Our Members
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Skip the menu of subheadings on this page.The Advisory Committee of Novel Foods & Processes comprises an independent Chair, and twenty four independent members.
The members of the ACNFP are:
Dr Camilla Alexander-White (Chair)
Dr Alexander-White is a chemical safety assessor of 25 years’ plus experience and strategic advisor to the cosmetics and foods sectors on assuring the safety of product-critical ingredients or contaminants coming under regulatory scrutiny in Europe.
Dr Anton Alldrick
Dr Alldrick is Special Projects Manager within the Science Division at Campden BRI with over 30 years’ experience in food safety.
Alison Austin
Mrs Alison is an independent consultant working to support businesses on sustainability issues. Following a 25-year career at Sainsbury’s she has focused on championing sustainability and consumer issues in both the private and public sector.
Dr Mark Berry
Dr Berry is the Founder and Director of Food and Life Sciences Consulting Ltd. He had over 30 years of industrial experience leading a variety of projects in plant science, food biochemistry, clinical nutrition and biotechnology.
Professor Susan Fairweather-Tait
Professor Fairweather-Tait is currently Professor of Human Nutrition at Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia and has substantial experience as a research scientist gained from industry and the Institute of Food Research.
Professor Paul Fraser
Professor Fraser is Head of Plant Molecular Sciences, at Royal Holloway University of London. His works cover the disciplines of biochemistry, molecular biology and genetics, and integrative biology.
Dr Hamid Ghoddusi
Dr Ghoddusi is a senior food scientist/microbiologist for over 20 years. He is currently the Head of Microbiology Research Unit (MRU) and the leader of food safety and gastrointestinal microbiology and probiotic/prebiotic research group at London Metropolitan University.
Professor Wendy Harwood
Professor Harwood is an Emeritus Fellow at the John Innes Centre (JIC), Norwich. Until December 2023, she was Head of the Crop Transformation Group at JIC where she also managed the BRACT Crop Transformation / Genome Editing Platform.
Professor Huw Jones
Professor Jones is Professor of Translational Genomics for Plant Breeding at IBERS Aberystwyth University. His research applies biotechnology approaches to study functional genomics in cereals with a current focus on gene editing.
Dr Elizabeth Lund
Dr Lund is a freelance consultant in the area of research ethics and nutritional study design. She is currently alternate vice-chair of West London Gene Therapy Advisory Committee and Research Ethics Committee as well as having over 20 years of research experience.
Emeritus Professor Harry McArdle
Professor McArdle is an Emeritus Professor at the Rowett institute of Nutrition and Health, University of Aberdeen. He is a member of the Nutrition, Dietetics and Allergy Panel and of the Novel Foods working group for the European Food Safety Authority.
Rebecca McKenzie
Ms McKenzie is a Senior Specialist Dietician in Allergy at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Professor Clare Mills
Professor Mills is the Professor of Molecular Allergology at the University of Manchester. She is based in the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology and is part of the Respiratory and Allergy Research team at the University Hospital of South Manchester.
Dr Lesley Stanley
Dr Stanley is a Eurotox Registered Toxicologist (ERT) and a Fellow of the British Toxicology Society (FBTS). In 2005 Dr Stanley established her own business as an Independent Consultant in Investigative Toxicology.
Professor Hans Verhagen
Professor Verhagen is a Food Safety and Nutrition consultant following his retirement from EFSA in 2020 where he was the Head of the Risk Assessment and Scientific Assistance Department as well as a Senior Scientific Officer.
Dr Maureen Wakefield
Dr Wakefield is the lead scientist for applied Entomology at Fera Science Ltd with other 35 years’ experience.
Dr Ray Kemp
Dr Kemp is an independent consultant and social scientist specialising in risk perception and communication. He is currently a member of various advisory committees including the UK Department of Health and Social Care’s Committee On the Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE).
Dr Andy Greenfield
Dr Greenfield was a Programme Leader in Developmental Genetics at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Harwell Institute for over 25 years where his research made use of cutting-edge genetic technologies to shed light on gene function and disease. He is currently a member of the Regulatory Horizons Council (RHC), the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) and an honorary research fellow at the Nuffield Department of Women’s & Reproductive Health, University of Oxford.
Professor Bruce Whitelaw
Professor Whitelaw is an academic who provides leadership within academia and the animal biotechnology sectors. He currently focusses on genome editing technology and animal stem cells, aiming to advance novel applications for the agricultural and biomedical communities recently leading the project to genetically engineer pigs to be resistant to Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Virus which has been taken forward into the commercial sector by Genus PIC Ltd.
Professor Dimitris Charalampopoulos
Professor Charalampopoulos is a Professor of Food Biotechnology at the University of Reading with research interests in microbial fermentation to produce platform and speciality chemicals, the development of functional food ingredients, as well as the valorisation of food waste and by-products. He is currently Co-Director of the BBSRC Biomass Biorefinery Network (BBNet) and Senior Editor of the journal Food Chemistry
Dr Cathrina Edwards
Dr Edwards is a Group Leader at the Quadram Institute Biosciences (QIB) leading a research group within the Food, Microbiome and Health programme in Norwich, UK. She also has a PhD in Nutritional Sciences from King’s College London.
Professor George Bassel
Professor Bassel is a Professor of Plant Science at The University of Warwick. His research makes use of molecular and computational approaches towards the targeted improvement of crop plants using gene editing.
Dr Meera Cush
Dr Cush is a qualified and experienced toxicologist who holds EUROTOX and UK Registered Toxicologist accreditation together with a Chartered Biologist status. She has a BSc (Hons) degree in Biochemistry (Imperial College, London), MSc in Toxicology and a PhD in Molecular Toxicology focusing on the initiation of carcinogenesis in the lung for chemical mixtures (both from University of Surrey).
Dr Isabel Skypala
Dr Skypala has worked in the field of food allergy for more than 30 years. She is currently a consultant dietitian at the Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Hospitals, part of Guys & St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust, and runs the food allergy service. She is also an honorary senior clinical lecturer at Imperial College London.
Dr Sophie Foley
Dr Foley is currently Associate Professor in Microbiology at Edinburgh Napier University with research interests in food/drink fermentations, in particular lactic acid bacteria, and the diversity and potential applications for bacteriophages.
Dr Lynn McIntyre
Dr McIntyre is a Senior Lecturer in Food Safety at Harper Adams University. She has 30+ years of applied farm-to-fork research experience in Food Microbiology specialising in food production, preservation, and rapid detection methods.
Associate Members
Dr Christine Bosch
Dr Bosch is Associate Professor in Nutrition at the University of Leeds. Her research interest is on plant bioactive compounds and their mechanisms underpinning health benefits, functional food ingredients, as well as the sustainable sourcing of bioactives.
Dr Antonio Peña-Fernández
Dr Peña-Fernández is an Assistant Professor at the University of Alcalá (UAH, Madrid, Spain), and has an honorary position at the De Montfort University, Leicester, UK.
Dr Kimon Andreas Karatzas
Dr Karatzas is an Associate Professor in Food Microbiology at the University of Reading. His research focuses on the understanding of the molecular mechanisms of microbial stress resistance focusing on traditional and novel food processing technologies.