Andrew Skinner - Managing Director
Andrew has over three decades' experience in the food industry. As the founder of TQS Food Consulting, he has extensive experience in food safety, quality and hygiene across many areas of the food industry, encompassing raw materials, food processing and manufacture including import/export and distribution. During his thirty three year career to date, Andrew has worked with a diverse cross-section of the food industry, from small private firms to multi-nationals and with two of the UK's largest food retailers.
TQS Food Consulting primarily advises and assists UK and overseas food businesses in meeting the food safety, hygiene and quality assurance expectations of local, legislative and customer requirements and in particular the BRC Global Standard for Food. The TQS Portfolio of activity also includes Spec-Tecs, a business for which he was the catalyst in starting during the Spring of 2003. Merged with TQS Food Consulting in 2010, TQS-Spec-Tecs specialises in providing technical support service in the creation and writing of UK retailer product specifications. The TQS-Spec-Tecs team work with a diverse range of businesses in the UK, across Europe and have also worked closely with one of the major UK food retailers. Spec-Tecs were pleased to be the winners of The Society of Food Hygiene and Technology Award for Company of the Year (under 100 employees) in 2006.
Andrew's personal experience encompasses chocolate and sugar confectionery, ambient stable grocery product categories, fresh, chilled and frozen foods. He has, in his professional capacity, travelled extensively over the past twenty years throughout the world and is therefore well positioned to understand and appreciate many of the 'cultural difficulties' and 'attitudes' that often prevail to food safety, legality and quality in countries outside the UK.
Andrew is a Fellow of The Society of Food Hygiene and Technology (SOFHT), is a member of the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) and is also involved with a number of food safety related committees and working groups in the UK. He is also a regular lecturer in HACCP assessment for enforcement officers across the UK.
