Mr Lawrence Low is a food safety consultant. He started his company, Gourmet Food Safety Consultancy, three years ago after having worked in the industry here and in China for more than 14 years.
He has since taken on two full-time and one part-time staff.
Said the holder of a master's degree in food technology from the University of Reading in Britain: 'Three years ago, I found that there were not too many consultants who truly specialised in food safety.'
The 37-year-old notes that Singapore's lack of raw materials drives up manufacturing costs. He sees a challenge for the food industry, which needs to be competitive, yet maintain high safety standards.
His clients, mostly large food manufacturers, hire him to review their plants and set up a system of processes to help meet food safety requirements from the authorities like the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority in Singapore.
With a high demand for food safety auditors, he notes that the industry has attracted its fair share of fraudsters.
'Anyone who comes in can self-declare himself as a food-safety consultant. People join because they see this as a money-generating area but their background is IT or electrical and mechanical engineering,' he said.
He earns between $10,000 and $15,000 monthly during 'good months', when he handles about three to four clients at a time.
There are months too without any client.
Mr Low feels that accreditation makes a difference to ensuring a good reputation.
He is an approved auditor under the International Register of Certificated Auditors (UK) and one of only four registered HACCP consultants - assessed and approved by the Singapore Institute of Food Science and Technology - in Singapore.
HACCP, or Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, is a production-monitoring process that aims to identify and reduce hazards in food production.
