The National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) recently presented Remco’s own Amit M. Kheradia with its prestigious dual certification credential, Registered Environmental Health Specialist/ Registered Sanitarian (REHS/RS). Kheradia is currently the Education/Technical Support Manager at Remco, where he works as a part of the Hygiene Team that presents webinars, white papers, and articles on food safety topics. He also provides technical advice, support, and training on food safety to our internal team, customers, and end users.
The honor of conferring the REHS/RS credential by NEHA began in 1937. According to NEHA, the REHS/RS credential holders must “demonstrate competency in an impressive range of environmental health issues, directing and training personnel to respond to routine or emergency environmental situations, and providing education to their communities on environmental health concerns.”
Performing environmental health surveillance, conducting inspections and investigations, and providing environmental health information are among these certification-holders’ main responsibilities. Additionally, they are key members who ensure communities’ compliance with local, state, and federal environmental health regulations.
“Attempting and passing the NEHA REHS/RS exam was no mean task. It involved extensive research on the key environmental health topics and intensive reading,” Kheradia said. “My key subjects of interest were food protection and workplace safety, but I had to also know about wastewater treatment, potable water supplies, solid waste management, recreational water maintenance, and so on. The aim of the credential is to create well-rounded EH Generalists grounded in specific, robust, and relevant concepts that can be applied at regulatory, industry, and/or community levels.”
The REHS/RS credential is among several recent accomplishments for Kheradia.
He has over 18 years of experience in food safety, quality, and processing technology, and has worked for various SMEs and Fortune 500 companies in North America and Africa. He possesses a Master of Science degree in Food Safety and Quality Assurance, and has numerous qualifications and competence in process analysis, quality inspection, lean, and six-sigma. He is also conversant with HACCP, U.S. and Canadian regulations, global food safety standards, the latest Food Code, and Retail Food Program Standards.
Prior to joining Remco, Kheradia had worked with the quality department for Conagra Brands, a Fortune 500 company. He also owned a management consulting business, Talevas Quality Consultants, that offered food safety & quality systems development and training services to small-scale food businesses in North America.
Kheradia has published well-cited articles in peer-reviewed journals on quality management model development and U.S. food safety regulations, and, on behalf of Remco and Vikan, he has presented webinars, posters, and talks at various food professional forums. As a food safety professional, he is also an active member or participant in several organizations, including the IAFP, CFP, AFDO, 3-A SSI, and NEHA.
“The REHS/RS certification should complement and augment our company’s customer-centric goals and objectives on food safety culture, hygiene and sanitation, workplace safety, and environmental sustainability, the kind of must-haves that we as a team are truly passionate about,” Kheradia said.
About NEHA and REHS/RS Credential
The National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) originated in California, where it was incorporated in 1937. The original impetus behind the creation of a national professional society for environmental health practitioners was the desire of professionals of the day to establish a standard of excellence for this developing profession. This standard, which has come to be known as the Registered Environmental Health Specialist/Registered Sanitarian (REHS/RS) credential, signifies that an environmental health professional has mastered a body of knowledge (which is verified through the passing of an examination), and has acquired sufficient experience to satisfactorily perform work responsibilities in the environmental health field. The pioneers of the association believed that such a credential was necessary if the environmental health field were to grow and take shape as a legitimate and widely respected profession.
NEHA serves 5,000 members to advance environmental health and protection professionals to provide a healthful environment for all. Professionals who earn a Registered Environmental Health Specialist/Registered Sanitarian credential from NEHA are recognized as having achieved an established standard of excellence. More information about the organization is available at neha.org.
