Fediaf: change in position Secretary General

Fediaf: change in position Secretary General
2 Nov 2020

1 November 2020, Thomas Meyer was succeeded as FEDIAF Secretary General by Ms Raquel Izquierdo de Santiago, a Spanish national with a master’s degree in European Legal Studies. Raquel has extensive experience in European affairs, and a proven track record of over 15 years in the agri-food business with work experience at European trade associations in the fruit and vegetable sector before joining FEDIAF. 

Thomas Meyer has served for 23 years in the role of Secretary general at FEDIAF.

His path of succes was shaped by the high political and public presure of the European Commission. In 2000 the EXC came with the white paper on Food Safety. It took nearly ten years to fulfil these ambitions. The main milestones he achieved with FEDIAF have been:

  • 2001: TSE Regulation – eliminating certain parts of ruminants from the food and feed chain due to their high TSE infectivity.
  • 2002: General Food Law Regulation – including pet food in its scope because pet food should not be any less safe than farm feed or human food.
  • 2002: Animal By-Products Regulation – clarifying that only materials from slaughtered animals declared fit for human consumption may be used in pet food.
  • 2002: Directive on Undesirable Substances in Feed – Dioxins, heavy metals, mycotoxins… safe maximum limits were re-assessed and fixed.
  • 2003: Feed Additives Regulation – requiring that all additives undergo an EFSA safety assessment to allow continued use.
  • 2004: Feed Hygiene Regulation – laying down HACCP for all operators from transport, production to sales.
  • 2004: Official Controls Regulation – strengthening authorities’ grip on the entire production chain.
  • 2009: Marketing and Use of Feed Regulation – Overhaul of all labelling requirements for pet food.
  • 2009: Renewed reform of Animal By-Products Regulations from 2002 – basically confirming the strict sanitary rules for the safety of pet food.

For Thomas it was a huge pleasure to be part of a unique industry for such a long time and to have helped shaping its regulatory environment.