GFSI Newsletter - MyGFSI - Global Food Safety Initiative · a falling domino effect by ultimately impacting many ... after a single test result indicated that hydrolyzed vegetable

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Welcome from the GFSI Chairman – Jürgen Matern, Vice President Regulatory Affairs & External Relations QSHE, Metro AG

Welcome to the latest update from the Global Food Safety Initiative.

On behalf of the GFSI Board of Directors, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who attended the Global Food Safety Conference in February in London. The event was our biggest yet, your feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and we are already planning next February’s conference in Orlando using your comments and suggestions as a starting point.

Our annual GFSI Stakeholder meeting held ahead of the conference allowed participants to provide their input into the GFSI strategy and specifically into the work of the GFSI Auditor Competence Technical Working Group.. A survey carried out among stakeholders ahead of the meeting revealed that ensuring a harmonized total supply chain approach to food safety should be GFSI’s priority over the years to come, more details on the outcomes of this important meeting that drives the GFSI strategy can be found in the following pages.

The GFSI Technical Working Groups also met ahead of the conference, with two new working groups being launched to define and develop scopes of recognition in relation to the food packaging and animal handling sectors, as well as the key elements that shall be in place in the Guidance Document for the recognition of related schemes by GFSI. We look forward to sharing the progress in these and other new working groups in this and future newsletters.

We have had a reshuffle within our Board of Directors and two of our Directors have stepped down. More details can be found in the next pages but I would particularly like to thank Cory Hedman, Director, Corporate Food Safety at Meijer and Johann Züblin, Deputy Head Issue Management and Sustainability at Migros, for their long-standing commitment to GFSI in their position on the Board over the last years. We wish them all the best in the next phase of their working lives. I would also like to extend my sincere gratitude to Cindy Jiang of McDonald’s for her dedicated service as Vice-Chair over the past few years. She will remain on the GFSI Board but will be replaced as Vice-Chair by Cenk Gurol from AEON Global SCM, Japan.

As you can see there is a lot to accomplish in the year ahead, and I look forward to sharing the latest developments with you on a regular basis through this newsletter.

Update from the GFSI Chairman

GFSI Newsletter April 2011

ReCent GFSI AChIeveMentS

GFSI released its GFSI Guidance Document Sixth Edition in January, available for download on www.mygfsi.com

Over 745 people attended the Global Food Safety Conference in February in London, UK, an event which serves in part to showcase the latest developments of GFSI

GFSI launched two new technical working groups focusing on the food packaging and animal handling sectors

GFSI welcomed two new Board Members, Zaotian Wan, Vice President of COFCO Corporation, China and Mike Liewen, VP Global Quality Assurance for Yum! Brands, USA. Cenk Gurol, General Manager, SCM Re-engineering Department of AEON Global SCM, Japan accepted to replace Cindy Jiang, McDonald’s as GFSI Vice-Chair.

ContentsConference Column ............................................................................... 2

Global Food Safety Conference: Special Focus .......................... 5

Sponsor higlight ..................................................................................... 7

Partner Column ....................................................................................... 8

GFSI Board Governance Update .....................................................10

GFSI Guidance Document Sixth edition ......................................11

GFSI Stakeholder Meeting ................................................................12

technical Working Groups Update ................................................13

Upcoming GFSI events .......................................................................14

Past GFSI Presentations .....................................................................15

Upcoming GFSI Presentations .........................................................16

2 GFSI Newsletter April 2011

If someone were to ask you, what does Pulse Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE), Social Media, Food Ingredients, and Behaviour all have in common, what would your answer

be?

According to experts at the Global Food Safety Conference held in London in February - they all are linked to food safety in today’s interconnected, global food system.

By all accounts, the 10th Annual Global Food Safety Conference, themed Creating a Global Food Safety Culture, was GFSI’s best conference ever. In attendance were more than 750 food safety experts representing over 60 countries from around the world.

As I listened to various speakers at the conference, it was clear to me that the way we get our food from farm to fork, the food system, has evolved into an increasingly complex global network interdependent on many businesses, sectors, and individuals. In other words, today more than ever at any time in human history, food safety is a shared responsibility. And while there is no question that today’s food system has provided consumers with a more diverse supply of convenient, accessible, and economically affordable foods, these trends have resulted in both benefits and some new risks. Achieving food safety success in this changing environment requires going beyond traditional training, testing, and inspectional approaches to managing risks. It requires a better understanding of emerging issues, organizational culture, and the human dimensions of food safety.

