Independent report

SACN annual report 2025: foreword, finance and biographies

Published 3 March 2026

Chair’s foreword

It is my pleasure to introduce the 25th annual report of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN), which covers the work of the committee in 2025. This is my sixth and final annual report as chair of SACN as I will step down from SACN in March 2026.

SACN published a rapid evidence update on processed foods and health in April 2025, which considered evidence published since its 2023 position statement on processed foods and health. SACN concluded that the observed associations between higher consumption of (ultra) processed foods and adverse health outcomes are concerning, but there continues to be significant limitations in the evidence base. SACN recommended that, on balance, most people are likely to benefit from reducing their consumption of processed foods that are high in energy, saturated fat, salt and free sugars and low in fibre. SACN will keep the topic under review.

On the same date, SACN also published a position statement on the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline on non-sugar sweeteners (NSS). This considered the evidence underpinning the WHO guideline on health outcomes related to body weight (including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases) and dental health. SACN concluded that while the evidence on NSS and health outcomes is inconsistent, it is of some concern. SACN therefore recommended that intake of NSS be minimised on a precautionary basis. SACN also reiterated its recommendation that average population intake of free sugars should not exceed 5% of energy.

The joint SACN and Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT) report on the health benefits and risks of consuming plant-based drinks was published in July 2025. The assessment considered the nutritional and toxicological impact of replacing cows’ milk with almond, oat and soya drinks.

The report recommends that plant-based drinks should be fortified with vitamin A, riboflavin, vitamin B12, calcium and iodine at levels comparable with those found in semi-skimmed cows’ milk, and that they should also be fortified with vitamin D. SACN and COT concluded that fortified and unsweetened (without free sugars or non-sugar sweeteners) almond, oat and soya drinks are an acceptable alternative to cows’ milk.

However, the report highlights potential nutritional and toxicological concerns associated with plant-based drinks, particularly for children aged 1 to 5 years, especially those following a vegan diet. It notes that the most appropriate alternative to cows’ milk varies by age group and people’s wider dietary intakes and health concerns. The report also highlights that no almond, oat or soya drink available in the UK at the time of publication was nutritionally equivalent to cows’ milk.

SACN has an on-going piece of work to review its framework and methods for evidence evaluation, available on the SACN webpage. As part of the SACN framework subgroup considerations, SACN has reviewed the terms used to express energy intakes and the dietary reference values for fats and carbohydrates. This year, we published the SACN statement on expressing energy, fat and carbohydrate intakes and recommendations.

SACN is committed to the values of openness and transparency and recognises that they are fundamental principles, along with independence, which underpin public confidence in the scientific risk assessment process. SACN and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) continue to review policy and processes to ensure members’ interests are handled robustly.

In July 2025, SACN published an update to its code of practice (available on the SACN webpage), which included an update to its policy on members’ interests. Individuals are only eligible to be SACN members if they do not hold significant interests in relation to the food, drink, diet or supplement industries. These interests have always been robustly managed, but to ensure clarity and consistency in management, and minimise any perceived bias, clearer lines have been established. These sorts of interests are no longer considered compatible with being a member of SACN when new members are appointed or when a member’s term is renewed. This positive change strengthens confidence in SACN’s recommendations.

Throughout 2025 SACN has progressed its risk assessment on nutrition and maternal health, a report on nutrition and maternal weight outcomes and a position statement on other aspects of nutrition and maternal health. SACN also started a new piece of work this year on vitamin D requirements for dark-skinned population groups.

This year saw several changes to the membership of SACN. We welcomed new scientific members Professor Sophie Moore, Dr Robert Boyle and Dr Tammy Tong and lay members Lisa Randall and Saranja Sivachelvam onto the committee. Professor Paula Moynihan started as a full SACN member on 1 January 2026. Professor Charlotte Wright, Dr David Mela, Dr Stella Walsh and Harry McDermott stood down from the committee. I would like to thank them all for their contributions and insights over the years and wish them well for the future.

I would like to give special thanks to Professor Julie Lovegrove for providing much appreciated support as the deputy chair and in addition I would like to thank members of the main committee, its subgroup and working groups, and the secretariat, for their commitment to the work of SACN in 2025.

