helping in the development, implementation and promotion of FDF’s policies in this area. Her work involves communication with a range of policy makers, academics, and NGOs across and beyond the UK. Louise also works closely with FDF members to help them interpret regulation. Louise is secretary to FDF’s Diet and Health Committee and play an active role on FDF’s healthy workplace forum. The Food and Drink Federation is the voice of the UK food and drink manufacturing sector, bringing together business, government and stakeholders to ensure our manufacturers have the right conditions to grow, invest and employ, while continuing to produce high quality, nutritious and affordable food and drink.

Michelle Morris, University of Leeds

Michelle Morris is Professor of Data Science for Food in the School of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Leeds and a Fellow of the Alan Turing Institute, the UK national institute for data science and artificial intelligence in London. She leads the interdisciplinary Nutrition and Lifestyle Analytics team which uses novel forms of data, including supermarket transaction records from a number of UK supermarkets, for research into lifestyle behaviours and health. She is a Co-Director at the ESRC funded Consumer Data Research Centre, leads the evaluation of the IGD funded Healthy and Sustainable diets programme, and an investigator at the UKRI funded UK Transforming Food Systems grants FIO Food and DIO Food.

David Richardson, Regulatory & Commercial Affairs Director, WSTA

David joined the WSTA in March 2014, after a career prosecuting for HM Customs and Excise, advising on law enforcement policy and working in other regulatory areas. He leads the WSTA’s work on business resilience, responding to fraud, liaising with law enforcement agencies and brand protection teams. He sits on the Joint Excise Consultative Group and the Joint Customs Consultative Committee. He advises on all aspects of compliance, particularly HMRC's extensive borders change programme, the migration to the Customs Declaration Service and due diligence requirements. David supports the Customs, Logistics and Movements Group.

Kara Cubbage, Accolade Wines

Kara Cubbage has been the Compliance Manager for Accolade Wines since 2014. Kara is responsible for delivering compliant product and packaging across Accolade Wines European business. Key to fulfilling this responsibility is horizon-scanning and preparing the business for future regulatory changes across the UK and the EU.