Welsh Food Advisory Committee Members

Prior to his retirement in 2003, John Spence worked for over 36 years in local government in England and Wales, a substantial portion of which was at a senior and strategic level in district and, most recently, unitary authorities.

After a successful period as Director of Environment and Health for Swansea unitary authority, where he oversaw a number of complex and difficult structural changes, he was invited to fill a newly-created deputy chief executive post, before stepping up to become the Council’s acting chief executive. During this period, he introduced a corporate planning process for the entire authority, linked to a performance management and personal appraisal system.

In 2007 John was invited onto the Board of the UK Food Standards Agency and, in that capacity, he chairs the Welsh Food Advisory Committee.

John has been an adviser to the Welsh Local Government Association and is a former Chair of one of the regional Drug and Alcohol Action Teams (DAATs) in Wales. He has also been an adviser to the Welsh Assembly’s Chief Medical Officer’s Public Health Review Board and has served on a number of other national advisory bodies. He is a former President of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health in Wales and has previously held the post of Chair of the Welsh Collaboration for Health and Environment and the Society of Public Protection Officers (Wales). He is currently the Vice Chair for Public Health Wales, an NHS Trust established by the Welsh Assembly in 2009. John was appointed Honorary Vice-President of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health in the same year.

Since his retirement, John continues to work on an occasional basis with organisations in the public sector in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Kate Hovers is a Veterinary Surgeon based in the Brecon area. She qualified from Liverpool in 1983 and gained a Certificate in Sheep Health and Production in 1996. She ran her own mixed species practice for 13 years. She now works as a sheep consultant, a locum veterinary surgeon and part-time large animal veterinary adviser for a pharmaceutical company. She writes occasional articles for the farming press and gives talks, usually on sheep health and preventive medicine. She is a past president of the Sheep Veterinary Society and of the South Wales division of British Veterinary Association. She lives and helps on her partner’s small sheep farm in the Brecon Beacons.

Director of Research in the Cardiff School of Health Sciences at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, Dr Fielding gained a BSc (Hons) in Food Technology (1990) and a PhD in Food microbiology (1995) from the University of Reading. She teaches undergraduates and postgraduates in food microbiology and hygiene, food biotechnology, food processing and applied food safety. Dr Fielding also supervises a number of researchers in areas such as bioaerosol decontamination, quality management systems in small food manufacturing businesses, listeria and the elderly, and applied aspects of cleaning and decontamination.

Dr Fielding is a qualified third party auditor to the British Retail Consortium Global Food Standard. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Food Science and Technology and a committee member for the Society for Applied Microbiology and the Water Quality and Safety Professional Development Group of the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP). She is also a member of the Welsh Microbiology Association.

As Lead Food Project officer for adventa at Monmouthshire County Council, Mrs Palmer was responsible for leading community and business food projects. Working with partners she developed pilots and secured funding for a 'whole school' approach to school meals in Monmouthshire. She was also instrumental in developing the local food chain, encouraging local businesses and communities to network and source local produce.

During her five years in the international dairy industry Katie worked with a number of major food businesses to develop new products and bring them to market. Her business development role at Volac International required both technical science and marketing skills to develop the market for whey protein in Europe and America. She developed a strong understanding of food legislation in this role, particularly when the foot and mouth crisis hit the UK and food regulations tightened so significantly.

As the Chair of the Welsh Assembly's Food and Drink Advisory Group Mrs Palmer has a good overview of the Food Industry in Wales. She also has a first class degree in Biology, a Masters of Science in Nutrition and is a member of the Nutrition Society.

Derek Morgan is an upland beef and sheep farmer responsible for the day to day running of an upland family farm in the upper Wye Valley; rearing Welsh mountain sheep and pedigree Welsh black cattle. He is Chairman of the Farmers Union of Wales hill farming committee, representing the union on a wide range of stakeholder groups, with particular emphasis on issues relating to animal health and welfare, animal traceability, transmissible spongiform encephalopathies and food chain information.