Lastly, as indicated above, this is my final annual report as SACN chair as I step down from the role and move to another position. It has been a privilege to work with colleagues and the secretariat, including through COVID-19, to provide timely and relevant risk assessments which have informed policy development in relation to nutrition. There are few areas of more importance in public health terms or with greater potential to improve the health of the population.

I am certain that SACN will continue to play a vital role in the future to ensure that nutrition policy and guidelines are fully informed by the evidence available.

Professor Ian Young, Chair

About the committee

The SACN webpage contains further information about SACN, including:

• terms of reference
• code of practice
• framework for the evaluation of evidence
• details of subgroups and working groups
• detailed updates on the work of SACN and progress of its subgroups and working groups are detailed in SACN meeting papers
• a register of members’ interests - an updated version of the register is published shortly before each main SACN committee meeting (a snapshot from the end of 2025 is available separately in this report’s register of interests)
• SACN publications

The role of the secretariat and official observers is set out in the code of practice. The secretariat and official observers are listed in relevant publications.

Remuneration and committee finances

The amount paid to committee members for fees is outlined below:

• members who chaired a meeting received a fee of £400 per full day meeting
• members not chairing received £300 per full day meeting
• chair and members who were unable to attend a meeting and provided comments before or after the meeting received a reading fee of £75

SACN members were also paid fees for non-SACN meetings if they were attending in their capacity as SACN members.

The cost of the committee fees and expenses for the calendar year 2025, excluding secretariat resources, was £53,952. Costs were met by DHSC.

Member biographies

SACN members

Details of current SACN membership can be found on the SACN webpage. Biographies of members of SACN, its subgroups and working groups during 2025 are provided below.

Professor Ian Young (SACN chair)

Professor of Medicine at Queen’s University Belfast and Consultant Chemical Pathologist at the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust. In addition, he is Chief Scientific Advisor to the Department of Health (Northern Ireland) and Director of Health and Social Care Research and Development for Northern Ireland. His main clinical and research interests are in lipid metabolism, carbohydrates and antioxidants, particularly in relation to the prevention of cardiovascular disease. Professor Young is an author of over 450 published research papers and is deputy editor of the journal Clinical Chemistry. He frequently speaks at national and international meetings on topics related to laboratory medicine. As well as chairing SACN, he is a member of the subgroup on SACN framework and methods for evidence evaluation.

Professor Julie Lovegrove (deputy SACN chair)

Professor of Human Nutrition at the University of Reading, Director of the Hugh Sinclair Unit of Human Nutrition and the Deputy Director of the Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research. Her research interests are the investigation of nutritional influences on cardiometabolic disease risk, including nutrient and gene interactions and personalised nutrition in different population groups. She has authored over 370 research publications. She chairs the University of Reading’s Research Ethics Committee. She is a Trustee for the Academy of Nutrition Sciences and is a member of Medical Research Council’s (MRC) Populations and Systems Medical Board. Professor Lovegrove has previously been the President of the Nutrition Society for UK and Ireland, Vice President of the Association for Nutrition (AfN) and Chair of the AfN Accreditation Committee. She is a registered nutritionist with AfN. She has been awarded a fellowship of the AfN and the Royal Society of Biology. She has also been a recipient of the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) Prize and Venus International Women’s Award. She is the deputy chair of SACN, chairs the subgroup on SACN framework and methods for evidence evaluation and represents SACN on the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) Project Board.

Professor Jean Adams

MRC Investigator and professor at the MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge. She is a public health researcher with particular interests in population-level influences on, and interventions to improve, dietary public health. Professor Adams has formal training in medicine, epidemiology, public health, health psychology and science communication. She is a member of the DHSC Healthy Weight Research Unit’s advisory group.

Dr Robert Boyle (SACN member since June 2025)

Clinical Reader in Paediatric Allergy, Faculty of Medicine, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London. He is also a member of the editorial board at the evidence synthesis charity Cochrane. His clinical training is in paediatric allergy and his research aims to develop interventions for the prevention of allergic conditions such as eczema and food allergy. He has expertise in evidence synthesis and critical appraisal and his work on infant feeding is highly cited. Dr Boyle is a member of UK Nutrition and Health Claims Committee (UKNHCC) and joint editor in chief of the UK journal Clinical and Experimental Allergy. He is also a member of SACN’s subgroup on maternal and child nutrition (SMCN).

