Sylvia Chia

About you

I am a senior consultant and trainer specialised in the Food Safety and Quality Management Systems for various industries which includes feed, food and food packaging industries and so on. On the other hand, I am also actively involved in third party auditing for international food retail chains as a Food Safety and Brand Standards Specialist.

Why did you join the BRCGS Professional Programme?

I always strive to provide updated, reliable and professional advise to my clients regarding food safety and quality. This is where BRCGS Professional Programme comes in place to enhance my knowledge in my field of work. Hence, I immediately signed up to join this programme when there was an opportunity to do so.

What value do you personally feel the BRCGS Professional certification brings to you?

This BRCGS Professional certification has definitely broadened my horizon in areas related to food safety practices and its systematic approach has helped me to apply the knowledge I've learnt into improving my client’s food safety management systems. Moving forward on the greater scale of things, I believe that with a wider adoption of this program, it would substantially help improve the overall food industry and ensure that food safety is practised in producing safe food for the greater good of the society.

How has/will the recognition programme impacted your work?

Getting this recognition from BRCGS will tremendously improve my expertise in my consultation and training profession to serve my clients better. This certification not only helps to get me ahead of my professional goals but it also helps to build trust and a sense of security in the eyes of my clients when they seek out for my expertise.

How did you get to your current role?

My passion in life have always been to lead others with great enthusiasm and improvisation in life through training and consultation. I also enjoy developing programs and solutions to address the ever-changing food safety and quality challenges that present themselves. Combining these with my profound interest in the field of Food Safety and Quality Management system has led me on this challenging and yet rewarding career in creating a culture of quality and safety in my client’s workplace. I was fortunate to be able to work with over 50 projects and over 100 trainings in food safety/quality dealing with different cultures and industries, such food packaging, feed industry, oil and fat, stable food manufacturing, ready to eat manufacturing to name a few.

What is your educational background?

I started my journey in Food Safety/Quality way back in university with a Bachelor’s degree in Food Science and Technology and a Master’s degree in Science majoring in Food Technology, both from the University Putra Malaysia. During my research project for my studies, I've developed an interest in continual improvement as I worked on developing new innovations in food manufacturing while I was developing the new extraction method using subcritical carbon dioxide and also in drum drying technology.

What are your career ambitions/aims?

My career aim is to be able to empower more food industries to adopt better food safety and quality practice in their manufacturing environment. My mantra is to empower their employees to not only follow food safety/ quality guidelines but also consistently see others take food safety/quality focused actions, hear others talking about food safety/quality and feel food safety/quality all around them.