Transparency data

Committee and sub-group members

Published 15 August 2023

1. Mr Alec Kyriakides

Mr Alec Kyriakides was appointed as chair of Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) in April 2025. He is a food safety consultant with over 35 years experience in the industry. In his 28 years with the retailer Sainsbury’s, Alec was responsible for safety, quality and supplier performance. Prior to Sainsbury’s, he worked in food manufacturing including the dairy and brewing industries. He is a microbiologist by qualification and is the co-author of books on the practical control of food borne pathogens including Salmonella, Listeria, C. botulinum, Campylobacter and E. coli. He has sat on a number of influential industry and government committees including 18 years on the ACMSF. In addition to providing food safety advice to the industry he is currently a non-executive board director of Campden BRI, a trustee of the Institute of Food Science and Technology (IFST), chair of the Safe to Trade Technical Standards Committee and an honorary lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast. Alec is a fellow of the IFST and an honorary fellow of Society Of Food Hygiene and Technology (SOFHT).

2. Dr Fahad Ahmed

Dr Fahad joined the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) as an associate member in April 2025 and is a lecturer in Veterinary Public Health and Food Regulation within the School of Biomedical Sciences at Ulster University and a research member of the Nutrition Innovation Centre for Food and Health (NICHE). With a strong background in One Health, zoonotic parasitic diseases, and food safety, Dr Fahad’s interdisciplinary research bridges veterinary science, food regulation, and public health.  

3. Dr Wayne Anderson

Dr Wayne Anderson was appointed to the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) in 2019. He is director of the Food Science and Standards Division at the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. This Division develops and advises on best practice food safety guides for the industry, creates compliance tools on Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) and labelling, develops the evidence base and conducts food safety risk assessment. He holds a primary degree in biochemistry and a PhD in predictive microbiology. He is a member of the International Commission on Microbiological Specifications for Foods, a fellow of the Institute of Food Science and Technology, Ireland and a fellow of the Institute of Food Science and Technology, UK.

4. Professor Muna Anjum

Professor Muna Anjum joined the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) in April 2025 and is an established national and international science lead in the field of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and zoonotic pathogens. She is passionate about science from basic microbiology to innovative research, promoting interdisciplinary multi-agency/institutional working, seizing opportunities in applying deterministic microbiology for tackling animal health and disease, including new and emerging hazards, threats to public health from zoonotic incursions, and possible challenges arising from international trade. She leads a team of scientists and PhD students (>30) that have been responsible for pioneering and building bacterial genomics, genomic surveillance and research at the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) for AMR and zoonotic pathogens. With her oversight and guidance, her team has delivered high impact translational science that aligns with UK government national action plan for AMR, assessing risk and transmission pathways under the “One-Health” umbrella.

She also liaises closely with government policy advisors through her advisory roles in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Antimicrobial Resistance Coordination (DARC) group, as a registered specialist for the Food Standards Agency (FSA), in addition to recently being appointed as a full member of the ACMSF. She works closely with academia and holds honorary/visiting professorships at the Royal Veterinary College, University of London, and the University of Surrey. Her vision is to work across government, academia and industry to build sustainable animal health in the UK, and globally, with minimal effect on public safety, which is spearheaded through innovative scientific developments. She has a strong track record for publishing, presenting, public speaking, and acquiring funding, with experience of leading large multi-million pounds/euros complex science projects that are multi-national, multi-centered, with diverse stakeholders. She is chair of the APHA Academic Board promoting academic excellence, collaborations and retention for APHA staff by supporting a range of learning activities in collaboration with UK universities. 

5. Dr Dragan Antic

Dr Dragan Antic was appointed to the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) in 2022. He is a senior lecturer in Veterinary Public Health at the Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool. He is a veterinarian by training with a background in food safety, and Diplomate of European College of Veterinary Public Health (subspecialty Food Science) where he serves in the Education Committee. His main research interests are in policy-led food science and food microbiology topics, mainly in understanding the epidemiology of main foodborne pathogens (Verotoxigenic Escherichia Coli (VTEC), Campylobacter, Yersinia and Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli) and developing interventions to control them in meat chain.