Pulse Field Gel electrophoresis (PFGe), Social Media, Ingredients, & Behaviour

CONFERENCE COLUMN

2 GFSI Newsletter April 2011 GFSI Newsletter April 2011 3

Accordingly, let me quickly share just a few important trends highlighted at this year’s conference and what I believe they mean to food safety.

Foodborne Disease Surveillance – Public health capabilities continue to improve in the US and abroad and are making the invisible visible. Foodborne disease surveillance systems, such as Pulse Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) coupled with FoodNet (the ability to take genetic fingerprints of microbial isolates and put them on the information highway to see if there are matches in other parts of the country) is leading to an enhanced ability to detect illnesses that are linked, and often times, those illnesses are traced back to a common food as the source of infection. In fact, some of the biggest outbreaks detected in the U.S. and abroad over the past few years would have likely gone unnoticed several years ago. And public health professionals are just scratching the surface, with even further enhancements possible in the years to come. To prepare for the future of food safety, prevention must outpace detection. Adoption and adherence to prevention-based global food safety standards is a good first step towards winning this race.

Information technology & Social Media – The revolution in information technology and social media is having an influence on society and culture. When it comes to food, it is playing a role too. In fact, some believe that it is accelerating our ability to detect potential food safety issues and have them reported in a broad, protective way. As food safety professionals, our job is to win the race between using information technology and social media to detect and report food safety problems vs. preventing them. To illustrate this point, let me share the results of an interesting study. In 2008, there was a widespread outbreak of Listeriosis in Canada linked to a deli meat manufacturer in Toronto. Last year, a retrospective study of on-line searches for the term «listeriosis» reveals that they spiked several weeks before that summer’s outbreak of illnesses was revealed to the public, an article reviewing Internet-based disease surveillance systems shows. In fact, it was reported that searches for the term “Listeriosis” from all five Canadian provinces peaked the week before the manufacturer announced a recall of listeria-contaminated luncheon meats and federal authorities warned the public of the outbreak. Researchers infer that a public health surveillance system that monitors searches of health topics on Google and other search engines might have sounded an early warning. In other words, in the near future, trolling for related bits of health information, a termed coined “infodemiology”, may detect foodborne outbreaks faster than traditional epidemiology, health, and regulatory reporting.

Ingredient Driven Outbreaks & Recalls – Over the past few years, the food system has seen a growing phenomenon involving ingredient-related food outbreaks and recalls that appear to have a falling domino effect by ultimately impacting many other food products. For example, in 2009, an outbreak involving peanut paste produced by a single supplier that processed approximately 2% of the peanuts in the U.S. ultimately resulted in 3,913 different food products being recalled ranging from institutional peanut butter to health food bars to dog treats. As yet another example, last year, after a single test result indicated that hydrolyzed vegetable protein,

an ingredient often used as a flavor enhancer, produced by a single manufacturer, may be contaminated with Salmonella, over 150 different food products were recalled. Given recent advancements in the food system’s ability to track and trace and consolidation of food production, some experts believe this trend of expansive ingredient-containing recalls will continue to grow in importance. To prepare for the future of food safety, expect food producers to not only ensure that they have adequate control over their own production processes, but they’ll begin to demand similar controls further upstream of their ingredient suppliers, introduce validated interventions where appropriate, or reformulate their food products to eliminate riskier ingredients.

human Behavior & Culture - In the field of food safety today, there is much documented about specific microbes, time/temperature processes, post-process contamination, and HACCP – things often called the hard sciences. There is not much published or discussed related to human behavior and culture – often referred to as the “soft stuff.” However, if you look at foodborne disease trends over the past few decades, it’s clear that the soft stuff is still the hard stuff. We won’t make dramatic improvements in reducing the global burden of foodborne disease, especially in certain parts of the food system and world, until we get much better at influencing and changing human behavior (the soft stuff). Think about it. If you’re trying to improve the food safety performance of an organization, industry, or region of the world, what you’re really trying to do is change peoples’ behaviors. Simply put, food safety equals behavior. To prepare for the future, food safety success will require going beyond traditional training and inspectional approaches to managing risks. It will require a better understanding of organizational culture and the human dimensions of food safety.

