Dr Jan Soon

Jan is one of the leading food fraud researchers and has published over 90 peer-reviewed journal articles and 4 books including the successful reference book ‘Foodborne Diseases: Case Studies of Outbreaks in the Agri-Food Industries’ by CRC Press that is currently used by food safety professionals all over the world. The Handbook of Food Crime of which Jan contributed a book chapter to, was awarded the Choice Outstanding Academic Title in 2018. She also received funding from the Knowledge Exchange (HEIF and Industry Strategy) grant to develop the highly anticipated Food Fraud Prevention and Management – An Online CPD Programme (https://foodfraud.uclan.ac.uk/). Jan was recently appointed as the Register of Specialist for Food Standards Agency, UK and is also the technical expert in the Early Warning Rapid Alert Horizon Scanning group with the United Nations of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Rome, Italy. Jan has received fundings from British Academy, QR-GCRF, Knowledge Exchange Fund (HEIF & Industrial Strategy), British Retail Consortium, Newton Mobility Grant and GB Sasakawa Foundation.

Jan has a strong blend of academic and practitioner-based skills in the area of food safety management systems. She has experience working in highly demanding food manufacturing environment and managed the main food processing team, conducted food safety training, developed HACCP manuals, led mock-up / simulated product recall practices and 3rd party audits. Jan decided to join the academia after completing her MSc degree and was the course leader for the BSc in Food Security programme in one of Malaysia’s main agri-food universities. Whilst in Malaysia, Jan was the Chief Secretariat for the South East Asian regional conference on Food Security and the Head of Research Cluster. Under her supervision, her students successfully developed a biodegradable biofilm made from agricultural wastes - My Jelastics (TradeMark No. 2013017299) and won numerous awards at the International Engineering Invention & Innovation Exhibition and the International Exposition Research and Innovation in Education, Malaysia. Since joining UCLan, she’s won a number of early career researcher awards i.e. the 2017 and 2018 Newton Fund Researcher Links Networks and 2015 Young Investigator Award by European Food Safety Authority. She has subject expertise in modules such as Foodborne Diseases, Research Methods in Food Safety, Managing Food Allergy and Intolerance, Food Processing and Preservation and Current Issues in Food Safety. Jan is also the CPD leader for the new Food Fraud Prevention and Management – An Online CPD programme. In addition to being an expert in the above subjects, Jan has acquired a breadth of operational and technical experience to deliver online courses over 4 years. She has a thorough understanding of the challenges of distance learning faced by professional practitioners, especially among matured, full-time working professional who had left academia for a number of years. Jan wholeheartedly provides full academic and technical support to all campus-based and distance learning students to ensure a fully-rounded student experience whilst inspiring our students to develop as critical thinkers and autonomous learners. She has experience in supervising undergraduate and postgraduate research in the area of food safety, nutrition and food science.