The Global Food Safety Conference, the most important event of the year for food safety, has commenced today in Tokyo, Japan. Organised by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), the event sees 1,200 food industry delegates from 52 countries gather to discuss the most important issues and trends in food safety. The key focus of this year’s press conference, taking place just before the opening plenary session, is Public-Private Partnerships. The announcements illustrate GFSI’s leadership in encouraging more collaboration between government regulators and the private sector in advancing food safety and creating better lives for consumers everywhere.  

Collaboration with governments

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) formed the central theme of this year’s press conference, which took place just after the third edition of the Government to Business (G2B) meeting, which saw officials from across the world gather to discuss the latest opportunities for food safety collaboration between the public and private sectors. At this year’s G2B meeting, the GFSI Board of Directors were joined by 40 organisations representing 25 countries and five IGOs. Paul Mayers, Vice-President of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Canada, Mika Yokota, Director, Food Industrial Corporate Affairs Office of the Food Industry Affairs Bureau and Mike Robach, Chairperson of the GFSI Board of Directors, chaired the meeting.

The press conference saw new partnerships announced, enabling the public and private sectors to drive progress on operational approaches to food safety culture and expand capacity based on the GFSI’s Global Markets Programme - a framework for implementing robust food safety systems in developing markets.

Helping the industry implement food safety systems

GFSI is committed to supporting the development of food safety in developing economies, and this year’s GFSI press conference featured a series of announcements relating to the provision of financial incentives for small- to medium-sized FMCG businesses in developing regions. It also featured statements on new guidelines covering the implementation of strong food safety and quality processes, especially with regard to third party auditing.

Mike Robach, Chairman of the GFSI Board and VP, Corporate Food Safety, Quality and Regulatory Affairs, ‎Cargill, stated, “This year’s Global Food Safety Conference marks a turning point for strengthening relationships between governments and the private sector. As Chair of the GFSI Board, I am proud to see the growing dialogue GFSI is leading. This kind of public-private collaboration is unprecedented. 10 years ago this would have been almost unthinkable but the support we’re seeing around the world now is signalling a big, positive change”.

Read more about these announcements on mygfsi.com:

Global Food Safety Conference 2018: Governments and Businesses Meet to Form Partnerships on Advancing International Food Safety

Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) Signs Partnership with Chilean Food Safety and Quality Agency, ACHIPA

Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) Announces Global Partnership with International Finance Corporation

GFSI Unveils its New Benchmarking Requirements, Strengthening FMCG Supply Chains

-ENDS-

For further information, please contact:

Lisa Prévert
Communications Manager
The Consumer Goods Forum
l.prevert@theconsumergoodsforum.com 

The Consumer Goods Forum

The Consumer Goods Forum

The Consumer Goods Forum ("CGF") is a global, parity-based industry network that is driven by its members to encourage the global adoption of practices and standards that serves the consumer goods industry worldwide. It brings together the CEOs and senior management of some 400 retailers, manufacturers, service providers, and other stakeholders across 70 countries, and it reflects the diversity of the industry in geography, size, product category and format. Its member companies have combined sales of EUR 3.5 trillion and directly employ nearly 10 million people, with a further 90 million related jobs estimated along the value chain. It is governed by its Board of Directors, which comprises more than 50 manufacturer and retailer CEOs. For more, please visit: www.theconsumergoodsforum.com.

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