Throughout the conference, I was delighted to meet so many of you – our members – food safety professionals from all over the world. As I did, I couldn’t help but think that the future of food safety looks very bright. Never before in history have we, as a profession, been so well suited to advance food safety through innovation, leadership, research, and collaboration.

In closing, please note that we’ve already started making plans for next year’s conference scheduled for February 15 – 17 2012 at the Grand Hyatt Cypress Hotel, Orlando, Florida. Next year’s theme will be “Advancing Food Safety through Collaboration.”

Until next time, thanks for reading and be safe!

Frank Yiannas Vice President - Food Safety Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

GFSI Newsletter April 2011 3



SPECIAL FOCUS

With acknowledgement to the following for their contribution to the Conference report which will be shortly available:

Chris Anstey, Independent Consultant, UKSteve homer, Managing Partner, Biospartners, UKJoseph Kitchen, Intern, UK

GLOBAL FOOD SAFEtY CONFERENCE 2011

‘Creating a Global Food Safety Culture’

The Consumer Goods Forum welcomed 745 delegates from 60 countries worldwide to the Global Food Safety Conference in

London. The annual event, now in its tenth year and returning to Europe after its first North American event in 2010, has established itself at the centre of the world food industry’s policy work on food safety. The programme is planned by The Forum’s long standing programme for harmonisation, The Global Food Safety Initiative. What started in 2000 with a group of retailers believing that a shared approach to food safety policy would deliver safer food for consumers has changed into a global network of professionals across the food industry that includes brand manufacturers and food service companies. The 2011 event also saw significant growth in the representation of policy makers from public authorities and academia from around the world. The regulators have definitely engaged with the private sector.

Frank Yiannas, Vice President, Food Safety and Health, Wal-Mart Stores, had welcomed the delegates to the event by explaining the conference theme ‘Creating a Global Food Safety Culture’: “A food safety culture is how and what the employees in an organisation think about food safety. It’s the food safety behaviours that they routinely practice and demonstrate.”

16th - 18th February 2011 / Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel - London, United Kingdom


“I’m on the Advisory Board of the GFSI but this is my first conference. I’m surprised at the quality of the networking and this meeting is truly global. For this movement to succeed we must achieve a consensus. the hard piece is now regulatory, because the industry is most of the way there now.”Richard Linton, Professor of Food Science, Purdue University, USA

“I’ve been coming for a few years now because this really has helped our international development projects. GFSI has created a single voice, that’s made an incredible difference to our work.”Les Bourquin, Professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, USA

“It’s my first conference. I feel that as a South American, with our rapidly growing exports, we must join in this conversation about food safety with the rest of the world. I shall be attending the forthcoming GFSI focus event later this year in Sao Paulo, Brazil.”Adriana traslavina, Leader of Quality Private labels, Exito Group (Casino), Colombia

QUOteS FROM DeLeGAteS

“I think the performance of the food industry in their collaboration through GFSI is excellent. their work on convergence is driving simplicity in a complex world.”Kevin McKinley, Deputy Secretary General, International Standards Organisation, Switzerland

“It’s my first GFSI conference and I’m impressed. there are people from so many different cultures and so much knowledge is shared. It’s a great thing to see the public and private sectors working together because this really helps us to develop effective regulations.”Mariam harib Al Yousuf, Executive Director, Policy & Regulation Sector, Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority, Government of Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.

What is the Global Food Safety Conference?

This unique annual event brings together over 745 leading food safety specialists from over 60 countries around

the world to advance food safety globally. It provides the opportunity to meet and network with industry peers, share knowledge in break-out sessions, benefit from thought-provoking presentations from internationally reputed industry

experts and use the conference experience as a source of innovative ideas to implement in your workplace. Next Year’s edition will be held in Orlando, USA from the 15th to 17th February 2012 under the theme: “Advancing Food Safety Through Collaboration”.

Download the 2011 conference summary from www.mygfsi.com


The advent of mobile internet has brought people and

information together in ways little imagined just a few years

ago. One in three consumers today owns a smartphone — people are connected everywhere, all the time. This perpetual information feed, continually updated and shared with peers and the wider public via social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, is effective at spreading awareness of food safety incidents. But if the industry is not actively part of that sharing process, then the network spreads mainly fear and confusion.

