Lisa Ackerley

Lisa Ackerley CMCIEH FRSPH is an English food safety expert.

In 1984 Ackerley gained a First Class Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in environmental health from Bristol Polytechnic (now University of the West of England). Her thesis examined the survival of Campylobacter jejuni on kitchen surfaces and also uncovered that many GPs were unaware of the organism. This led to the publication of her first academic paper with Dr Alan Jones.[1]

Ackerley went to work at Cherwell District Council in 1984 as an environmental health officer . Following this, she moved to Thames Polytechnic (now University of Greenwich), where she became senior lecturer in food law and practice, teaching on the undergraduate environmental health programme.

In 1990 she was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship to travel to the US and Canada to study concepts of hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP). This involved visiting the Pillsbury factory in Minneapolis, where HACCP was invented as part of the NASA space programme. She visited a number of cook-chill outlets, academics including Pete Snyder and spoke at the National Environmental Health Association Conference in Carolina.

Ackerley's PhD (University of Birmingham) covered the subject of consumer awareness of food poisoning and food hygiene. She examined the factors that influence behaviour change – for example people will not change their behaviour unless they see there is a value in change – if they think that they are unlikely to get food poisoning, or cause it, then maybe they can't be bothered to change. Equally if they think that food poisoning is not likely to be anything more than an upset tummy, then perhaps they would not think it is worth the effort to follow food hygiene practices.

The work on uncovering the secrets of what people believe in relation to food safety continues, with Ackerley's work for the UK Hygiene Council’s [2] survey of home hygiene. One study revealed that 75% of dishcloths were extremely dirty – indicating that when people think they are cleaning, they are actually “dirtying”. Chris Evans on BBC Radio 2 interviewed Ackerley in February 2009 on this very subject, as he was concerned about why his dishcloths smelled so bad.[3][4]

Ackerley is a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health [5] which gives her the title Chartered Environmental Health Practitioner. She speaks regularly at events for the institution to her fellow members – for example, presented a paper on E. coli O157 in November 2008 to the Sussex Group, a presentation on Home Hygiene to the Herts Beds and Bucks branch in December 2008 and a talk on Rogue Restaurants to the CIEH Commercial group in December 2008, and papers on Acrylamide, Allergens and on the history of the success of reducing risks on Salmonella in eggs (CIEH 2018).

As a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health [6] Ackerley is involved in Members' events, for example speaking at the June 2008 Members evening on E. coli O157.[7] She is also the food safety adviser to the society, producing the regular Food Safety Update. Ackerley spoke at the E. coli conference on 13 May 2009 at the RSPH,[8] and has chaired annual food safety conferences for the RSPH; from E. coli (2011), and in 2019 Allergens Food allergy: the impact of recent events, court cases, and convictions. Lisa is now a Trustee of the RSPH and chair of the Food Special Interest Group. She chairs regular webinars including one on Salmonella Salmonella: investigating outbreaks and preventing illness.

Ackerley is a member of the Society of Food Hygiene Technology (SOFHT) [9] and is a regular speaker at their events. In March 2009 in Barnsley she presented a paper on Rogue Restaurants: the implications for food safety training. In 2009, Dr Ackerley was appointed as the visiting professor in environmental health at the University of Salford. In 2011, Ackerley received the prestigious award from SOFHT for The Most Significant Contribution to Food Safety, and in the same year was appointed a professorial fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health. From 2011 to 2012 Ackerley taught on the MSc Environmental Health Course at King's College London. In March 2012 she presented a paper on current issues in environmental health.

Ackerley sold her business which she had run with Graham Murphy since 1987, Hygiene Audit Systems Ltd in 2015 but is still hands on, appearing as an expert witness from time to time, notably at the fatal accident inquiry (FAI) into the E. coli deaths associated with the John M. Barr & Son butcher shop[10] a Salmonella outbreak in a nursery, another FAI in Scotland and produces reports for legal firms in respect of sentencing guidelines.

Ackerley has worked with TV and local and national radio, including BBC Watchdog,[11] and as the food safety expert on BBC1 Rogue Restaurants, a spin-off of Rogue Traders, with Matt Allwright and Anita Rani. Ackerley was the health expert on the BBC1 program Secret Tourist where she travelled to an array of locations examining the conditions of the hotels, and also appeared on the BBC1 show Save our Holiday. Most recently Ackerley has appeared on Holiday Hit Squad with Angela Rippon, Helen Skelton and Joe Crowley,[12] advising hoteliers with poor and often dangerous standards on improving hygiene and safety. She regularly provides interviews for radio and press on environmental health issues, and is a regular on the Jonathan Vernon-Smith show on BBC Three Counties Radio.

As the Hygiene Doctor, Ackerley often leads hygiene studies for major brands, explaining the need for targeted hygiene. She is Trustee, Vice Chair and Scientific Adviser to International Scientific Forum on Home Hygiene

Ackerley was appointed to the editorial board for Perspectives in Public Health, a bi-monthly peer-reviewed publication produce by the RSPH in October 2012.[13][14]

Since 2015 Lisa Ackerley has been Food Safety Adviser for the British Hospitality Association, now UKHospitality. She has assisted with the publication of the UKH Catering Industry Guide and the Acrylamide Guide, and attends meetings with the Food Standards Agency Expert Group in relation to Regulating our Future and on behalf of UKH sits on the SALSA board.

References
  1. "Food Poisoning - Fact or Fiction?" (PDF). Journal of International Medical Research. 1985. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  2. "RB – Healthier Lives, Happier Homes". www.rb.com.
  3. "BBC - Radio 2 - Chris Evans - More Information Nov 08". www.bbc.co.uk.
  4. "BBC - Chris Evans: To dummy or not to dummy, the debate rolls on". www.bbc.co.uk.
  5. "Welcome to CIEH". Chartered Institute of Environmental Health.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 27 February 2009. Retrieved 11 March 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 December 2012. Retrieved 11 March 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "Events Calendar". www.rsph.org.uk.
  9. "The Society of Food Hygiene & Technology".
  10. "Health | Sheriff criticises E. coli butcher". BBC News. 19 August 1998. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  11. "BBC One - Watchdog". BBC.
  12. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 13 April 2013. Retrieved 23 April 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 23 April 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. "LinkedIn". www.linkedin.com.

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