Julia Pepler (Banks) - Food Integrity Consulting

Julia Pepler (Banks) is the founder and one of the Directors of Food Integrity Consulting. She has worked in the food industry for 21 years and has become an accomplished provider of specialist and tailor made expertise to clients in the food manufacturing, packaging, retail and food service sectors.

After graduating in 1992, Julia spent a brief period as a practicing Environmental Health Officer, and then moved into consultancy for two years, specialising in the food service sector. In 1996 she joined Marks and Spencer as an Auditor, and spent 7 years there during which time she also developed expertise in food allergens and took on responsibilities for setting and monitoring standards in retail operations.

Julia founded Food Integrity Consulting in 2002, following the birth of her daughter. The scope of her activity at Food Integrity Consulting has included providing targeted help with specific challenges, to setting and keeping track of large multidisciplinary agendas. Her key skills are summarised as follows: 

• Specialist expertise in the management of food allergens having developed risk assessment methods, which have been adopted by hundreds of food manufacturers. She has provided training on risk assessment and control methods to 3 major UK retailers and has assisted with the practical implementation of allergen controls in numerous manufacturing sites.
• Design and implementation of systems and templates for managing hygiene, food safety and HACCP, quality and process control.

• Julia has obtained post graduate qualifications in learning and development and she designs and delivers training courses to food professionals in areas including:
  • The practical implementation of HACCP
  • Internal Auditing skills
  • Good manufacturing practice and hygiene standards
  • Sensory Screening and Evaluation for food and non food professionals
  • Managing customer complaints
  • Practical application of microbiology

• Highly experienced auditor in all sectors of the food industry and able to advise and assist technical managers in the implementation of effective supplier management programmes, as well as carrying out supplier audits of raw material and ingredient suppliers on behalf of manufacturing clients.
• Assisting manufacturing clients to introduce new retail customers, to ensure compliance with their codes of practice, creation of specifications, and upgrading operational standards.
• Support with preparation for 3rd party audits (BRC Global Standard for Food Safety issue 6, as well as retailer specific audits).
• Designing and assisting with the implementation of policies on food safety and due diligence for high street retailers.
• Auditing and monitoring retail operational standards for clients in the high street UK retail and wholesale market.
• Acting as expert witness for the defence in legal action challenging due diligence systems.