Meet the MFI Alumni - Laura Natalia Fernández Cedi

My time in France, Italy, Romania and Spain during the Master Food Identity studies didn't’ get me a job in the world of Geographical Indications, but it did take me to where I am now, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

It all started when I was looking for an internship to obtain the master’s degree and, by chance, I found a document written by Nuria Ackerman and Fabio Russo, a senior industrial development officer from UNIDO. The document was a guide to create a quality consortium needed to register a product with a geographical indication. I asked them if I could do my internship with them and in February 2013 I started working in the Clusters and Business Linkages unit of the Business Investment and Technology Services branch.

After writing my thesis and presenting my exam in Angers, I went back to Vienna and started to look for a job. Because of a policy of the organization, it was not possible to stay in UNIDO right after the internship, so I needed to look for other options. I had a look at the website of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is in the same building as UNIDO, trying to look for a possibility that could help me to stay in Austria. To my surprise, the Nuclear Applications department of the IAEA had a laboratory doing research on products with different geographical origins to protect the producers of those products by proving their authenticity with the use of nuclear techniques. I sent my application and started a second internship, this time in the laboratory, in September 2013.

But in January 2014, by request from the director of the Trade Capacity Building branch of UNIDO, I came back to the organization and started to work as an International Consultant. With the objective of helping developing countries access global markets, the TCB branch fostered standardization, quality, accreditation, metrology and conformity assessment services. Hence, my responsibilities were to provide support in projects with a component in Food Safety. Although I had a university degree in Food Engineering, the first two years were a learning period. During this time I wrote reports and work plans, made financial analysis and performed administrative tasks in SAP. But in the third year, with the opportunity to travel to Tanzania, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives to visit African Food Companies working to obtain ISO 22000 certification or to find Food Safety gaps in the Asian countries with the support of the Standards Bureaus or the Food and Drugs Authorities of the countries, I decided to specialize on the topic and become an auditor on food safety management systems.

Even though I am no longer directly working on local products and geographical indications, my passion for food has remained the same as when I started with the Master Food Identity. It's just that I do believe that the most important characteristics of any food product are its safety and its quality, and of course, that this quality is proven.

Laura Natalia Fernández Cedi. Food Identity 3rd cohort.

Expert on Food Quality and Project Management.

United Nations Industrial Development Organization.