9 replies to this topic

[Aude]

Hi,

My name is Aude and I live in Athens. I've moved here from London Last November, and I am currently exploring the job opportunities in the food safety field in Greece... Not the easiest thing! Back in England I worked for a chemical company, training our clients in Food Safety and Health & Safety (CIEH accredited), putting up HACCP systems, carrying out audits and risk assessments.
Any tips on how to access this field would be greatly appreciated!
I'm pleased to have found this site, this way I can keep up with news and developments as well as share opinions and experiences!

Thank you!

[duente]

Hallo Aude and welcome!
I have left you a comment on your profile.....!

[Charles.C]

Dear Aude,

Welcome to the Forum

Yr comment about "Not the easiest thing" is interesting. Do you mean that there is less interest in food safety in Greece compared to UK or that there is so much interest that most job opportunities are already filled ??

Rgds / Charles.C

[duente]

Dear Charles

The food safety issues in Greece have just started (5 years max). What i mean is:
The structure is like this: 1) Creating Laws 2) implementing laws 3) the goverment controls and audits if the laws are implemented 4) organisations are competitive by being safe 5) consumers are looking for safe products etc.

The reality is that in Greece the step 3 does not exist or it does not work properly. The consumers are not/well informed or educated about food safety issues so they do not look for safe food and the organisation since they do not have anybody to control them and the consumers do not care about. They do what ever they want!!!! and i mean by this that they do not invest (personal, equipment, training, building etc) in order to improve.
Of course this changes day by day but we are not so well organized as UK.
Greece has a serious issue about Food control and Environment.

[Charles.C]

Dear Duente,

Thks yr reply . Rather surprising information actually.

Presumably things like factory HACCP are well understood since the EU have been requiring it for qualifying exporters for at least 15 yrs I think.

Rgds / Charles.C

[Aude]

Hi Charles, Duente,

Sorry for not replying to your posts earlier, I did not receive any notifications regarding your replies!
To be honest with you, I really dont know much about the field here, so I have to agree with Duente. I knew getting into the right circles and actually working in Greece would be somewhat difficult, but I truely thought my qualifications and experience would make things a little easier. If only I knew how wrong I was!!
I actually find job offers along the lines of food quality control more than food safety, and in terms of staff training, nothing at all! I have to say it is a major change from England all together. There I could not keep up with the demands for staff training, auditing and HACCP / SFBB guidance and implementation.
I thought at first that language was my biggest obstacle, but now that I read, write and speak greek well enough, there wasn't really a noticeable change.
As you say, it is very weird, and very frustrating for me, since the European food safety requirements are there and should be applied!
Anyway, thanks for the replies and good day to all!

Aude

[Penard]

Efkaristo!

[tomorrowguy]

Hi,

My name is Aude and I live in Athens. I've moved here from London Last November, and I am currently exploring the job opportunities in the food safety field in Greece... Not the easiest thing! Back in England I worked for a chemical company, training our clients in Food Safety and Health & Safety (CIEH accredited), putting up HACCP systems, carrying out audits and risk assessments.
Any tips on how to access this field would be greatly appreciated!
I'm pleased to have found this site, this way I can keep up with news and developments as well as share opinions and experiences!

Thank you!

Dear Aude

My name is Wooki Baek who living in Seoul Korea. I working for Korea Accreditation Board(KAB). We have main job is Accreditation for ISO 9001, 14001 and 22000 etc.

I have one question regardig Food Safety Industry in your country. According to "The ISO Survey of Certification 2008, your coutry is ranked one of top 10 countries fo ISO 22000 certificates (Actually number 2).

* ISO is an International Standardization Organization and they are performing Anual
survey for ISO Management Certification world wide

Regarding the above results ;
Q 1 : Is there any other reason( like ISO 22000 certification is mandatory for food industry or others ?
Q 2 : How many oganization certified for HACCP ?


Regards,

Wooki Baek

[Simon]

Dear Aude

My name is Wooki Baek who living in Seoul Korea. I working for Korea Accreditation Board(KAB). We have main job is Accreditation for ISO 9001, 14001 and 22000 etc.

I have one question regardig Food Safety Industry in your country. According to "The ISO Survey of Certification 2008, your coutry is ranked one of top 10 countries fo ISO 22000 certificates (Actually number 2).

* ISO is an International Standardization Organization and they are performing Anual
survey for ISO Management Certification world wide

Regarding the above results ;
Q 1 : Is there any other reason( like ISO 22000 certification is mandatory for food industry or others ?
Q 2 : How many oganization certified for HACCP ?


Regards,

Wooki Baek

Hi Wooki,

It looks as though Aude is not around right now.

Can any other member from Greece help on this?

Regards,
Simon

[Hillsie]

I am not from Greece but enjoy visiting the country.

They have a very layback attitude about everything. Even more than Australians.

OFF TOPIC:
Caught taxi to Athens airport at 5:00 am. Mercedes travelled at 165 km/h (90 - 95 mph) pass a Police car that did not chase us. The taxi driver said that they don't bother taxis. Other Greeks told me that everyone knows that the laws are there to be broken!