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Meet the Sirocco Team

The Sirocco team comprises talented food safety professionals who have known Karine for a long time. The Sirocco team boasts 50+ years of combined food safety expertise.

Sean, Helen and Karine have ties with the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada) where they completed graduate degrees in Food Science.

Sofia and Karine met in Vancouver (Canada) during an accredited food safety training course taught by Karine. We are all passionate about food, science and technology. We are also a pretty international group with strong ties to our home countries. We conduct business in English and in our native languages (French, Mandarin & Cantonese Chinese, and Spanish).

Karine Lawrence Principal Food Safety Consultant/Instructor

  • Master of Food Science degree

  • Diplôme d’ingénieur (specialized in agri-food industries)

  • Certified SQF Trainer & Consultant

  • Certified HACCP Professional

  • BC VQA Wine Assessor/WSET Level 2 Certificate Holder

Karine Lawrence, Founder and Principal Consultant of Sirocco Food + Wine Consulting, has worked for the wine and food industry for over 20 years and brings expertise in Food Safety, Sensory Analysis and Regulatory Compliance. Since the inception of Sirocco Food + Wine Consulting in 2014, she has provided research and consulting services to food and wine industry stakeholders in Canada and the United States. Karine’s specialty is SQF and HACCP certification programs. Her wine research projects have been published in Consumer Science and Strategic Marketing: Case Studies in the Wine Industry (Woodhead Publishing, 2019). Current partnerships include working with the BC Beverage Technology Access Centre. She is a Lead FSPCA instructor (human Food) and Certified SQF Trainer & Consultant. Karine holds a Master of Food Science degree as well as a diplôme d’ingénieur (specialized in agri-food industries). She is a certified HACCP professional and a BC VQA Wine Assessor/WSET Level 2 Certificate Holder.

“Hailing from France, I have always had a passion for food and gastronomy. I love helping small and medium food businesses become food safety compliant and successful in business. I enjoy teaching and mentoring young food safety professionals.”

Sean Xia Food Safety Consultant

  • Master of Food Science degree

  • 9 Years of hands-on experience in the Quality Assurance and Operations field

Sean Xia is currently working in the seafood industry as a plant manager and providing consulting services. With a master’s degree in food science, strong quality assurance skills 9 years of hands-on experience in the quality assurance and operations field, Sean provides insights into the development and maintenance of food safety management systems with an operational point of view. Sean believes that a successful quality assurance system must be well integrated to the business supply chain and inventory management systems. Combined with the adoption of lean manufacturing principles, a quality/food safety management system should help improve the company’s objectives while meeting regulatory requirements. With years of experience working with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), Sean understands the principles of developing and implementing an effective preventive control program. Sean is familiar with HACCP and GFSI certification schemes, as well as Kosher, Organic, Oceanwise and BAP certification requirements.

“An old Chinese saying goes “food comes first for the people”, food strengthens our presence and nourishes our future. Knowing that people will consume safe food and that I contributed to that makes my day.”

Helen Xie Food Safety Consultant

  • Master of Food Science
  • Bachelor of Biological Engineering
  • Over 7 years of hands-on food safety and quality management experience
  • Fluent in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese

Helen Xie, the newest member of Sirocco consulting group. Helen is a seasoned professional with over 7 years of hands-on experience in establishing food safety programs and quality management systems for companies scaled from start-up to large corporate. She has proven experience to help companies achieve excellent scores under different audit schemes (including BRC, SQF, PrimusGFS, CanadaGap, Organic, etc.). Her expertise includes but is not limited to gap food safety/ quality audit, initial facility evaluation, due diligence evaluation for companies’ merge and acquisition, employee training. Helen holds a Master degree of Food Science and bachelor’s degree in Biological Engineering.

“Food safety safeguards the business to success.”

Sofia Copado Food Safety Consultant

  • BSc in Food Science

  • Fluent in English and Spanish

  • 9 years of industry experience

With a BSc in Food Science, Sofia Copado has been working in the food industry in Canada since 2013. Her roles have covered new product Research and Development, Quality Assurance and SQF Systems. Over the years, Sofia has implemented food safety and quality control programs for various food processing operations. She has helped businesses achieve and sustain certifications including SQF, HACCP, Organic and Gluten Free. She has a broad experience in Project Management, Research, Product Development, Regulatory Compliance and CFIA label reviews including Nutrition Facts tables, special claims, allergen and ingredient declarations. Sofia is fluent in English and Spanish.

“I enjoy helping companies grow their business by helping them with better food safety controls and accessing new opportunities”

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