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VANCOUVER, 26th MARCH 2026 — Following two days dedicated to operational excellence and proactive risk prevention, Day 3 provided a roadmap for turning vision into action. Today’s sessions centred entirely on the human element of food safety.
Driving food safety culture from the boardroom to the consumer
Opening the discussion, Dirk Van de Put, Chairman and CEO of Mondelēz International, established that safety must be a non-negotiable boardroom imperative. He underlined how top-down leadership commitment fosters genuine resilience, trust, and accountability throughout an organisation.
To demonstrate exactly what is at stake, Vanessa Coffman of Stop Foodborne Illness opened the next panel by reminding leaders why food safety culture matters: to prevent human tragedy. Because preventing these failures requires a rigorous framework, Professor Carol Wallace outlined the “what” of a solid food safety culture, unpacking the core research within GFSI’s newly updated A Culture of Food Safety Position Paper. Bianca Kolln of Mars and Julian M. Cox of UNSW Sydney demonstrated how to bring this framework to life, embedding safety into daily operational accountability and memorable team communication. Together, this panel provided actionable strategies for fostering employee accountability, driving continuous improvement, and protecting consumers.
Automating compliance: digital innovation in food service and allergen control
While earlier sessions explored predicting global supply chain threats, today’s discussions zeroed in on using digital innovation to automate risk control where food is actively handled, prepared, and served.
In the fast-paced food service sector, managing a massive retail footprint requires a complete shift from reactive oversight to proactive prevention. Representing over 140,000 restaurants globally, Eduardo Martinez Debeza of Restaurant Brands International, Robert Prevendar of Yum! Brands, Samantha Zepp of Starbucks, and Alex Hoang of Chipotle Mexican Grill revealed how they are deploying predictive technology to automate hazard control.
They demonstrated how tracking non-traditional operational metrics—such as equipment sanitation cycles and regional sales peaks—allows them to actively anticipate risks.
This same drive for digital prevention anchored the allergen panel, where experts including Deann Akins-Lewenthal and Simon Flanagan (Mondelēz International), Joseph Baumert (University of Nebraska) and Jasmine Lacis-Lee (Mérieux NutriSciences AQ & Allergen Bureau) explored how emerging technologies are enabling more proactive, automated and compliant allergen management. By leveraging data-driven tools, the industry is successfully moving away from manual oversight to automate allergen management and secure end-to-end traceability.
Bolstering consumer confidence: science-based storytelling and crisis communication
Whether proactively shaping a positive narrative or reacting to a severe outbreak, clear and authentic communication is an executive’s most powerful tool.
Setting the stage for this critical capability, Wendy Reinhardt Kapsak (International Food Information Council) delivered an inspiring keynote on using science-based storytelling and authentic transparency to restore consumer connection.
Building directly on this foundation, broadcaster Isabelle Kumar and Julian M. Cox (UNSW Sydney) led an intensive masterclass equipping executives with the practical tools needed to navigate severe outbreaks and intense media scrutiny. Through hands-on exercises, participants practised managing high-pressure interviews and crafting compelling storylines across broadcast, print, and social media
Rethinking food safety auditing
Throughout the conference, the interactive Future of food safety auditing workshops brought the community together to tackle the evolving landscape of food safety certification. The central aim of these sessions was to foster open discussion and hands-on collaboration to generate practical insights that will help define GFSI’s future auditing approach.
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to 160 moderators and participants who volunteered their expertise to address three foundational questions: overcoming obstacles to universal recognition, embedding continuous improvement within the ecosystem, and strengthening how audits support risk management.
Your collaborative problem-solving is essential to this ongoing evolution and will contribute directly to a post-conference paper. Please watch this space for the full workshop outcomes in the coming months.
Looking ahead: join us in Amsterdam
As we bring the GFSI 2026 Conference to a close, we would like to extend our sincere thanks to the speakers, executives, and participants who drove such critical conversations this week.
This milestone event would not have been possible without the invaluable support of our sponsors.
The drive to secure consumer trust and build proactive, resilient supply chains continues. We look forward to building on this year’s incredible momentum and welcoming you to the next GFSI Conference, taking place in Amsterdam from 8–11 March 2027.