Tim Smith appointed industry chair of Food and Drink Sector Council

The government on Tuesday announced the appointment of Cranswick chairman Tim Smith as the new industry chair of the Food and Drink Sector Council.

Smith will share the role with the government chair, Food Minister Victoria Prentis. He takes on the role from outgoing co-chairs Terry Jones and Ian Wright.

The Food and Drink Sector Council is a formal industry partnership with the government which works to address challenges faced by the sector and build a more productive and sustainable food and drink system. The council will also take the on the role of delivering some of the measures outlined in the recent Food Strategy for industry and the government.

“Tim brings an unrivalled experience of the food and drink sector from his time across a number of different organisations and a fantastic enthusiasm to drive forward the council’s agenda of meeting the challenges currently faced by the industry at large,” Prentis said.

“I want to thank out-going co-chairs Ian Wright and Terry Jones for their expert direction – taking the council through the difficulties of the Covid pandemic and our ongoing recovery.”

Smith commented: “The food and drink sector is facing challenges which are unprecedented in my time. It is imperative that industry and the Government continue to work in partnership to ensure we have a food system fit for the future.

“The Food and Drink Sector Council must help provide the strategic oversight to create that system and I’m delighted to take on the role of industry co-chair. I look forward to working with the ministerial co-chair to identify the key issues facing the sector and to find practical actions to address them.”

For over three decades Smith had leading roles as chief executive with manufacturers in the food sector including Northern Foods, Sara Lee, Express Dairies and latterly Arla Foods. In 2008 he became Chief executive of the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

From 2012 until 2017, Smith was group quality director at Tesco. He then acted as a senior adviser to retailers and manufacturers until joining Cranswick, a leading UK food producer and supplier of premium, fresh and added-value food products.

He has served as a non-executive director at Cranswick for three years and since May 2019 has been a non-executive director at Pret A Manager. He sits on the boards of the University of Leeds, Farm Africa and other charities. Recently he has been the chairman of the government’s Trade and Agriculture Commission.