His expertise in food science and food microbiology is utilised in many international collaborations, most recently in developing the framework for the risk-based meat safety assurance system, where official meat inspection is incorporated with producers’ food safety management systems into a coherent whole. He has published in excess of 20 papers in a wide range of veterinary and food science peer reviewed journals as well as many other publications.

6. Dr Adri Bester

Ms Adri Bester is senior food technologist in the School of Applied Science, London South Bank University, and a mentor and auditor for the Safe and Local Supplier Approval Accreditation.

7. Mr Martin Briggs

Mr Martin Briggs was appointed to the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) in 2019. He is a feed industry expert with over 46 years’ experience in farm animal feeds. He has a degree in Applied Biology and is currently an independent feed industry consultant.

Martin Briggs has an extensive overview and direct practical experience of feed safety, including microbiological, chemical, physical and prevention of contamination, plus salmonella control (involving both heat treatment and biocide treatment of poultry breeder feeds), medicines in feeds, feed manufacturing, feed quality, nutrition and formulations across all farm animal species, plus health and safety of feed mill operations including Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH).

He has experience of undertaking risk assessment for animal feed and the role it has in the human food chain.

8. Professor Francis Butler

Professor Francis Butler was appointed to the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) in 2019. He is currently a Professor in the School of Biosystems and Food Engineering at University College Dublin (UCD) and a principal investigator in the UCD Centre for Food Safety. His main research area is in food safety with a particular focus on quantitative risk assessment / modelling of microbiological hazards in foods. He has 20 years food safety experience with an internationally recognised expertise in microbial risk assessment through leading many large scale nationally and EU funded risk assessments of microbial pathogens, primarily in meat and dairy products.

9. Professor Alasdair Cook

Professor Alasdair Cook was appointed to the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) in April 2025 and is a veterinary epidemiologist with more than 25 years national and international experience in animal health in Government, academic, commercial and development environments. His research interests encompass the epidemiology of infectious diseases, including foodborne zoonoses, and the application of digital technologies in animal health, with projects in UK, Europe and Africa.  

10. Dr Inaki Deza-Cruz

Dr Inaki Deza-Cruz is a lecturer in Veterinary Public Health at the University of Surrey. With over 20 years of experience in the field, Dr Deza-Cruz has cultivated a rich and diverse background, having worked in academia, the private sector, and government organizations such as the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and the Animal and Plant Health Agency. His career has grown at the intersection of human and animal health, focusing on the two vital aspects of veterinary public health: epidemiology and food safety.

As a Diplomate and member of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine (DipACVPM), Dr Deza-Cruz holds a recognized board certification that encompasses a wide range of expertise in One Health: comprising epidemiology, prevention, disease management, surveillance, emergency planning, and outbreak preparedness. In addition to his academic role, Dr Deza-Cruz serves as an examiner at the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), assessing candidates for the Statutory Membership Examination in Veterinary Public Health, a key requirement for internationally qualified veterinarians seeking to practice in the UK. Beyond his contributions at the university and national level, Dr. Deza-Cruz also engages in relevant external duties, such as the American Association of Food Safety and Public Health Veterinarians (US) and the Veterinary Public Health Association (UK).

11. Dr Edward Fox

Dr Edward Fox was appointed to the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) in 2019. He is a senior lecturer at Northumbria University and has previously held a Newman fellowship at University College Dublin’s Centre for Food Safety where his researched examined food processing hygiene and food safety, and the role of microbial communities in influencing the colonisation of pathogenic bacteria in food processing environments.

Ed has previously worked as a senior research scientist at the Australian Government’s national scientific research agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), where his research focused on molecular ecology of foodborne pathogens through food chains, microbial genomics, and novel biocontrol approaches for pathogen control.