Professor Susan Fairweather-Tait

Emeritus Professor of Human Nutrition at Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia. Her main research interests are mineral metabolism and micronutrient requirements, in particular iron, and she has over 300 peer-reviewed publications. She is currently chair of the UKNHCC and a member of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes (ACNFP). She represents SACN on the FSA COT (since October 2025), ACNFP and the project board for the NDNS. Professor Fairweather-Tait was elected a distinguished fellow of the American Society for Nutrition and an Honorary Fellow of the UK Nutrition Society. She is also a member of SACN’s vitamin D working group.

Gill Fine

An independent public health nutritionist with over 45 years’ experience gained from working in private, public and voluntary sector organisations in both executive and non-executive roles. She was Director of Consumer Choice and Dietary Health at the FSA and was responsible for the strategic direction and the delivery of the FSA’s Eating for Health and Choice programme. This wide remit comprised nutrition, genetically modified foods, supplements, organics, additives, novel foods, food standards and general food labelling. She has first-hand experience of a wide range of food and dietary policies and how they impact on public health. Since 2010 she has been an independent consultant. She served as a trustee and a board member to several charities and government organisations including the BNF, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board’s Beef and Lamb Sector Board and Diabetes UK. She is trustee director at the Quadram Institute Bioscience. She also chairs the SACN vitamin D working group.

Dr Darren Greenwood

Senior lecturer in Biostatistics, School of Medicine, University of Leeds. His research focuses on the development and application of statistical methods in nutrition science and perinatal epidemiology. His expertise includes meta-analysis of observational studies, pooling individual participant data across separate studies, and correcting for measurement error and incomplete data in nutrition epidemiology. Recent work includes applications to maternal and child nutrition, randomised controlled trials of colorectal cancer screening and intensive longitudinal modelling of long COVID-19 symptoms. Dr Greenwood has authored over 250 original peer-reviewed research articles. He is a member of the UKNHCC. He was previously director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Nutritional Epidemiology. He is a regular statistical reviewer for a number of leading international journals. He is a member of the subgroup on SACN framework and methods for evidence evaluation and SACN’s working groups on nutrition and maternal health and on vitamin D.

Professor Paul Haggarty

Emeritus Professor at the Rowett Institute, University of Aberdeen. He is deputy lead on a multidisciplinary, multi-centre UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and Global Challenges Research Fund Action against stunting hub designed to reduce global undernutrition and stunting in children. His research is concerned with the dietary and social determinants of health, transgenerational effects, the influence of early life and the interaction between nutrition and the human genome. Professor Haggarty works on epigenetics and nutritional metabolism, primarily in large population-based cohorts in the UK and internationally. He also works on novel methods to monitor food provenance and the human food chain using epigenetic and other technologies. He represented SACN on the FSA COT (until May 2025). He is a member of SACN’s working groups on nutrition and maternal health and vitamin D. He became a member of ACNFP in 2025.

Professor Mairead Kiely

Professor in Nutrition, School of Food and Nutritional Sciences at University College Cork, Ireland. Mairead is co-director of the Cork Centre for Vitamin D and Nutrition Research. She also leads the nutrition research platform at the Irish Centre for Maternal and Child Health Research. Her research is focused on diet, micronutrients and health across the life course. She publishes her work widely in the scientific and medical literature. Professor Kiely leads several collaborative research projects predominantly funded by Irish and European funding agencies. She was elected to the Royal Irish Academy on the basis of excellence in nutrition science. She is an AfN registered nutrition scientist. She is a member of SMCN and the working groups on nutrition and maternal health and on vitamin D.

