Richard Bennett recognised at 2014 HACCP Awards

Richard Bennett recognised at 2014 HACCP Awards

PMA A-NZ Technology Manager Richard Bennett awarded the Ross Peters Memorial Award for Excellence in Food Safety.

The Produce Marketing Association Australia-New Zealand (PMA A-NZ) is pleased to announce that Richard Bennett has been recognised at the 2014 HACCP Awards in Sydney on 27th August 2014, receiving the Ross Peters Memorial Award for Excellence in Food Safety.

Bennett was recognised for his work over the last two decades in championing the improved understanding and adoption of food safety and quality management in the fresh produce sector.

He is commended for his guidance, research management, resource design, and communication.

In receiving the Award, Richard Bennett said, “It’s a tremendous honour to be recognised by my peers in such a significant award category. The fresh produce industry’s safety journey has been a long one with many difficult challenges along the way. At each stage I did all I could to lead, facilitate and inspire those I worked with. In turn, their work inspired me.”

Michael Worthington, CEO of PMA A-NZ says the award is well-deserved:

“Richard is an extremely worthy recipient of this award; he has worked tirelessly over 20 years to champion food safety in the fresh produce sector and it is fantastic that he has been recognised for this," he said.

"Australasia has built a globally-recognised reputation for producing safe, high quality fresh produce and it is largely due to diligent producers working in concert with experts like Richard. Not only having him as part of our team but Richard’s ongoing involvement in the recently-established Fresh Produce Safety Centre will ensure that our region proactively maintains this reputation," Worthington added.

Bennett is currently the Technology Manager at PMA A-NZ, where his role covers all areas of food safety, traceability and technology. He is also a regular food safety contributor on the PMA A-NZ blog at www.pma-anz.com/blog. In addition, he works closely with the University of Sydney's Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, and industry stakeholders at the Fresh Produce Safety Centre for Australia and New Zealand.

Previously, Bennett was the Product Integrity Manager for HAL, a role which revolved around protecting consumer and supply chain confidence in the integrity of fresh and processed horticultural food products.

He worked closely with HAL members – 43 peak industry bodies – on quality assurance, food safety, environmental management, product standards and specifications, product identification and traceability, business continuity, compliance issues and crisis management.

He also managed a portfolio of product integrity research and development projects from initial assessment through to contracting, milestone reporting and final reporting.

Bennett has had a full career working in numerous aspects of horticulture including in the nursery, seed and fruit processing industries, as an industry development officer, trainer, agronomist and executive officer for a number of fruit grower associations, and providing technical support to the marketing team at the Australian Horticultural Corporation.

He has qualifications in orchard management, applied science, agribusiness and food safety.

The Ross Peters Memorial Award is awarded each year in acknowledgement of significant contributions made to food safety in Australia or New Zealand, and passion and commitment to driving food safety impact.

-ENDS-

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