Having identified the need to add more value to Scotland's primary products and identify and access new markets, SAOS created the Food Integrity Assurance business to work more closely with producers on quality assurance.
FIA's key operational staff and wider team of more than 50 farm assessors and processing auditors, based throughout Scotland, all have significant experience of delivering quality assurance schemes. The team works with farmers to underpin and promote brands and provide reassurance to consumers of provenance, highest standards of production, animal welfare and wellbeing, to deliver a quality eating experience.
FIA’s business aim is to support, develop and build on Scotland’s key credentials of truly sustainable food production, that is climate-friendly and supportive of our unique rural environment. The ambition, to provide a service focused on true collaboration with Scottish farmers and producers, is evident in the decision to employ dedicated Scottish Area Managers, who support assessors and members, not only through an audit, but all year round.
The FIA business was set up in October 2021 by SAOS, the agri co-op and food/farming supply chain expert organisation.
Part of the SAOS ‘stable’, as with the ScotEID livestock traceability system established with industry and Government in 2008, FIA runs entirely autonomously, with its own Board, management team and independent accreditation through UKAS.
SAOS is a co-op, owned by around 60 member co-operatives whose collective turnover is around £1.5 billion. The Society was established in 1905 to further co-operation in Scottish agricultural organisations. Over the years, whilst co-ops have remained key to SAOS’s work, this remit has expanded to explore and convert wider opportunities in food and drink supply chains, technology, innovation, data, and climate change response. The need to work more closely with Scotland's primary producers and add more value and benefits to them and their supply chains, led to the creation of FIA.
FIA's certification operations are bound by strict rules and regulations. You can read/download these below.
Our team
Our team
FIA’s Board of Directors is chaired by Uel Morton, who has extensive knowledge of the farming and food sector, and an innate understanding of the vital role farm assurance has in underpinning Scottish brands. He is joined by arable farmer, Anne Rae MacDonald; Dunbia's Business Public Relations Director (UK), Isla Roebuck; Food Standards Scotland Deputy Chair, Louise Welsh; and assurance and accreditation specialist, Steve Belton. Completing the Board are dairy farmer and SAOS Vice Chair, Rory Christie; and SAOS Chief Executive, Tim Bailey.
Our team
Our team
FIA’s Board of Directors is chaired by Uel Morton, who has extensive knowledge of the farming and food sector, and an innate understanding of the vital role farm assurance has in underpinning Scottish brands. He is joined by arable farmer, Anne Rae MacDonald; Dunbia's Business Public Relations Director (UK), Isla Roebuck; Food Standards Scotland Deputy Chair, Louise Welsh; and assurance and accreditation specialist, Steve Belton. Completing the Board are dairy farmer and SAOS Vice Chair, Rory Christie; and SAOS Chief Executive, Tim Bailey.
Current Vacancies
Certification Manager