The fact is that, as supply chains have spread out across the world, eco-conscious consumers are increasingly concerned about the provenance, quality and safety of their food. Trusted information can be hard to come by and as a result, consumers are disconnected from the products they buy for their families. As retailers increase the penetration of their own private label products in assortments, the origins of products can become even more opaque for shoppers, leaving them with more questions than answers: Who really made this? Where did the ingredients come from? Did one of the factories also process nuts or gluten?

Consumers want a simple way to access product data they can trust. What more efficient way to achieve this than by scanning product barcodes with their

smartphone? Retailers operating on Trace One now have a very simple way to implement this for their private label products. Trace One and GS1 have collaborated to enable retailers to put information about their private label products, such as provenance, allergen and nutritional content, directly into the hands of shoppers. Thanks to this collaboration, the product information that retailers enter into the Trace One centralised database can be delivered to consumers via GS1’s barcode identification system and CodeOnLine application. The joint initiative allows a seamless delivery of information at the point of sale, protecting both brand value for industry players and the health and wellness of consumers.

For more information, email us at [email protected]

trace One and GS1 collaborate to increase consumer loyalty in the era of mobile technologies

GFSI Newsletter April 2011 7


two Sessions hosted by Diversey Focus on Impact of Social Media and technology on Food Safety Industry

Today’s connected, fast-paced and technology-focused world is creating new opportunities and challenges for the food safety industry. As social media revolutionizes how information is shared and spread across communities and as new technologies such as nanotech,

biotech and irradiation influence how we track and manage our global food supply, the food safety community is focusing efforts to learn more about these emerging trends. At the 2011 Global Food Safety Conference, two sessions hosted by Diversey provided participants with new insights in both areas.

BReAKFASt SeSSIOn: Social Media Communities Impacting the Industry at Large

Headlining this social media breakfast session were two noted experts in the field: Robbie Vorhaus, internationally recognized

management consultant and crisis communication expert, and Jean-Jacques Vandenheede, senior retail industry analyst for The Nielsen Europe specializing in mapping the changes that affect the grocery retailing industry.

Much of the session focused on a recent incident in the U.S. involving salmonella contamination at the Peanut Corporation of America, which resulted in five deaths and more than 400 reported illnesses. As a result, the company issued a recall for products over a six-month period in 2009.

What made this particular case study unique was the significant spike in attention it drew in the social media universe. Consumers used a variety of social media channels to discuss the recall. The FDA Peanut Butter Recall widget was used 1.4 million times in nine days, and appeared on more than 5,000 different websites. FDA’s Peanut Butter Recall blog received over 14,000 total page views within a month of the recall announcement.

Vorhaus encouraged session participants to embrace the changes taking place in social media in light of its influence on recent product recalls. “If you’re a market driven company, social media is a tool to listen. You want to listen. You may not always like what you hear. But if you’re intent is to grow and be a market leader, you need to be willing to take the risk,” he said.

Vandenheede also encouraged participants to look at how their companies are using social media before a crisis because “sharing examples of positive things going on with the product improves your credibility when things are in crisis.”

ShAPInG the FUtURe OF FOOD SAFetY WIth neW teChnOLOGIeS: nanotechnology, Biotechnology and Irradiation

The symposium session on emerging technologies was moderated by Bob Gravani, professor of Food Safety at Cornell University in the

U.S. He was joined by Qasim Chaudhry, Principal Research Scientist, the Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA), UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the U.K., Suresh Pillai, Professor and TAES Faculty Fellow, Texas A&M University in the U.S., and Martin Wiedmann, Associate Professor, Department of Food Science, Cornell University.

Each panelist focused on a different aspect of technology and how it continues to drastically change traditional food production and distribution methods. Nanotechnology, food irradiation and the use of biotechnology in food production are shaping the food industry and impacting the way business is done in many parts of the world. As these technologies continue to be adopted globally, gaps in consumer understanding are starting to cause a social debate about their potential risks.

Martin Wiedmann encouraged the food safety community to continue emphasizing the benefits of technologies so consumers have the right context for why they are becoming necessary. “Every technology has some potential risks,” he said. “We do a good job of highlighting the benefits, but we don’t want to talk about the risks. If we present the benefits and risks together, and explain it, then consumer perception will improve.”

Suresh Pillai added, “There is a shared responsibility. Consumers need to be more proactive in demanding safe food. The governments need to understand that we are moving in a very fast environment and they need to respond.”

The interest and active discussion on both topics at the Conference reinforced the growing influence of technologies of all kinds – on the food safety industry and the need for continuing education and understanding of how they’re changing the way it operates.