Professor Susan Lanham-New

Professor of Human Nutrition at the University of Surrey. She is a registered nutrition scientist with AfN and is an AfN Fellow. Her research focuses on nutrition and bone health with an emphasis on vitamin D. She won 3 Young Investigator Awards at the World, European and UK Osteoporosis Conferences, the Nutrition Society Silver Medal, the British Nutrition Foundation Prize, the University Surrey Leader of the Year Award and the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow Medal. She is editor of the Textbook on Nutritional Aspects of Bone Health and editor-in-chief of the Nutrition Society Textbook Series. She is a member of the Nutrition Forum for the Royal Osteoporosis Society. Professor Lanham-New was a trustee of the BNF (until January 2026) and was honorary secretary and honorary communications officer for the Nutrition Society. She served on the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) committee for setting the tolerable upper limit for vitamin D. She led an application for nutrition, dietetics and food sciences at the University of Surrey that won the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher Education. She contributes to UK and EU grant panels. Her research is funded by UKRI, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), MRC, the Ministry of Defence and medical charities. She has published more than 250 scientific peer reviewed papers. She is a member of the SACN working groups on nutrition and maternal health and vitamin D. She was also a member of the joint SACN and COT working group on plant-based drinks.

Professor Sophie Moore (SACN member since June 2025)

Professor of Global Women and Children’s Health, Department of Women and Children’s Health, King’s College London. Her current research focuses on mechanisms through which maternal, infant and childhood nutrition influence infant development and life-course health. Much of her current research is based at MRC Unit The Gambia (MRCG) at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). Professor Moore is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at MRCG. She currently holds a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship focused on micronutrient interventions to improve infant neurocognitive development and growth in early infancy. Sophie is a member of SACN’s vitamin D working group and is a member of SMCN.

Professor Paula Moynihan (SACN member from 1 January 2026)

Adjunct Professor, Adelaide Dental School, Adelaide University, Australia. She is a registered public health nutritionist with AfN and registered dietitian (UK). Her research has focused on the interrelationship between nutrition and oral health. She was previously director of the Centre for Oral Health Research at Newcastle University and director of the WHO Collaborating Centre in Nutrition and Oral Health. Professor Moynihan has served as an expert advisor on nutrition and oral health to the WHO, including advisor to the WHO Nutrition Guidance Expert Advisory Group (NUGAG) Sub-Panel on Diet and Health. She was a member of the EFSA working group on added sugars. She has received the Nutrition Society Silver Medal, the International Association for Dental Research Distinguished Scientist Award and the American Society for Nutrition Roland Weinsier Award for Excellence in Medical Dental Education. She has over 140 peer reviewed publications and has served on several editorial or advisory boards including the Journal of Dental Research, Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology and Gerodontology. She is a member of SMCN. She was a co-opted member of SACN from 2023 and a full member of SACN from 1 January 2026.

Professor Ken Ong

MRC Investigator and Professor of Paediatric Epidemiology at the MRC Epidemiology Unit and Department of Paediatrics, University of Cambridge. His research interests are on the life course determinants of obesity, type 2 diabetes and related disorders, and the translation of these findings to early life interventions. He is also an honorary consultant paediatric endocrinologist and clinical lead for childhood obesity at the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust. Professor Ong also represented SACN on the FSA COT (until July 2025) and the Infant Food Survey Project Board. He chairs the SMCN, is a member of the subgroup on SACN framework and methods for evidence evaluation and was a member of the joint SACN and COT working group on plant-based drinks.

Professor Lucilla Poston CBE

Professor of Maternal and Fetal Health, Department of Women and Children’s Health in the School of Life Course and Population Sciences at King’s College London. Her research focuses on the consequence of exposures in utero for lifelong health of the child, particularly in relation to maternal nutritional status, obesity and gestational diabetes. Her approach involves randomised trials of lifestyle interventions in pregnancy. She also leads studies of maternal and child health in a longitudinal population cohort. Professor Poston serves as president of the International Society for the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease. She is a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and is a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Senior Investigator (emeritus). She was awarded the honour of CBE for her services to women’s health. She is a member of SMCN and SACN’s working groups on nutrition and maternal health and vitamin D.

Lisa Randall (SACN lay member since July 2025)

An engineer, business advisor and Non-Executive Director (NED). She has experience in manufacturing and as an industrial financial analyst. She has executive board-level experience and served as a NED of a publicly listed company. She was the Managing Director of a UK chemical engineering small and medium-sized enterprise. She is currently a transformation business advisor for global organisations. She has a Masters of Engineering post graduate degree in manufacturing and management (M.Eng.) post graduate degree. 

