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Allergen Risk Assessor

Employer
Food Standards Agency
Location
Cardiff, Belfast, York, Birmingham, London or Homebased
Salary
£29,068 - £37,153 dependent on location
Closing date
5 Jul 2020

Job Details

Cardiff, Belfast, York, Birmingham or London. Office-based, Multi-location or Home Based. Candidates based outside of London or Cardiff, or on home-based contracts, will be required to travel to these offices depending on business needs. Travel across UK will be required on an occasional basis, possibly with overnight stays. Due to COVID all new starters will be expected to be fully home-enabled and travel not expected. Once lockdown has been eased the successful candidate will can revert to their preferred working pattern and will be expected to fulfil travel expectations listed above.

About the job

The FSA is a non-ministerial department of over 1300 people, with a big vision – to drive change in the food system so that it delivers “food we can trust” - as the country has now left the EU, the scale of this challenge cannot be underestimated. More than 90% of food and feed law in the UK currently comes from Europe and our primary goal is to continue to protect public health and UK consumers’ wider interest in food.

This is an exciting and diverse Higher Scientific Officer post which offers a rare opportunity to work on research and science that aims to improve the lives of millions of people in the UK and beyond affected by food allergies and intolerance.

Food hypersensitivities is an area of priority at the FSA, and for those affected the health consequences can be very significant. In the UK it is estimated that 1-2% of adults and 5-8% of children have a food allergy and 1 in 100 suffer from coeliac disease. It is the responsibility of the Food Standards Agency to seek ways to reduce the burden of these diseases, and to provide sound guidance to those who have food allergy or intolerance, and those who care for them, about to how to manage their diets and make sensible and informed choices about the foods they eat.

One way in which the Agency addresses these issues is to ensure that policies and guidance is based on the best possible scientific evidence obtained through commissioning targeted research. These research projects are managed under the auspices of the Agency Food Allergy and Intolerance Research Programme.

The FSA also works with the food industry and enforcement community by providing guidance and tools and training to raise awareness and ensure compliance with food labelling rules and allergen management. We work alongside other FSA colleagues and enforcement officers to provide risk assessments for food allergy incidents.

Job description

We are looking for an enthusiastic individual to influence and help shape the future of the Food Allergy and Intolerance Research Programme and be able to provide sound, evidenced-based risk assessments for allergen incidents. The post will focus on the research programme to deliver existing research projects and to help develop new areas of research in collaboration with colleagues within and external to the FSA. This is a high-profile area and requires development of excellent working relationships with a wide range of active stakeholders (consumers, academia, food manufacturers and retailers, enforcement officers, other government departments and other regulators internationally).
 

Responsibilities

As someone with pride and passion for public service, you’ll recognise the wider Civil Service priorities and always work in the national interest. You’ll seek out opportunities to create effective change and suggest innovative ideas for improvement. You’ll use evidence and knowledge to support accurate, expert decisions and advice. You’ll value difference, diversity and inclusion, ensuring fairness and opportunity for all.

Please read the attached Candidate Pack to discover further details about the role, our organisation, who we are looking for and the criteria we will assess against during the selection process. We look forward to receiving your application and wish you every success.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

  • Seeing the Big Picture
  • Making Effective Decisions
  • Communicating and Influencing
  • Working Together

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

  • A degree in a relevant STEM subject (e.g. biology, biochemistry, immunology or toxicology) is mandatory. A postgraduate qualification in a biology, biochemistry, immunology or toxicology-based discipline (or closely related) would be desirable.

Company

We are an independent Government department working across England, Wales and Northern Ireland to protect public health and consumers’ wider interests in food. 

Our job is to use our expertise and influence so that people can trust that the food they buy and eat is safe and what it says it is.

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