GFSI GOVERNANCEnew Members of the GFSI Board

Mike Liewen is the Vice President Global Quality Assurance for Yum! Brands, USA. Mike joined Yum! in 2006, after a 17 year career with General Mills.

Wan Zaotian is the Vice President of the COFCO Corporation, China. Prior to his current position, he was Deputy General Manger of China National Fisheries Corp., and Deputy General Manager of China Grain & Oils Group Corporation.


GFSI Guidance Document Sixth edition

The GFSI Guidance Document Sixth Edition was released on 5th January, the culmination of a year of work by the

GFSI Technical Working Groups and global stakeholders who provided their input and comments during two consultation

rounds. Over 1600 comments were received and integrated into the sixth edition of this document, released in an entirely new 4-section format:

Part I – the Benchmarking Process

Specifies the process by which food safety schemes may gain recognition

Gives guidance to schemes seeking compliance

Part II – Requirements for the Management of Schemes

Specifies the requirements to be put in place for a food safety scheme seeking recognition by GFSI

Part III – Scheme Scope and Key elements

Key elements for production of safe food

Part Iv - Glossary of terms

A list of key terms and definitions used throughout the document

All schemes which are currently recognized against the Fifth Edition (2007) will maintain their recognition by GFSI until 31st December 2011. All of these schemes have been invited to reapply for full benchmarking to the Sixth Edition. More information can be found on www.mygfsi.com.

GFSI Board Chairmanship

Yves Rey, Corporate Quality General Manager, Danone and current GFSI Vice-Chair has been appointed Chairman Elect to replace GFSI’s current Chairman, Jürgen Matern, Metro AG in February 2012.

GFSI Board vice-Chairmanship

Cenk Gurol, General Manager, SCM Re-engineering Department, AEON Global SCM will replace Cindy Jiang, Senior Director - Worldwide Quality, Food Safety and Nutrition at McDonald’s in her position as Vice Chair, effective immediately. Cindy Jiang will continue to serve on the GFSI Board of Directors.


GFSI Stakeholder Meeting

Stakeholders indicated that the release of the Guidance Document Sixth Edition on 5th January

of this year was GFSI’s biggest achievement. The global expansion of GFSI came in second with, in 2010, the annual conference and a GFSI Focus Day in the US as well as a workshop in Brazil. Further events in both China and Japan testify to the increasing expansion of GFSI around the world where there is a need for more information on how the GFSI principles can be practically applied in a business situation. GFSI’s third most acknowledged achievement was continuing to drive the acceptance of GFSI-recognised schemes throughout the supply chain, and as GFSI continues to expand globally this work will become even more key to ensuring a global and industry-wide approach to managing food safety.

When considering what keeps them awake at night, the most important issue that stakeholders identified is ensuring a harmonised total supply chain approach to food safety. This includes the need for addressing food safety issues related to specific sectors such as packaging, transport and distribution and feed, among others, to ensure that there is a solution to managing food safety along the entire supply chain. The second most common issue among stakeholders was product testing, particularly dealing with allergens, pathogens and contaminants. And thirdly came an issue which regularly appears in the top issues for GFSI stakeholders, that of auditor competence.

GFSI’s key focus area for the next five years according to stakeholders is auditor competence, and meeting attendees were asked to provide their input on the work of the GFSI Auditor Competence Technical Working Group during the meeting (see GFSI Stakeholder Meeting Report on www.mygfsi.com) so that the feedback can be circulated to the group. The harmonization of recognized schemes came in second and the publication of the new Guidance Document will ensure further convergence between schemes by raising the bar. The third focus area was to provide an integrated supply chain approach for managing food safety, and GFSI has already launched its packaging and animal handling working groups and will soon launch working groups on feed and transport and distribution.

Over 300 people attended the GFSI Stakeholder meeting in London on 16th February 2011. Prior to the meeting, stakeholders were sent a survey and asked to provide their feedback about GFSI via the following questions:

1. What do you consider were the major achievements of GFSI in 2010?

2. What are the top 3 food safety issues that you are dealing with right now in your business?

3. What are the 3 critical areas that GFSI should focus on in the next five years?


technical Working Groups Update

Animal handling

The mandate of this newly established working group is to review current best food safety practice in relation to Animal Handling (excludes animal welfare) and define and develop the scope of recognition and the key elements that shall be in place for the recognition of Animal Handling food safety requirements by GFSI in the GFSI Guidance Document Part III – Scheme Scope and Key Elements. The working group will also be review and define the competence of auditors and the duration of audits. The group hopes to have the final draft of the document ready for final review during its May meeting, in time for a Board review over the summer.