Professor Siân Robinson

Emeritus Professor of Lifecourse and Lifestyle at Newcastle University. She is a nutritional epidemiologist with a background in population life course studies. She previously worked on a number of national and international birth cohorts. Professor Robinson’s main research interests are in life course influences of diet and lifestyle on health in later life, with a particular focus on inequalities in health in older age, and translational research to inform preventive and treatment strategies. She is a member of SMCN and SACN’s nutrition and maternal health working group.

Saranja Sivachelvam (SACN lay member since July 2025)

An equity research professional with experience analysing global consumer staples and retail companies. She has held senior roles at Bank of America and UBS, where she was most recently Head of Global Thematics, publishing on demographic, wellness and sustainability trends. Prior to her financial career, she worked in molecular imaging, diagnostics and drug delivery research at King’s College London, University College London and the University of Cambridge. She currently serves on the board of the British Psychotherapy Foundation and holds a degree in chemistry from the University of Oxford. She is a member of SACN’s vitamin D working group.

Dr Tammy Tong (SACN member since June 2025)

UKRI Future Leaders Fellow and Senior Nutritional Epidemiologist at the Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford. Her main research interest is the role of diet in health, particularly cardiovascular diseases and bone health. Dr Tong’s recent research focus has been on the health effects of plant-based diets and related dietary factors such as dietary protein, as well as the role of diet-related biomarkers, including proteomics and metabolomics, on different health outcomes. She is a Principal Investigator of the Oxford cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study.

Professor Kevin Whelan

Professor of Dietetics in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at King’s College London. He is a Principal Investigator researching the health effects of fibre, prebiotics, fermentable carbohydrates, processed foods and food additives. He has published over 260 journal articles on these topics and has twice been a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher. Professor Whelan previously served on the NIHR lectureships grants panel and is a founding trustee of the Academy of Nutrition Sciences. He is a registered dietitian and was appointed Fellow of the British Dietetic Association.

Previous SACN members

Harry McDermott (member until April 2025)

A business advisor, angel investor, and NED. He is an entrepreneur with international business experience, including as an executive board member and independent NED. He has served on the executive committee of a publicly listed firm, on the advisory boards of 2 small and medium-sized enterprises, and as a NED in 2 venture capital-backed tech companies (with an additional role as Remuneration Committee Chair). In addition to an undergraduate degree in electronic engineering and a postgraduate MBA degree, he has qualifications in astrophysics, astronomy and planetary science. He was a member of the subgroup on SACN framework and methods for evidence evaluation.

Dr David Mela (member until June 2025)

An independent advisor and consultant in nutrition since retiring from his role as a senior scientist at Unilever Research and Development, which followed an academic research career in the USA and UK. He has published over 100 professional papers, mainly in the biological and behavioural aspects of food choice, eating behaviour and energy balance, ranging from consumer research to energy metabolism. Dr Mela is a registered nutritionist and fellow of AfN. He was appointed as a member with technical industry expertise and was a member of the subgroup on SACN framework and methods for evidence evaluation.

Dr Stella Walsh (member until June 2025)

Experienced lay member who has served on several government and industry committees and has responded to consultations on behalf of consumers. She was a member and previous secretary of the National Consumer Federation. She has a long-standing interest in food, nutrition and health. Dr Walsh has been a consumer member on the Institute of Grocery Distributors and on FSA and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committees. She was also a consumer member on the Veterinary Residues Committee. She was a member of SMCN and SACN’s working groups on nutrition and maternal health and vitamin D.

Professor Charlotte Wright (member until June 2025)

Honorary senior research fellow at Glasgow University, previously a professor of Community Child Health at Glasgow University and honorary consultant paediatrician at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow. She trained as a clinician and as an epidemiologist. Her interests are in understanding and addressing the causes of undernutrition in childhood, promoting healthy childhood nutrition and improving the assessment of growth and body composition and eating behaviour. Professor Wright headed the group that designed updated UK growth charts and has a longstanding interest in growth screening. In her clinical role, she ran a specialist feeding clinic and has been involved in a range of public health nutrition issues, particularly the promotion of breastfeeding. She has published 128 peer reviewed articles as well as book chapters and editorials. She was a member of SMCN.