Mr Morgan is a member and chairman of the Welsh Assembly Government’s Upland Forum, advising on issues relating to upland affairs. He was one of the first Technology Interactive Resource Demonstration farm participants. Derek is a Welsh sheep strategy scholar, visiting New Zealand in 1999 and travelling to both islands investigating research programmes on a number of farms.

He is also a Founder member, director, and present chairman of the Welsh Sheepdog Society, set up in 1997, to save the indigenous Welsh sheepdog and also a member of the Welsh Assembly Government hyatid project board.

Steve Bolchover served at Chief Officer level in local government for over 20 years until he retired in 2005. He came from Strathclyde Regional Council to become County Trading Standards Officer for West Glamorgan and from local government reorganisation in 1996 headed the environmental health and trading standards service in Neath Port Talbot. He has 35 years experience of working in trading standards and consumer protection. He also spent four years working with LACOTS (now LACORS), a local government central body, helping with the introduction of new systems for the regulation of packaged goods into the UK, and has been an adviser to LACORS and the Welsh Local Government Association. Since retirement he has been a lay reviewer with the Healthcare Inspectorate Wales.

He has a degree in zoology from Oxford University and a Masters degree in Business Administration from Strathclyde University. He is interested in and involved in environmental issues, is chairman of the board of trustees at Swansea’s Environment Centre and very much involved in biodiversity work in both Swansea and Neath Port Talbot. He is a keen amateur entomologist and the Glamorgan County Recorder for coleoptera. He is also a Rotarian and very involved in local political and community issues, chairing the management committee of his local community hall.

In his spare time he enjoys reading, tai chi, playing classical style guitar, good food and drink, working with wood and time with his family.

In 1983 Sue Jones created Llanboidy Cheesemakers, one of the most successful SME specialist Cheesemakers in Wales, and had a direct involvement with all aspects of the production of milk and the manufacture and marketing of the farmhouse cheeses.

She is a director of the cooperative Cheeses from Wales, a member (and past committee member) of the UK Specialist Cheesemakers Association, and was awarded an MBE in 2005 for her services to the Welsh cheese industry.

She is a retired dairy farmer, a former President of the Red Poll Cattle Society and a past Chair of the local Narbeth branch of the National Farming Union. Sue has also been a member of the Welsh Assembly Government's Dairy Strategy Group since its inception and sits on National Farmers Union Cymru sub group for Food and Marketing. She is also a member of the Women's Farming Union.

Mrs Jones was elected an Associate of the Royal Agricultural Society (Wales) several years ago and in 2009 was made a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Societies (FRAgS).

Sue believes in keeping her feet firmly on the ground with regard to the market place and consumers needs and has a keen interest in promoting the regional identity, safety and quality of Welsh food. During her working life she has had close involvement with the introduction and implementation of food safety legislation.

Hugh Jones is a Senior Lecturer in Genetics and Molecular Biology in the College of Medicine – Institute of Life Science at Swansea University. After going to school in Neath, he read for a Biochemistry degree at the University of Cambridge and followed this with a PhD and a research fellowship. He then moved to Imperial College, London, for further post-doctoral work in protein engineering before returning to South Wales to take up an academic position at Swansea University. His research interests are mainly in protein molecular biology; particularly carbohydrate-binding proteins and involve recombinant DNA techniques. He has applied some of this work to glucose biosensors and diabetes diagnostics.

Dr Jones teaches protein structure/function, genetic manipulation and basic microbiology to students of genetics, biochemistry and biological sciences degrees. He is a member of the Society for General Microbiology, the Biochemical Society, and the Royal Society of Chemistry.

He has also been involved with promoting the public understanding of science in Wales, including helping to organise the Science and Technology exhibition for the visit of the National Eisteddfod to Swansea. As a former school governor and parent of three children at school and university, he is continually being reminded of the importance of food safety.