Auditor Competence

This working group held its second meeting in London, and continued to draft its document incorporating technical food safety competencies to identify the skills and knowledge required by food safety auditors auditing each of the elements identified in the scheme scopes in the GFSI Guidance Document Sixth Edition. The next steps for the working group are to complete mapping of competencies against the key elements in the Guidance Document, review generic auditing competencies, integrate competencies with task analysis, develop methods for acquisition and assessment of competencies and review options for the publication and management of competencies.

Global Markets Primary Production

The GFSI Global Markets Primary Production Working Group confirmed the basic level checklist during the February meeting which is now ready for piloting and continues to finalise the intermediate level checklist and draft the assessor guidelines. The final draft versions of the checklists will be finalized by the May meeting so that the documents for the GFSI Global Markets Capacity Building Programme – Primary Production can be ready for a planned release by the end of 2011.

Global Markets Manufacturing

The GFSI Global Markets Manufacturing Working Group is nearing the end of its initial mandate, with the GFSI Global Markets Capacity Building Programme – Manufacturing documents ready for release shortly pending a legal review by GFSI. In the February

meeting the group developed a plan for regular revision of the documents to ensure that they meet industry requirements and reviewed the protocol which underpins the programme for a final time.

Global Regulatory Affairs

The GFSI Regulatory Affairs Working Groups continued with its final review of its series of

documents and position papers relating to third party certification entitled

“Enhancing Food Safety Through Third Party Certification”. The

various documents provide an overview of GFSI and

certification, provide a thorough explanation of the GFSI Guidance Document, outline the certification and accreditation framework and highlight the perceived barriers to acceptance of third party certification

and its role and benefits in managing food safety. The documents will be released in the spring.

Guidance Document

Following the release of the Guidance Document, this

working group was tasked with discussing the development of a

benchmark committee member training course. Materials for webinars, the development of basic training materials, examples and case studies will be collated and drafted for comment by the working group in May, as well as procedures for the maintenance of the benchmarking committee register.

Packaging

The mandate of this newly established working group is to review current best food safety practice in relation to the manufacture of food packaging and define and develop the scope of recognition and key elements that shall be in place for the recognition of packaging food safety requirements by GFSI in the GFSI Guidance Document Part III – Scheme Scope and Key Elements. They will also be reviewing and defining the competence of auditors and the duration of audits. The group has identified as its scope the manufacture of packaging, packaging materials, packaging components in the form of raw materials, part processed, semi converted, converted or fully finished packaging materials and products. The group hopes to have the final draft of the document ready for final review during its May meeting, in time for a Board review over the summer.


GFSI AROUND tHE WORLD Upcoming GFSI events

7th CCFA Food Safety Annual Conference in partnership with GFSI

13-15th April 2011, Hangzhou, China

GFSI Focus Day

2nd September 2011, São Paulo, Brazil

Japan Food Safety Day

11th October 2011, Tokyo, Japan

Global Food Safety Conference

15 – 17th February 2012, Orlando, USA


Past Presentations

International Conference on Innovations in Food Processing and Ingredients towards healthy India

4th and 5th January 2011, Mumbai

Jan Kranghand, External Strategic Infrastructure, Metro AG and Marc Cwikowski, Senior Manager Commercialization, Quality and Product Integrity, The Coca-Cola Company, presented in a session entitled “Quality Standards and Regulatory Aspects”. Marc presented the FSSC 22000 and the way that The Coca-Cola Company has implemented this GFSI-recognised scheme in its business, and Jan presented the GFSI Global Markets Capacity Building Programme and how Metro is using it to source locally from markets around the world.

northwest Analytical Webinar

11th January 2011

Dr. Tatiana A. Lorca, Manager, Food Safety Education and Training for Ecolab, Inc gave a presentation on “Process Improvement with GFSI Compliant Management Systems” during this webinar. The Compliant FSMS webinar series examines how food processors can deal with regulatory and commercial requirements such as ISO 22000 and the GFSI recognized food safety management systems. Dr. Tatiana Lorca discussed the GFSI and how their benchmark and recognition process drives improvement and cost efficiency, including:

What is the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI)?

