The GFSI Conference

This introductory plenary serves as an exuberant opening ceremony for the first in-person GFSI Conference in two years. Following key insights from the CEO of one of the world’s largest food multinationals, GFSI leadership will explain the organisation’s current agenda in the context of challenges facing the global food supply chain. A key topic in the conversation will be the link between food safety and sustainability, especially as this connection pertains to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. 

Main Plenary Hall

Exhibition Area

Building a Recall Ready Community: Creating a Culture of Transparency, Speed, and Trust

With recalls on the rise in an unpredictable world, building consistency, collaboration and trust across the supply chain will help ensure a safe global food supply.

Managing a recall is a pain point no matter where you are along the supply chain, especially now as companies face resource shortages in an increasingly global market. On their own, companies have built strong recall processes, but the supply chain lacks consistency. A solution is needed for recalls that matches the global scope of today’s supply chain.

As regulators work to create a modernized food safety culture, the industry has the opportunity to build mutually beneficial best practices from the ground up. By leveraging the interconnectedness of the supply chain, we can build a community that is recall ready, with support systems in place to make recalls efficient and effective. In this context, we can implement a recall standard that is truly global and best for everyone.

This session will include a variety of expert perspectives:

Howard Popoola, Vice President of Corporate Food Technology and Regulatory Compliance at The Kroger Company will discuss the importance of communication for consumer safety and brand protection, and how the lack of a global standard and traceability are obstacles we must address as a global community.

Leda Touliatou, Global Quality Compliance Manager at Nestlé will share the importance of practicing mock recalls, defining expectations with suppliers, and developing clear protocols and roles & responsibilities for when a recall occurs.

Roger Hancock, President & CEO of Recall InfoLink will discuss how standardisation and consistency in communication across the supply chain, along with trust and accountability, is key to a more effective recall process.

Lisa Robinson, Vice President, Global Food Safety & Public Health at Ecolab will moderate the session and share expertise in food safety and pest control across industries and across the supply chain – and discuss how the right partner can provide proactive solutions and expertise in times of crisis response.

Plenary Room

Pest Traceability: Monitoring your International Supply Chain

You keep your facility’s standards high, so your pest control program should work as hard as you do. Food distribution is a high-pressure environment, with many opportunities for pests to join in for the ride – especially at an international level.

With shipping delays, labor shortages and supply chain problems, cargo is sitting at ports, in drayage and in storage rooms while waiting to get to their destination. All these added stressors can be opportunities for pests to infiltrate supplies at all stops of the supply chain. Now more than ever, having a partner who can help trace where the pests made their way into your goods will provide you with peace of mind should your supplies be impacted. Your pest control partner should be able to aid your food distribution chain in tracking down where a pest infestation hit your supply chain so the issue can be fixed quickly and efficiently. When you know your warehouse is covered, it’s important to know where in your supply chain the weak link was in the event of a pest invasion.

Let Rollins, Inc.’s Vice President of Quality Assurance and Technical Services, Judy Black, Coca-Cola’s Food Safety Specialist, Ana Caroline Barbosa, and Food Safety Magazine’s Editor, Adrienne Blume, share through their experience how pest traceability can help protect your international supply chain.

Attendees will learn:
• What pest traceability is
• How to ensure their facility is protected against pests
• How pests in the supply chain can be traced by pest control providers
• The types of pests that can and cannot be traced
• How suppliers and documentation play an important role in traceability

Breakout Room

Exhibition Area

“I think you’re on mute!” – Full and Partial Remote Audits, the Resilience of the Food Supply Chain

The global pandemic introduced an immense stress to the global food supply and somehow boosted the world to be more open minded to remote demonstrations, video calls and on-line collaborations.

Studies have shown that Full and Partial Remote audits, when done responsibly, have proven to be a viable and effective conformity assessment tool to “keep food safe for consumers”.

Join our Tech Talk, to taste how this disruption is acting as a sustainable opportunity to ensure and develop auditors’ qualifications, reduce costs and carbon footprint whilst managing risk in the food supply chain.

Presentation Theatre (Exhibition Area)

By now, we assume you have heard about GFSI’s Race to the Top (RTTT), but do you really understand what the framework is designed to achieve, and why this is the here, now and future of GFSI? The RTTT proposes a collaborative enhancement of the oversight of the GFSI ecosystem with the aim of improving trust, transparency and confidence in GFSI-recognised certification and audit outcomes. Additionally, GFSI is seeking to stay true to its core purpose as a benchmarking and harmonisation organisation responsible for the ‘what’ – not the ‘how’ – of food safety. So, join this “Ask GFSI” session to explore the RTTT in more detail and get your questions answered directly by the GFSI team.

Presentation Theatre (Exhibition Area)

Providing safe food for consumers everywhere is a multi-stakeholder task that involves both the private and public sectors, as this plenary emphasises. After Dirk Van de Put, Mondelēz International and Amir Mahmoud Abdulla, Deputy Executive Director, World Food Programme (WFP), share a public-private-sector perspective, they will yield the floor to representatives of UN agencies and intergovernmental organisations such as the World Health Organisation, the Food and Agricultural Organisation, the World Food Programme and the Codex Alimentarius Commission. Delegates will then be invited to make a commitment for the fourth annual World Food Safety Day on 7 June.

Main Plenary Hall

Exhibition Area

Safe Food Needs to be Sustainable Food – Take Charge of the Next Evolution of Supply Chain Risk

‘Sustainability’ is not just about the headline or the product claim, and if it is – product integrity and brand reputation are at risk. Delivering on commitments to safe, sustainable food takes effort.

During this tech talk, Kimberly discusses product safety, sustainability, and the new questions we should be asking. As the risk factors used to assess supplier risk are changing, understand the inter-relationships to be considered and the importance of data and measurable outcomes in the quest for delivering a safe, sustainable food supply.

Presentation Theatre (Exhibition Area)

Explore what food safety looks like around the world in this first-of-its-kind session, which will allow members of the GFSI Local Groups to introduce themselves to the broader delegation through brief presentations, offering glimpses into their respective home bases. The Local Groups are a crucial component of GFSI’s global strategy, providing the regional connections and know-how required to implement food safety objectives on the ground. Each of the groups — collectively representing every continent except Antarctica — will share its business plan, latest achievements and methods for success.

Main Plenary Hall

Exhibition Area

Featuring special guest Sam Quy, Flamenco dancer on BBC Strictly Come Dancing!