12. Dr Jane Gibbens

Dr Jane Gibbens was appointed to the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) in 2019. She is a consultant veterinary epidemiologist with extensive experience in providing advice to enable veterinary policy making and development, and in the design, implementation and analysis of disease surveillance and control protocols. She formerly worked for Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Animal and Plant Health Agency, most recently as head of the Bovine Tuberculosis (TB) Epidemiology Assessment Centre, and Head of the Epidemiology and Risk Group. Her focus has been on bovine tuberculosis, statutory diseases exotic to the UK and scanning veterinary surveillance. She also has skills in leadership, project management and university teaching (Veterinary Epidemiology MSc and veterinary undergraduate degree).

13. Dr Nicol Janecko

Dr Nicol Janecko was appointed to the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) in 2020. She is an epidemiologist and microbiologist by training with a long-standing career focus on foodborne zoonotic pathogens and antimicrobial resistance. She is presently the Campylobacter in the food chain Career Track group Leader at the Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich, UK. She investigates the epidemiology and genomics of Campylobacter along the food chain in the UK and internationally.

Her expertise in microbiology spans most of the foodborne pathogens with particular long-term capabilities in Campylobacter, Salmonella, Vibrio and Escherichia coli (E.coli). As an epidemiologist at Public Health Agency Canada she delivered scientific outputs and had responsibilities for the operations and strategic direction of retail component for Foodnet Canada (a national source attribution surveillance system) and the Canada Integrated Program for Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance (an integrated surveillance system reporting AMR trends in four key sections along Canada’s food continuum). She has previously served as a member of the advisory committee for the implementation of national standards for psychosocial health and safety, Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Branch, Public Health Agency Canada.

14. Professor Andrew Page

Professor Andrew Page works in the field of computing sciences and bioinformatics. He is currently serving as the chief technical officer at Origin Sciences where he is responsible for leading bioinformatics and genomics for cancer diagnostics. Prior to joining Origin Sciences, Andrew was the director of technical innovation at Theiagen Genomics, where he played a pivotal role in supporting U.S. public health laboratories with microbial bioinformatics solutions. He also served as head of informatics at the Quadram Institute Bioscience, leading core teams in bioinformatics, cloud computing, and genome sequencing, while contributing to the Microbes in the Food Chain strategic program. Earlier in his career, he worked at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, focusing on pathogen genomics. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, and is currently a visiting professor at the University of East Anglia. Andrew has made significant contributions to open-source software, particularly in the area of microbial bioinformatics, where his tools are widely used in the global scientific community.

15. Professor Cath Rees

Professor Cath Rees was appointed to the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) in 2022. Her focus of research is the application of molecular biology to fundamental research on micro-organisms of importance to the food industry. Specific research focuses on the food borne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes and the cattle pathogens Mycobacterium paratuberculosis (Johne’s disease in cattle) and Mycobacterium bovis (bovine Tuberculosis). In addition, her research group specialises in the use of bacteriophage to develop rapid methods of detection of bacterial pathogens.

16. Professor Linda Scobie

Professor Linda Scobie was appointed to the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) in 2021. She presently teaches Biomedical Science and Microbiology programmes at Glasgow Caledonian University. She leads a research group interested in viral zoonoses in the context of novel technologies such as xenotransplantation, and the contribution and/or reactivation of viruses in chronic disease conditions. Professor Scobie is a member of the World Health Organisation committee for the global consultation on regulatory requirements for xenotransplantation trials.

17. Ms Claire Tomaso

Ms Claire Tomaso is a principal environmental health officer managing the Food Safety Team within the London Borough of Enfield. She also lectures at Middlesex University in Environmental Health.

18. Dr Roberto Vivancos

Dr Roberto Vivancos was appointed to the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) in 2023. He is a consultant in public health and medical epidemiologist working with the Field Services of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). He has over 15 years of experience working in Public Health in the fields of health protection and epidemiology. He has contributed to the investigation of numerous outbreaks of gastrointestinal infections and food related illness, from local to international level, working closely with local and national authorities, and regulatory agencies. He has been involved in several collaborative research projects focusing on the burden, epidemiology, and control of gastrointestinal infections. He is currently co-director of the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Health Protection Research Unit in Gastrointestinal Infections and has published widely on epidemiology and communicable disease control in peer reviewed scientific journal.