LVA introduces: The management team of LVA GmbH

Mr. Philip Siegel has been working as Managing Director of LVA GmbH since September 2022. He originally comes from the sector of food production, most recently as Managing Director at Vivatis subsidiary Senna Nahrungsmittel, and is an insider of the industry. His career began in 1999 at Unilever. After holding several positions in Austria and abroad, the father of two was appointed Category Director Foods at Unilever and then Managing Director of Upfield – a subsidiary of Unilever.

Commenting on his new role, he says: “For me, LVA is the Austrian milestone in quality management. Since 1926, dedicated people have been working here to help Austrian food producers to achieve top quality. We are the partner for Austrian trade and industry and can make an important contribution to product quality through state-of-the-art analysis methods and a top team of food experts, auditors and hygiene experts. Austrian companies are doing a great job and we are proud to guide and accompany customers with our experts through the often complex issues in product safety, certification and labeling.”

In addition, the management team of LVA GmbH has been strengthened by Mr. Helmut Rost as Technical Director and Mr. Christof Schwaiger as head of the certification and inspection since September 2022.

Helmut Rost has been working in the area of food analytics for nearly 30 years. Since 2003 he held leading positions in different food laboratories. From 2008-2012 he developed a food lab from the scratch in China, then he returned to Europe as Managing Director for the eurofins group in Berlin. From 2016-2018 he had the position as Managind Director at LVA GmbH. Afterwards, he was responsible for the Analytical Services and the production of reference materials at Romer Labs from 2018-2022. In these times he obtained successfully the accreditation of reference materials according to ISO 17034. In September Helmut Rost started his role as Technical Director at LVA GmbH.

„LVA GmbH has an outstanding position in terms of spectrum activity in Austria. There is no other food laboratory in Austria that is as broadly based and performs most analyses on site. It is an unique challenge to develop steadily this portfolio together with the team. By this LVA is the food lab of first choice for the Austrian food industry. We develop a matchless and future oriented cooperation together with food expertise, certification and inspection.“

Christof Schwaiger was employed at the Lebensmittelversuchsanstalt from 2003 to 2012, later at the successor organization LVA GmbH. There he held the position of Head of the Certification and Biocontrol Body and was Operational Manager of ISACert Austria. This was followed by a move back to the food industry to fresh dough manufacturer Wewalka as Head of Central Quality Management. From summer 2019 to April 2022, Christof Schwaiger was Head of Quality Management at Werner Lampert Beratungsges.m.b.h, responsible for the quality assurance of the products of a leading Austrian premium organic brand. As of September 2022, LVA GmbH has been able to win him back as well.

“During my work in the food industry, I had to take responsibility for all possible aspects of the topic of food safety in various tasks. I have always been able to rely on LVA as a competent and helpful partner.”

We are proud to have three experts in their field and connoisseurs of the industry at the top LVA management and thus to continue the success course of LVA GmbH and constantly to take up speed.