How the benchmark and recognition process drives improvement and cost efficiency across the food supply chain

How the GFSI requirements incorporate the principles of the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle into the recognized programs and thus help drive improvement within a certified business.

Four of the most widely used food safety management systems (SQF, BRC, FSSC and IFS) and their requirements highlighted from a process improvement perspective.

A recording of the webinar can be viewed on the NWA website

(http://www.nwasoft.com/FSMSWebinar3.htm).

Grüne Woche

21st January 2011, Berlin

Grüne Woche is "the world's biggest fair for food, agriculture and horticulture" and Catherine Francois, Director of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), Jürgen Matern, VP Regulatory Affairs & External Relations QSHE, Metro Group and GFSI Board Chairman and Stephan Tromp, Managing Director IFS & Deputy Secretary General German Retail Federation presented in a session entitled “Food Safety – a Global Approach”. The session highlighted how GFSI is working to raise the bar for food safety worldwide, and also focused on how the GFSI Global Markets Capacity Building Programme is building food safety capacity among small and/or less developed businesses. Jürgen Matern showed how Metro is using the programme for local sourcing in numerous markets. Stephan Tromp presented how IFS, one of the GFSI-recognised schemes currently used in more than 90 countries, can help suppliers maintain consistently high food safety standards.

Safe Food Canada

24th February 2011, Ontario

Cindy Jiang, Senior Director, Worldwide Quality, Food Safety and Nutrition for McDonald’s and outgoing Vice-Chair of the GFSI Board presented at this food safety conference which attracts over 200 senior management professionals. She presented an overview of GFSI and in particular how she would see the new Guidance Document Sixth Edition having an impact on all stakeholders including certified or soon-to-be certified facilities.

Sixth Dubai International Food Safety Conference

27th February - 2nd March 2011, Dubai

This conference, organised by the Food Control Department of Dubai Municipality, has as its theme “Food Safety in Emerging Economies – What is Reliable, Achievable and Sustainable”. Catherine François, Director of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), presented an overview of GFSI and demonstrated the effectiveness of implementing the GFSI principles in the supply chain for companies, shown through company surveys. Only a small percentage of companies still associate increased cost with GFSI implementation, and GFSI will continue its work on outreach and education in the global marketplace.

Indiana Food Safety & Defense task Force Meeting

16th March 2011, Indiana

Rena Pierami, Division VP of Technical Services at Silliker, Inc presented on behalf of GFSI, providing a general overview of the initiative and how the GFSI principles operate in the accreditation and certification context. The meeting attracts a mix of industry members, state, local and federal government attendees and law enforcement, healthcare, and trade associations.


Upcoming GFSI Presentations

MBC QUALItY MAnAGeMent ShARe GROUP

4 – 5th April - Chicago O’Hare hotel, Chicago, ILL

LeAnn Chuboff Technical Manager, SQFI, Food Marketing Institute

RALCORP QUALItY COnFeRenCe

4th – 5th April - St Louis, MO

Rena Pierami Division VP of Technical Services, Silliker, Inc.

OZARK FOOD PROCeSSORS ASSOCIAtIOn AnnUAL COnventIOn

5th – 6th April - Holiday Inn Convention Center, Springdale, Arkansas

Rena Pierami Division VP of Technical Services, Silliker, Inc.

FOOD PACKAGInG teChnOLOGIeS SUMMIt

5th -7th April - Hyatt Regency, St. Louis, MO

neil Marshall Director Quality and Food Safety, The Coca-Cola Company

PetFOOD FORUM

13th April - Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel, Schaumburg, IL

Frank Yiannas Vice President, Food Safety & Health, Wal-Mart Stores

FOOD SAFetY SUMMIt

19th - 21st April - Washington DC Convention Center, Washington DC

Mark Overland Manager, Global Certifications, Cargill Inc

Carmen Knolle Sr. Quality Manager, Manufacturing, H-E Butt Grocery Company

WORLD COnFeRenCe On QUALItY AnD IMPROveMent

16th - 18th May - David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Pittsburgh, PA

Jim van ells Technical Manager, Food Safety Certification Systems, NSF International

Documents

GFSI Newsletter - MyGFSI - Global Food Safety Initiative · a falling domino effect by ultimately impacting many ... after a single test result indicated that hydrolyzed vegetable