Melanie Bulger MIFST, Head of Regulatory Affairs UK and Ireland, Danone
How did you start your career in the food industry and what motivated you to join?
I have an MSc in Nutrition and Food Science, which I took as part of a career change, and am a Registered Nutritionist. In my first nutrition role, I collaborated with the Healthy Schools NHS team and became very conscious of the link between the marketing of High Fat, Sugar or Salt (HFSS) foods to children and consumption. As my nutrition career shifted into industry, working with healthy products by design is my ‘north star’ .
How did you decide on regulatory affairs (RA)?
I naturally seemed to fall into regulatory affairs, which will happen if you are working as a nutritionist in industry! For me, the role of regulatory affairs in food manufacturing is to partner with internal teams, and to help shape projects from the start, rather than being brought in at the end when you are assessing materials with a binary ‘yes/no’ lens.
Would you choose to go into the same field again?
Yes, I would and am a strong proponent of encouraging talent to start a career in regulatory affairs. It can sometimes have a ‘dry’ reputation, but it is a great career and can vary from company to company. In companies like Danone, where I head up the RA function for UK and Ireland, my team and I are involved closely with Marketing, Regulation and Inspection (R&I) and Sales teams, and work on many categories of products. Every day is different!
What is the main purpose of regulatory affairs to you?
Its main purpose is to allow a business to understand where the risks are and to disseminate complicated regulations/guidance into simple recommendations. We protect the business as well as assessing where commercial opportunities are found.
Why did you join IFST and how did you get involved in the Food Regulatory Special Interest Group (SIG)?
I joined the IFST over a decade ago, first joining the Food Science and Nutrition SIG. As my career moved into regulatory affairs, I joined this SIG and was Chair for 3 years. I really enjoy working with fellow regulatory colleagues and helping to arrange webinars to upskill on topics.
What do you think the next big challenges are for industry in the next few years?
Externally, the regulatory move towards realignment with the EU, changes in sugar levies for drinks and marketing less healthy foods will mean that the industry must start its preparedness to minimise impact. Internally, artificial intelligence (AI) technologies will present opportunities and challenges for the industry. It will change the scale and speed that businesses market their products. Smaller challenger companies will continue to gain brand awareness in digital channels, away from established companies, often using non-compliant messaging.
How do you think regulatory affairs will change in the next 10 years?
New technologies will enable RA to work smarter. There will be a shift away from time-consumer manual compliance work and a shift towards working in the more nuanced areas of regulatory affairs.
It's an exciting time to work in this field!