Gary Pepler - Food Integrity Consulting

Gary has been a co director in Food Integrity Consulting since January 2007. He has worked in the food industry for 25 years, and in that time has gained a reputation for true professionalism, and in particular is an outstanding auditor and has proved himself indispensable to his clients as a consultant.

After graduating in 1987, Gary spent 8 years as an Environmental Health Officer, before joining Marks and Spencer in 1995 as an auditor. Gary spent 12 years at M & S, and during this time he was responsible for the management of the supplier audit programme, including training of 3rd party auditors and setting standards for suppliers and auditors through Codes of Practice/Guidelines and audit protocols.

Gary’s role at M&S also included providing information and advice on major factory plans and projects to M&S food departments and their suppliers, carrying out specialist audits of high care manufacturing facilities and trouble shooting following microbiological contamination issues.

He also delivered hygiene training for Food Technologists and non-technical personnel, developed specialist knowledge in relation to water quality and pest prevention matters and delivered a number of successful complaint reduction projects. During his time at M&S he gained extensive experience in the management of crisis incidents at suppliers, stores and depots which have been of enormous value in his work as a consultant.

His key skills are summarised as follows: 

• In depth knowledge of retailer Codes of Practice and extensive experience assisting clients with preparing to supply retailers, or preparing for retailer audits through pre audits, coaching and training.
• Expert in all aspects of high care and high risk food manufacture and advice on factory design requirements.
• Assisting clients with investigations into the root causes of complaints, microbiological issues and customer non conformances and supporting improvement programmes.
• Approved trainer for the Tesco Food Manufacturing Standard.
• Delivering training on behalf of the Society of Food Hygiene and Technology (SOFHT) as part of its Training Academy.
• Designing and delivering bespoke training programmes for clients across a range of subjects.
• Supported numerous clients with the design and delivery of supplier and internal audit programmes.
• In depth knowledge of the requirements of BRC Issue 6 and track record assisting clients with achieving accreditation from scratch.
• Designing models for the operation of factory QA systems, and project managing implementation.
• Managing audit programmes for the high street retail and wholesale market, as well as carrying out audits.
• Acting as expert witness for the defence in legal action challenging due diligence systems.