GFSI Steering Committee Meets to Share Progress in Advancing Food Safety Best Practice

PARIS and BARCELONA, 28th March 2022 – The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) will today conclude a three-day Steering Committee meeting examining the organisation’s progress over the last year as a Coalition of Action of The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF). The Coalition represents the food industry’s commitment to food safety and its 22 Steering Committee members are focused on building the governance system’s rigour while increasing transparency for members.

Urgent action is needed to meet the needs of a growing global population and address critical challenges in the global food safety chains. The SteerCo will outline how it is advancing food safety best practice, encouraging partnerships across the industry, building trust and transparency with consumers, and showcasing leading innovations and technologies set to shape the future of food safety.

The agenda included:

• An update on Race to the Top Framework progress
• Recommendations for continued uptake of the GFSI Benchmarking Requirements
• The latest revision and updates to GFSI’s Governance rules
• Applications to the Steering Committee
• Presentation of the Government to Business engagement plan and progress

The Coalition is building on GFSI’s 21 years of experience in helping to raise the food safety bar globally. Their ambition is to strengthen and harmonise food safety systems and develop markets that can deliver food safely, no matter where in the world the consumer is.

Wai-Chan Chan, Managing Director of The Consumer Goods Forum, said, “The CGF Board has been clear in its ambition to drive change further and faster. It has been rewarding to watch the GFSI Coalition of Action grow, and we are witnessing already how the model and commitment to collaboration and transparency is helping to shape food safety across our industry.”

While many individual companies and organisations share a similar goal, GFSI’s focus is on enabling the extensive collaboration that is so critical to safe food – involving food retailers and manufacturers, but also suppliers, the agriculture industry, academics, governments and many other stakeholders across the world.

As part of the governance model, GFSI welcomed a number of members to its Steering Committee last year. Their role is to shape the direction of the Coalition and help deliver its mission of driving collaboration between retailers and manufacturers and ensure an open and transparent relationship with key stakeholders. The GFSI Steering Committee members are:

• Barbara Masters, Tyson Foods
• Cliona Murphy, PepsiCo
• David Rasmussen, Kraft Heinz
• Howard Popoola, The Kroger Co.
• Hugo Byrnes, Ahold Delhaize
• Kazuaki Miyagishima, Aeon
• Mark Fryling, General Mills
• Michael McDonald, Mars, Incorporated
• Monique Pellegrino, Danone
• Natalie Dyenson, Dole Food Company
• Natalia Sommer, Magnit
• Natasha Matyasova, Nestlé
• Nelum Vithana, Cargills
• Pierre de Ginestel, Auchan
• Ray Bowe, Musgrave
• Roy Kirby, Mondelēz International
• Sara Mortimore, Walmart
• Sean Leighton, Cargill
• Tom Wiester, Starbucks
• Tracy Burton, Unilever
• Vaneska Mattos, Loblaw Companies Limited
• Zoltan Syposs, The Coca-Cola Company

GFSI will continue to review new applications to join the Steering Committee on a routine basis, and retail and manufacturing members of The Consumer Goods Forum are welcome to apply to be part of this exciting CGF Coalition of Action on Food Safety.

Howard Popoola, Vice President – Corporate Food Technology and Regulatory Compliance at The Kroger Company, and Co-Chair of the GFSI Steering Committee, said:
“We believe the right to safe food is a basic human right, but we cannot deliver this alone. Collective action and engagement across the entire supply chain is critical, so we welcome those who wish to engage and partner with the global GFSI Community to support food safety advancements. We are looking forward to all being together again this week at the GFSI Conference as we mark one year since the establishment of the Coalition of Action.

“Myself and my peers on the Steering Committee are proud of the work GFSI has achieved and the growing trust and influence of the GFSI brand. My priority remains to co-lead with transparency and continued collaboration with the expert leadership team, whilst implementing the Race to the Top Framework to help drive continuous improvements in the food safety system.”

Roy Kirby, former Global Director – Microbiology, Food Safety and Toxicology, Mondelēz International, and Co-Chair of the GFSI Steering Committee, said:
“As a team, we are promoting collaboration as the way forward to improve safe food everywhere. We’ve come a long way in the last year and given the challenges we have faced it’s a real tribute to all who work in the area of food safety.

GFSI is driving improvements in food safety certification programmes; building food safety capabilities across the global food supply chain; and providing a platform for public-private partnerships, including governments, food safety regulators and IGOs. Food safety is everyone’s business, and by working together we will continue to raise the bar in the service of consumers everywhere.”

Erica Sheward, GFSI Director at The Consumer Goods Forum, said,
“The global GFSI Community will continue to be a powerful group in supporting food safety advancements and we look forward to coming together this week at the GFSI Conference to reflect on all that we have learned and to catalyse even greater collective action.”

ENDS

For more information please contact: Lisa Prévert Senior Communications Manager, The Consumer Goods Forum.

About the Global Food Safety Initiative

• The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI; the Coalition) is a CEO-led Coalition of Action from The Consumer Goods Forum, bringing together 37 retailers and manufacturers and an extended food safety community to help oversee food safety standards for businesses and help provide access to safe food for people everywhere.
• As one of the world’s largest networks to help achieve safe food, GFSI is committed to making food safety everyone’s business and the Coalition members are addressing challenges facing food safety systems in their supply chains and the markets they operate in and are helping to raise the food safety bar globally.
• Its ambition is to strengthen and harmonise food safety systems so they are able to feed the growing, global population and develop markets that can deliver food safely, no matter where in the world the consumer is.
• To learn more, visit www.mygfsi.com.

About 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 4.6 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 55 manufacturer and retailer CEOs.
• For more information, please visit: www.theconsumergoodsforum.com.