About the founder

Dr. Dima Faour-Klingbeil

Director | Principal consultant | Lead Instructor PCQI Human Food

Dr Dima Faour-Klingbeil is an independent researcher specializing in the microbiological safety of fresh produce, food pathogens transmission, food safety systems, and behavioural science in food safety. She is a former research fellow at the University of Plymouth and a research team leader in the centre for rural development at Humboldt University in Berlin.

After 15 years of professional work, Dima enjoyed six years of maternity break raising her two kids when later she decided to pursue her PhD studies at Plymouth, UK. Within a short time after her PhD completion, she has built a reputable academic research record, forged an international network and collaborations with prominent scientists, and acquired in-depth research expertise and familiarity in broad areas of food safety.

Dima brings over two decades of experience spanning private and public sectors, including non-profit organizations, holding managerial and leadership positions in various food industries and as an international food safety consultant and compliance auditor across diverse food categories. She managed operations and staff under challenging, fast-paced environments in the food & health industries, including creating and sustaining business growth, product development, developing & managing food safety and quality management systems, establishing and offering health, safety and food safety training, team coaching.

Drawing on her scientific and technical expertise in food safety and regulatory matters gained through research and professional work, she founded DFK for Safe Food Environment in 2017 in Germany, where she settled with her husband and two lovely kids. Currently, she is the Director of her own business, acting as the principal consultant, lead trainer, and scientific advisor. She is also a compliance auditor for one of the leading gluten-free certification programs globally, the Gluten-Free Certification Organization, covering food industries in Europe, the UK and the Middle East across a wide range of product categories. Dima is fully versed in the EU and FSMA regulatory matters and quality and food safety systems (BRC food standard, ISO9001, ISO 22000, GMP, HACCP, GLOBALG.A.P). She has trained and certified more than 300 food safety professionals as PCQIs and provided advice to several food industries on FSMA matters.

Her recent engagements include leading a research team at Humboldt University, the centre for rural development, and conceptualizing research for an international development project on food safety governance in Tunisia. Before that, as the consultant for the UN ESCWA, she developed an operational framework and a regional food assurance mechanism for setting up the Arab sustainable and Good Agriculture Practices (GAP) certification scheme. This work established the cornerstone and groundwork materials for stakeholders in Jordan and Lebanon for GAP's governance structure and implementation.

Dima served on the FAO/WHO Joint Expert Meetings on Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA)(Experts Roster 2019-2022). She is a qualified lead instructor for the Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance (FSPCA) Preventive Controls for Human Food course, a registered BRC consultant and lead auditor, and formerly an IFST-registered professional auditor mentor across a wide range of food categories. She served in the Membership Assessor Panel of the Institute of Food Science and Technology and is a member of the International Association of Food Protection, the Institute of Food Science and Technology and the IFST's food regulatory group.

Dima is the first author of several scientific articles published in prestigious peer-reviewed journals and an invited speaker at various international and UN meetings (FAO, UN ESCWA, OIC, WHO). She obtained her PhD from the University of Plymouth, School of Biological and Marines sciences, for her research studies on fresh produce safety from farm-to-fork using behavioural and microbiological-based methods to assess risk factors and investigate food safety solutions. She has a BSc. and MSc. in Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, and a diploma in Marketing and Advertising from the American University of Beirut.

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