Dr. Rashed Abdulrahman Alarfaj was recently appointed the vice president for health, security and standards control at Saudi Airlines Catering Co. (SACC).

He is responsible for the effective implementation of policies and procedures for hygiene and food safety, laboratory management, quality management, safety management, security management, and enterprise risk management.

Before joining the SACC, he was the executive director of monitoring and risk assessment at the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA).

At the SFDA he made a major contribution to establishing an international risk assessment advisory committee as well as an international forum for the heads of food agencies.

Alarfaj has been a chairman of many committees, including the National Committee for Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures where he represents the Kingdom at the World Trade Organization between 2018 and 2021, and the Gulf Food Safety Committee, where he also represents the SFDA between 2017 and 2021.

In 2019 he was selected as a reviewer at the Journal of Food Control, while in 2020 he was nominated as a board member at the Global Food Regulatory Science Society.

Alarfaj has had multiple papers published in international scientific journals in the area of food safety and risk assessment. His last paper — “The occurrence and dietary intake related to the presence of microplastics in drinking water in Saudi Arabia” was published in the Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Assessment.

Alarfaj has a doctorate in food science and technology from the UK’s University of Reading.  He has a master’s degree in food science and quality assurance from the same institution and a bachelor’s in biochemistry from King Saud University.