Scientific Committee
The FSAI is legally obliged to base its opinions on scientific grounds and to develop food standards on the basis of the best, most up-to-date scientific advice available. To aid the FSAI in risk assessment, which underpins risk management decisions, the Scientific Committee was established in 2005 in accordance with Article 34 of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland Act, 1998.
The Committee is made up of scientists, from a variety of disciplines, working in a voluntary capacity. The Committee has a major influence on policy decisions of the FSAI, including advice on the implementation and administration of food inspection services and on the nutritional value of food. It also provides clarity on scientific and technical issues relating to food safety and hygiene.
Food safety issues can require specific knowledge and it is frequently appropriate to form a Sub-committee of experts to address specific scientific tasks. The Scientific Committee provides overall strategic direction to its Sub-committees (of which there are currently five) and approves their work programmes.
Members
The members of the FSAI Scientific Committee are:
- Prof. Albert Flynn (Chair) - University College Cork
Professor Albert Flynn, B.Sc., Ph.D. (NUI, Galway), is Professor in Nutrition in the Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University College, Cork. His areas of particular interest include food safety risk assessment, gene-nutrient interaction in bone metabolism, food fortification and risk benefit assessment of nutrients. Professor Flynn is Chair of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland's Scientific Committee. He is also a member of the European Food Safety Authority's Scientific Committee and is Chair of its Panel for Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies.
- Dr Catherine Adley - University of Limerick
Dr Catherine Adley is Head of the Department of Chemical and Environmental Sciences, University of Limerick. Her speciality is in food borne pathogens and oligotrophic bacteria. She is an independent advisor to the Science and Society directorate of the European Union and a member of the RDS Science and Technology Committee.
- Prof John Daniel Collins - University College Dublin
Prof John Daniel Collins MVB MVM MS (Calif.) PhD Diplomate ECVPH MRCVS MIFST is Professor Emeritus of Farm Animal Clinical Studies at University College, Dublin (NUI-UCD). He specialises in preventive veterinary medicine and food hygiene. Formerly he was the Chair of UCD's Centre for Food Safety and Director of UCD's Centre for Veterinary Epidemiology and Risk Analysis. Professor Collins is a member of the European Food Safety Authority's Scientific Committee and Chair of its Scientific Panel on Biological Hazards. He is a Member of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland's Scientific Committee.
- Dr Colette Bonner - Department of Health and Children
- Prof Martin Cormican - Medical Microbiology, University College Hospital, Galway
Prof Cormican graduated from the Medical School at the National University of Ireland, Galway in 1986. He undertook postgraduate training in medicine, microbiology and immunology in Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States. Since 1999, he has been Professor of Bacteriology at NUI, Galway and Consultant Microbiologist at University College Hospital Galway. He directs the National Salmonella Reference Laboratory in Ireland.
- Prof Colin Hill - University College Cork
- Prof Brian McKenna - University College Dublin
Professor of Food Science, University College Dublin
Former principal, College of Life Sciences
Former Vice-President for Planning and Development of UCD
Former Dean of Postgraduate Studies
Editor - Journal of Food Engineering (1988 to date)
President elect (from Oct 2005) European Federation of Food Science & Technology
Invited keynote speaker at three to four congresses per annum
Current research interests: Physical properties of foods; Rapid chilling of beef and lamb; Meat texture; Food Safety and Shelf-life prediction of foods; Radio frequency heating of foods; Formulation of functional drinks; Drug delivery in foods.
- Dr Paul McKeown - Health Protection Surveillance Centre
Dr Paul McKeown graduated in medicine from University College Dublin in 1984 and trained as a General Practitioner in the UK. He returned to Ireland where he trained in Public Health Medicine, spending a portion of his training in the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. In 2001 he was appointed a Consultant in Public Health Medicine at the Health Protection Surveillance Centre where he has responsibility for surveillance and provision of expert advice on gastroenteric and zoonotic diseases, vectorborne disease and emerging disease. He has an academic appointment in Epidemiology and Public Health Medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. He has served on a number of national advisory and guidance groups in the area of infectious diseases. Dr McKeown is participant in a number of EU surveillance and research initiatives in the field of infectious disease including Enter-net (an EU Surveillance Network on enteric bacteria), DIVINE-net (an EU Surveillance initiative on enteric viruses) and SHIPSAN (an EU ship sanitation research group). He has participated in a number of international research initiatives including control of intestinal infectious disease in various settings, management of viral gastroenteritis on board cruise ships, the effect of global warming on enteric disease emergence and burden of infectious intestinal studies. His research and professional interests and areas of publication include infectious intestinal disease (particularly that due to VTEC, norovirus and cryptosporidium), zoonotic disease and emerging infections.
- Mr Terry McMahon - Marine Institute
- Dr Michael O'Keeffe - Residue Specialist
Dr. Michael O'Keeffe is a specialist in the area of chemical contaminants in food. Until 2008 he was employed as Senior Principal Research Officer at Ashtown Food Research Centre, Teagasc, working in the Food Safety Department on contaminant residues in food. Dr. O'Keeffe has wide experience in research on residues of veterinary drugs and other contaminants in food and has been involved in many national and European research projects on chemical food safety. He has published widely in the area of chemical contaminants in food and was responsible for developing the National Food Residue Database. In 2008, Dr. O'Keeffe was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the EuroResidue Foundation, the Netherlands.
- Dr Dan O'Sullivan - Pesticide Control Service, Dept of Agriculture and Food
- Mr Ray Parle - Health Service Executive
- Dr Iona Pratt - Consultant Toxicologist, FSAI
Dr Pratt, BA (Mod.), Ph.D., Dip. Tox. joined the FSAI from the Health and Safety Authority (Ireland) where she was Senior Toxicologist and Director of Specialist Units, where she took a six-month secondment as Visiting Scientist with the European Commission at its Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy. She has lectured and researched at University College, Dublin, as a member of the Pharmacology Department, where her areas of interest were nephrotoxicity, pulmonary toxicity and the use of in vitro models in toxicology. Her initial career in toxicology was with the Central Toxicology Laboratory of Imperial Chemical Industries, following a primary degree in chemistry and postgraduate research in biochemistry leading to a Ph.D. in Trinity College, Dublin.
- Professor Michael Ryan - University College Dublin
- Dr Paula Barry Walsh - Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
Paula Barry Walsh is a Senior Superintending Veterinary Inspector with the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in Dublin. She qualified as a veterinary surgeon at University College Dublin. She worked in general practice and mixed practice in Ireland and England before joining the Local Authority Veterinary Services in 1989. She joined the Department of Agriculture and Food in 1994, and has worked in a variety of meat establishments. In 2002, she became the Head of the Divsion in DAFF for Veterinary Public Health in red meat establishments. She gained a Masters in Food Science in 2000.
Meeting Minutes 2009
Last reviewed: 26/7/2010