Rory is appointed to brand new Food Integrity Assurance Board

Rory has been appointed to the board of SAOS’s new Food Integrity Assurance (FIA) business. 

FIA is part of the SAOS ‘stable’ but will run entirely autonomously, with its own Board, management team and independent accreditation through UKAS. 

FIA’s key priorities are to deliver a farmer-focused service, enabling good communication links with office and assessment teams; and to work with QMS and other partners, across multiple sectors, to increase the practical assessment on-farm and use of technology to minimise ‘paperwork burden’. In addition, FIA will ensure that where farmers are certified to more than one scheme, for example QMS and SQC, or QMS and Red Tractor Dairy, they will continue to benefit from one joint assessment.

Rory joins a Board of Directors chaired by ‘Uel Morton, who has extensive knowledge of the farming and food sector, and an innate understanding of the vital role farm assurance has in underpinning Scottish brands. Other Board members include: arable farmer, Anne Rae MacDonald; Dunbia's Business Public Relations Director (UK), Isla Roebuck; Food Standards Scotland Deputy Chair, Louise Welsh; and assurance and accreditation specialist, Steve Belton. Completing the Board is SAOS Chief Executive, Tim Bailey.

FIA has successfully recruited key operational staff who have already commenced work. All have significant experience of delivering QMS and other quality assurance schemes. They will be supported by a team of more than 50 farm assessors and processing auditors, based throughout Scotland, who will undertake QMS work with FIA from April.

About SAOS

SAOS was established as a Society to further co-operation in Scottish agricultural organisations in 1905. Over the years, whilst co-ops have remained key to SAOS’s work, this remit has expanded to explore and convert wider opportunities in food and drink supply chains, technology, innovation, data, quality assurance and climate change response. SAOS is a co-op, owned by around 60 member co-operatives whose collective turnover is around £1.5 billion