Gillian Westbrook has been appointed to the new position of General Manager with IOFGA. Coming from a background in the regulatory area her initial qualifications were in consumer protection law, food and agriculture and European food law and policy.
Gillian Westbrook has been appointed to the new position of General Manager with IOFGA. Coming from a background in the regulatory area her initial qualifications were in consumer protection law, food and agriculture and European food law and policy. Gillian has lived and worked in Ireland for the past ten years. Previous to that she worked for the Department of Agriculture and Food in the area of trading standards which involved dealing with several hundred pieces of legislation with particular emphasis on SMEs.
In Ireland she worked with the FSA as a consultant in aquaculture standards and with quality management systems in the food and agri-business sector. She has been working with the ICSA since 2008 as an executive researcher.
Gillian says she is looking forward to a settling in period in IOFGA and sees her new job as a great challenge. “The biggest single issue for the organic sector is to get representation for producers on CAP negotiations so that we can influence the outcome,” she says. “Then there is the question of market dominance in the retail sector and getting product to market while getting appropriate recognition for its environmental contribution. It’s also important that we understand how the areas of science, law and policy interconnect and how this affects organic standards,” she added.
Source: Organic Matters – IOFGA Appoints New General Manager
