Technical Executive, Public Health Nutrition Safety

Job Environment

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) is a statutory, independent and science-based national agency, dedicated to protecting consumers’ health and interests by leading a collaborative food safety community to continuously raise food standards and create a culture of compliance. Core FSAI objectives are to ensure, through regulation and engagement, that food produced, consumed, distributed or marketed in Ireland is safe and meets EU standards.

To this end, the FSAI oversees the enforcement of food law through an inspection service that is operated to agreed high standards by various State agencies. Consumers are placed at the centre of all its activities
and have a fundamental right to safe food and not to be misled about the food they purchase or eat.

Job Purpose

The person appointed will be responsible for performing risk assessments on foods in relation to their nutritional safety and suitability and in assessing compliance of notified food supplements and foods for
specific groups with applicable food law. Their specialist nutrition knowledge will enable the provision of expert advice for the development of European food law not only in the field of Nutrition and Health Claims, Foods for Specific Groups and Food Supplements, but in areas related to the EC Farm to Fork Strategy, like the development of nutritional profiles for front of pack labelling and nutrition and health claims.

Furthermore, this expert knowledge will enable transposition of food law by the Department of Health, the efficient and effective implementation of official controls by Official Agencies and timely compliance
with food law by the food industry.

Key Accountabilities

• Providing support/assistance to the Manager, Public Health Nutrition Safety
• Enabling FSAI, on behalf of the Government, to protect consumer health by conducting risk assessments on:
o Food Supplements
o Fortified foods
o Foods for Specific Groups including Infant and Follow-on formula, Processed cereal-based foods and baby foods, Food for special medical purposes, Total diet replacements for weight control
• Supporting food incident management through the provision of risk assessments on foods on the Irish market suspected of being unsafe
• Conducting nutrition and health claim assessments on foods placed on the Irish market (general foods, food supplements, Foods for Specific Groups to ensure compliance with Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006
• Processing of health claim dossiers received from food businesses on behalf of European Food Safety Authority of Ireland (EFSA)
• Contributing to the provision of technical and scientific support to enable Ireland to meet its obligations in respect of the development and transposition of European food nutrition legislation through support to the Department of Health and attendance at European Commission legislation expert working groups in the following areas:
o Nutrition and Health Claims
o Nutrient Profiles and Front-of Pack labelling
o Fortified Foods
o Food Supplements
o Foods for Specific Groups
• Management of MenuCal – an allergen and calorie management tool developed by FSAI for food businesses
• Facilitating effective official controls by providing technical support into the operation of fair and transparent enforcement systems for food nutrition law including training for enforcement officers and associated compliance documentation for the food industry and enforcement agencies
• Provision of nutritional information and advice for Irish food businesses and Irish consumers through direct request for presentations at industry seminars and via the Authority’s advice line • Development and design of appropriate literature and web updates for the Authority in relation to public health and nutritional aspects of food safety and consumer protection
• Representing the Authority in meetings with consumer groups and industry and EU working groups
• Contributing to the culture and life of FSAI through involvement in FSAI internal committees.
• Keeping up to date on developments in areas of specialisation and in job accountabilities.
• Other duties as assigned.