PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
Ralph Blanchfield is a consultant with his own international practice for the
past twenty-eight years, after having previously spent 34 years in industrial food
science & technology and management with (successively) Lyons, Unilever, CWS
and Bush Boake Allen. His experience and expertise are in a wide variety of food
products and processing technologies, and cover research, product/process
development, analysis, quality control and quality assurance, food safety and
food hygiene, production, marketing, labelling, food legislation, staff
selection and acting as expert witness. His consultancy experience covers a wide
range of clients, large, medium and small, in the UK, various European
countries, USA and Japan.
He was joint Editor and part author of the three earlier editions and Editor
of the 4th Edition, of the IFST Guide to Good Manufacturing
Practice in the Food & Drink Industries; was joint Editor and part author of
the book Food Control in Action; and author of numerous published papers
relating to aspects of food science & technology, to the philosophy and
ethics of its practice, to food legislation and to good manufacturing practice.
He is Editor and part author of the first definitive book on Food
Labelling (Woodhead Publishing ISBN 1 85573 496 6 and CRC Press ISBN
0-8493-0852-6).
Professor Blanchfield has served the Institute of Food Science &
Technology of the UK (IFST) in many honorary capacities, including as Honorary
Secretary (1970-75), Vice-President (1976-78) and President (1979 and 1980),
Chairman of External Affairs (1996-2008). It was while he was Honorary Secretary that he
was one of the instigators of, and was principal author of, the Institute's Code
of Professional Conduct and the Professional Conduct Guidelines. He was also
principal author of their update and extension in 1991. In 1995 he designed, constructed and wrote the multi-Award winning IFST
Web site on the World Wide Web, and continued to act as Webmaster and Web Editor
until April 2006. In August 1996, he was awarded the first PROMED-MAIL Award for
Excellence in Outbreak Reporting, "in recognition of his outstanding reporting
of the BSE/CJD crisis".
Apart from the varied fields of his consultancy work, his other major areas of
current scientific interest and activity are BSE/vCJD, food biotechnology. food allergens,
acrylamide and food legislation.
He is Chairman of the UK Federation for Food Science & Technology, a
Vice-President of the European Food Law Association of the UK, and Adjunct
Professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State
University. He served for many years on the Board of the Council of Science
& Technology Institutes, on the Royal Society's British National Committee
for Food & Nutritional Sciences, and on the Council, Executive Committee and
Research Co-ordination Committee of the British Food Manufacturing Industries
Research Association (now known as Leatherhead Food International).
In
1979 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Institute of Food Science
& Technology.
In 1980 he was elected a Fellow of the US-based Institute
of Food Technologists (IFT) "for outstanding contributions in the field of food
technology". He served as Chair of the IFT Committee for Global Interests in
2001-2002. He was the 2002 recipient of
the IFT's prestigious Carl R. Fellers Award "To honor a member of IFT and
Phi Tau Sigma who has brought honor and recognition to the profession of food
science and technology through a distinguished career in that profession
displaying exemplary leadership, service and communication skills that enhance
the effectiveness of all food scientists in serving society".
A Fellow of IFST since its foundation in 1963, its Honorary
Fellowship was also conferred on him in 1983 "for outstanding contributions and
distinguished service to food science & technology". In 1997 he was honoured
with an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List "for scientific services to the
food industry" and also was the first recipient of the IFST's Mounfield Award
for "an outstanding contribution to the profession of food science and
technology".
In 1998 he was elected one of the first Fellows of the
International Academy of Food Science & Technology (IAFoST),
of which he was elected
a Council Member in 2001 and was President for 2006-2008
The International Union of Food Science & Technology (IUFoST) is the
“United Nations”-type country-member global organization of food science and
technology. Ralph Blanchfield is one of the three UK delegates to its
General Assemblies, He served
on its Finance Committee, 1991-96 and for six years on its
Constitution
Advisory Committee, being
elected Chair of that Committee for 2001-2003. From its inception in 1999 he
led
IUFoST's Service Delivery Centre 3. He is currently Chair of the Database Task
Force for the joint FAO/IUFoST database of food research projects relevant
to the food needs of developing countries. He has represented
IUFoST at OECD Conferences on Genetic Modification and the International Council
of Science (ICSU) Workshop on the production of an ICSU monograph on GM.
In 2003 he was elected a member of the Governing Council of IUFoST for
2003-2006 , and, as President of IAFoST, continued on the IUFoST
Governing Council for 2006-2008.

CONSULTANCY SERVICE
Scientific and technical advice is offered in the food field on product
development; flavour applications; food control (quality assurance, quality
control, GMP, HACCP) design and monitoring; food safety and food hygiene;
manufactured foods; nutritional and dietary foods and food supplements;
legislation affecting food and drink products and medicinal food products;
statutory labelling requirements; advertising requirements (both legal and Code
of Practice); staff selection; organisation; and acting as expert witness.
Chemical and microbiological analyses are not carried out, but where required
are arranged with the most appropriate choice from several associated reputable
laboratories.
Work carried out for a client is charged on the basis of the total (including
necessary travelling) time incurred (of which a detailed record is kept and
provided), plus expenses incurred. At the end of
each month an invoice is presented in respect of all the work carried out during
that month. Payment is due within 14 days of the invoice date.
Time spent on any project is kept to the minimum necessary to carry it out
thoroughly, competently and effectively. Clients receive prompt, careful and
meticulous performance of high quality, based on
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the highest professional standards of competence and integrity;
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a well-established reputation (including as Past President of the
Institute of Food Science & Technology);
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long and widely-varied experience and expertise;
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contact with officials at the UK Food Standards Agency, at the UK
Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and at the UK Department of Health;
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contact with the Code of Advertising Practice Secretariat of the
Advertising Standards Authority and of working with clients' design, public
relations and advertising agencies;
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experience of acting as an expert witness, in both civil and criminal
cases.
Advice and information is presented in practical terms, uncluttered with
scientific jargon.
Naturally, the strictest confidence is maintained on all matters pertaining
to clients' business affairs.
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