Members of the subgroup on maternal and child nutrition (SMCN)

Professor Ann Prentice CBE

Former programme Leader of the MRC Nutrition and Bone Health Research Group, Cambridge and head of the Calcium, Vitamin D and Bone Health research team at MRC Gambia. She was director of the MRC Elsie Widdowson Laboratory, Cambridge. She is hosted by the MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge as an honorary senior visiting fellow where previously she was appointed Honorary Professor of Global Nutrition and Health. Her research interests are nutritional aspects of bone health, rickets and osteoporosis, dietary requirements for human growth, pregnancy and lactation and old age, with reference to micronutrients. She has published extensive peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and reports. She was previously president of the Nutrition Society and a member of the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food and Nutrition Policy’s subgroup on nutrition and bone health. She is an honorary professor at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa and Shenyang Medical College, People’s Republic of China, and an honorary doctor of the University of Surrey. She is also an honorary senior visiting fellow at the University of Cambridge and an honorary senior research fellow of the MRCG at the LSHTM. She is an honorary fellow of the Nutrition Society, the Association for Nutrition, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) and the International Union of Nutritional Sciences. She is an elected fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Royal Society of Biology. She was appointed OBE and subsequently CBE. She was previously a member and chair of SACN. She is a member of SMCN and chair of SACN’s working group on nutrition and maternal health.

Previous SMCN member

Professor Marion Hetherington (SMCN member until September 2025)

Emeritus Professor in Biopsychology, School of Psychology, University of Leeds and Affiliate Professor, Department of Nutritional Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University. Former Thomas Ward Endowed Chair in Psychology. She was chair in Biopsychology at the University of Liverpool, with specialist interests in infant feeding and the psychology of eating behaviour. Currently editor in chief for the journal Appetite. Past president of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior. Recent research has focussed on responsive feeding in infancy and in developing materials for interventions to support parents to recognise and respond to infant hunger, appetite and satiety cues.

Subgroup on the SACN framework and methods for evidence evaluation

Dr Russell de Souza

Associate Professor in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact and the Mary Heersink School of Global Health and Social Medicine at McMaster University. He is a registered dietitian, having practiced in the areas of diabetes, cardiology, and nephrology. Dr de Souza teaches epidemiology, and his academic work focuses on the nutritional determinants of chronic disease through the lifespan. He has published more than 80 systematic reviews (SRs) and/or meta-analyses largely related to diet and cardiometabolic risk. He has served as an external resource person, completing SRs for the WHO’s Nutrition Guidelines Advisory Group, and advised Health Canada as a member of the Nutrition Science Advisory Committee. He has taught courses in epidemiology and nutrition. He is also involved in randomised trials, observational and qualitative studies to understand effective ways to reduce risk in traditionally underserved populations, including South Asian immigrants and indigenous peoples. He received the Canadian Nutrition Society’s Young Investigator Award for Outstanding Research. He is a co-opted member of the SACN Framework and methods for evidence evaluation subgroup.

Nutrition and maternal health working group

Professor Annie Anderson

Emeritus Professor of Public Health Nutrition at the School of Medicine, University of Dundee. Her main research interests are on theory based, behaviourally focused dietary and obesity (population and individual) interventions. She has a special interest in cancer prevention, maternal nutrition and food policy. She was previously a member of SACN. Professor Anderson has participated as an expert advisor for the WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), DHSC, FSA and Scottish Government advisory committees. She was president of the UK Society for Behavioural Medicine, elected fellow of the College of Physicians (Edinburgh) and fellow of the Royal Society Edinburgh. She is a co-opted member of the nutrition and maternal health working group.

Professor Basma Ellahi

Professor of Public Health Nutrition, and Associate Dean of Research and Innovation, Faculty of Health and Social Care, University of Chester. She is a public health nutritionist with experience in senior management, teaching and research. She is a fellow of the higher education academy in the UK. She is a registered nutritionist with AfN in the UK. She is also a member of the Nutrition Society of UK and Ireland as well as both the African and Pakistani Nutrition societies. Professor Ellahi is a member of the Editorial Board of the Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. She recognises the importance of good quality education for nutritionists and has been involved in capacity building workshops on the African and Asian continents. Her research interests focus on the health and wellbeing of diverse minority communities and in particular south Asians using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. She is a co-opted member of the nutrition and maternal health working group.

Joint SACN and COT working group on plant-based drinks (until July 2025)

Professor Mike Kelly (independent chair of the joint working group)

Senior visiting fellow in the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge and a member of St John’s College, Cambridge. Previously Director of the Centre for Public Health at NICE, where he led the teams producing public health guidelines. He has advised the House of Commons Health Committee and been a witness before parliamentary committees on several occasions. He has chaired committees for the MRC, the Economic and Social Research Council, the FSA, Public Health England and Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID). He directed the methodology work stream for the WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. He has a continuing interest in health inequalities and is pursuing a programme of research in Cambridge on this topic. His other research interests include the methods and philosophy of evidence-based medicine, prevention of heart disease, health related behaviour change, the causes of non-communicable disease, end of life care, dental public health, transport and health, and the sociology of chronic illness.

Professor Alan Boobis OBE

Emeritus Professor of Toxicology in the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London. He has published around 300 original research papers. He has served as editor-in-chief of Food and Chemical Toxicology. He chaired the FSA COT from 2015 until early 2025 and served on the DHSC Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants. He is a member of the WHO Study Group on Tobacco Product Regulation (TobReg), the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (veterinary residues, contaminants), and the Joint FAO and WHO Expert Meeting on Pesticides Residues. He was previously a member of the UK Advisory Committee on Pesticides and Committee on Carcinogenicity, and the EFSA Panels on Contaminants in the Food Chain and on Plant Protection Products. He is a past chair of the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) board of trustees and Health and Environmental Sciences Institute board of trustees. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of ILSI Europe and a previous vice-president. He is a fellow of the British Pharmacological Society, and an honorary member of Eurotox and the British Toxicology Society, He has received an OBE for his work on the risk assessment of pesticides.

Dr Caroline Harris

Principal scientist in the Centre for Chemical Regulation and Food Safety, Exponent International Ltd. She specialises in exposure and the assessment of consumer risk from chemicals in food. She has a particular interest in agrochemicals and environmental contaminants, child and infant exposure and models for estimating exposure. She previously worked in the UK’s Pesticides Safety Directorate (now part of the Health and Safety Executive), with her latter posts being Head of Pesticide Chemistry and Manager of the Human Health Group. During this time, she developed in-depth background knowledge of pesticides science and regulation, including physical and chemical properties, methods of analysis, metabolism, residues, and consumer risk assessment. Dr Harris was previously a member of the Joint FAO and WHO Meeting on Pesticide Residues. She was a member of the Advisory Committee on Crop Protection Chemistry for the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. She is a member of the UK’s Expert Committee on Pesticides. She was previously a member of COT.

Professor Tim Key

Professor of Epidemiology, Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford. His main interests are the roles of diet and hormones in the aetiology of cancer, particularly cancers of the breast, prostate and colon, and the health status of vegetarians and vegans. Professor Key is principal investigator of the Oxford cohort of EPIC. He also co-ordinates the Endogenous Hormones and Breast Cancer Collaborative Group. He was a member of SACN between 2001 and 2018. He was a co-opted member of the joint SACN and COT working group on plant-based drinks.

Professor Gunter Kuhnle

Professor of Nutrition and Food Science at the University of Reading. His research interest is the development of objective measures of exposure and dietary intake using a range of different analytical techniques. Further interests are the link between diet and health, in particular the health effect of polyphenols and the link between meat and cancer. Professor Kuhnle is a member of ACNFP and was a member of COT until March 2025.

Rachael Wall

Currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Reading on ‘Consumption of milk and plant-based dairy alternatives: implications for nutrition, household expenditure and environmental sustainability’. She was previously employed by OHID where she was a member of the Dietary Surveys and Food Composition team. Prior to joining OHID, she worked as a freelance consultant for First Steps Nutrition Trust where she researched and co-authored papers on the role of animal milk and plant-based alternatives in the diets of children 1 to 4 years. She is a registered associate nutritionist with the Association for Nutrition. She was a co-opted member of the joint SACN and COT working group on plant-based drinks.