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GFSI Conference
Programme
This invitation-only workshop brings GFSI Local Group members together for candid discussions on the evolving landscape of food safety auditing. Participants will explore key questions around the future of audit integrity in small-group sessions designed to foster collaboration and real-time engagement.
Location: Breakout 1
Join moderator Isabelle Kumar with GFSI Steering Committee Co-Chairs Howard Popoola of The Kroger Co. and Mark A. Fryling of General Mills, as they reflect on GFSI’s recent progress and address key priorities for the year ahead. This session will spotlight GFSI’s leadership in strengthening audit integrity and provide a forward-looking view of the organisation’s evolving strategy. Setting the scene for Day 2, the discussion will outline the initiatives driving global collaboration and shaping the next chapter of food safety.
Location: Plenary Hall
The food safety auditing landscape is ripe for transformation, with emerging technologies, evolving regulatory frameworks and industry innovations creating unprecedented opportunities to enhance audit effectiveness. This session explores approaches to risk assessment, data-driven inspection methodologies and stakeholder alignment strategies that are reshaping how we evaluate and ensure food safety. Join leading experts as they share solutions, case studies and actionable insights for building audit systems that deliver measurable improvements in consumer protection and industry accountability.
Location: Plenary Hall
Language No Barrier, Science No Guesswork: Scaling Food Safety Culture through AI and Automation
The 2026 GFSI theme, “Food Safety is Everyone’s Business,” serves as a call to action to democratize safety protocols across every level of the supply chain. However, as labor markets shift and kitchen complexities rise, the “human element” remains the greatest variable.
This session introduces how Testo Saveris Food bridges the gap between high-level compliance and frontline execution. We will demonstrate how our latest hardware and software ecosystem removes the friction of language barriers and the inaccuracies of manual monitoring. By integrating Large Language Models (LLMs) and advanced thermal modeling directly into the workflow, we are enabling a culture not only focused on “doing the right thing” but one that where “everything’s done right” is engrained into daily operations.
The Three Pillars of Connected Safety
We will explore how Testo is revolutionizing process controls through three specific technical advancements:
– Pillar 1: Breaking Language Barriers with On-Device LLMs To make food safety “everyone’s business,” everyone must first understand the instructions. We will showcase our LLM-based software functionality that provides real-time, device-level translation. This allows a diverse workforce to interact with complex CCP (Critical Control Point) prompts in their native language, ensuring clarity, reducing training time, and eliminating the “silent risk” of misunderstood protocols.
– Pillar 2: Automated Batch Cooking & Cooling Transitions Manual logging during high-volume production is a recipe for error. We will detail our hardware automation that tracks the entire thermal lifecycle—from batch cooking to multi-stage cooling. By automating the hand-off between these phases, the system ensures that “Time/Temperature Control for Safety” (TCS) foods never linger in the danger zone due to human oversight.
– Pillar 3: Non-Invasive Simulated Internal Product Temperature We’ll dive into the science of simulated internal temperatures, where smart algorithms calculate the core temperature of a product based on ambient conditions to provide a continuous, real-time product profile.
Key Learning Objectives
– Employee Empowerment: Leveraging AI to foster a sense of ownership among non-native speaking staff.
– Operational Efficiency: Streamlining batch cooking and cooling workflows through automated hardware.
– Data-Driven Safety: Utilizing algorithmic simulations to maintain product integrity while ensuring 100% compliance.
Location: Presentation Theatre in the Exhibition Hall
From Disruption to Differentiation: How Collaboration Builds Resilient, Transparent, and Trusted Food Systems
The global food system is being reshaped by converging pressures – fragmented trade, accelerating digitalization, and rising consumer expectations around health, ethics, and transparency. These forces are increasingly interconnected, amplifying risk across supply chains and raising the stakes for consumer protection and public trust.
This session explores how collaboration across the food system – between brands, suppliers, retailers, and certification bodies strengthens shared resilience, transparency, and confidence in food safety outcomes.
Using a real world product example, we follow its journey from farm to shelf to show how trade disruption, digital vulnerability, and consumer trust intersect at each stage of the supply chain.
Participants will examine how GFSI-benchmarked certification, supplier verification, digital governance, artificial intelligence, and cross-functional collaboration support a shift from reactive risk response to proactive risk prevention and trust assurance – reinforcing food safety as a foundational pillar for protecting consumers and supporting a resilient global food system.
What this session delivers for leaders:
• A systems-level view of risk: Understanding how today’s geopolitical, digital, and supply chain disruptions compound food safety risks across the industry
• Practical insights on resilience: How alignment across stakeholders strengthens prevention, preparedness, and response
• Clarity on trust-building mechanisms: The role of certification, verification, and governance in sustaining consumer confidence
• A common language for collaboration: How food safety frameworks enable consistent expectations, shared accountability, and continuous improvement across the food system
• Actionable takeaways: How leaders can better align food safety programs with consumer protection, transparency, and long-term system integrity
Location: Presentation Theatre in the Exhibition Hall
Discover how metagenomics is transforming the future of food safety in this forward-looking session. Industry experts will demonstrate how this advanced technology reveals complex microbial ecosystems, detects unseen contaminants, and reinforces preventive control measures. Through practical case studies, participants will gain insight into how metagenomics enhances food safety diagnostics, supports bio-mapping, and drives continuous improvement throughout the supply chain.
Location: Breakout 1
This session examines how retailers and suppliers work together to uphold food safety long before products reach the store. Experts will explore strategies to strengthen traceability, cold chain integrity and contamination prevention across complex supply networks. Through real-world examples and innovative technologies, participants will discover how data-driven systems and risk-based oversight are enhancing transparency, accountability and trust from source to shelf.
Location: Breakout 2
How Can We Better Contribute to Supply Chain Robustness and Resilience?
The upcoming panel discussion will explore how shifting our collective mindset from reactive management to proactive design and industry collaboration can make food supply chains more robust and resilient. With senior industry leaders sharing concrete examples discussions will especially focus on:
• How to foster safe industry collaboration through the Trusted Third Party model
• How to adopt risk-based approaches in key supply chain verification activities
• How to improve manufacturing performance through quicker and more informed data-driven decisions and simulation
Building a resilient future requires a commitment to transparency and a willingness to share the responsibility of safety. The goal of our GFSI session is to move beyond theory and provide a “collective roadmap for success”.
Location: Breakout 1
Quality and Safety are More Than Just Boxes to Check – Protecting Food. Protecting Your Business. Protecting Consumers.
In today’s global food system, quality and safety cannot be treated as mere compliance exercises. They are strategic imperatives that define brand integrity, ensure consumer trust, and drive business resilience. In an era of complex global supply chains, evolving regulations, and heightened consumer expectations, treating food safety as a compliance exercise is a risk no business can afford. During this session, leaders and experts across industry and academia will unravel the complexities of this concept and discuss how the capacity and desire to change the culture of food safety is a dynamic process. Challenges such as compliance vs. proactivity, extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivation, and the role of data and technology will be discussed. This session will challenge traditional “check-the-box” approaches and explore how leading organizations embed food safety and quality into their culture, operations, and innovation strategies. Attendees will have the opportunity to engage directly with the expert panelists and gain valuable insights tailored to their unique challenges.
Key Takeaways for Attendees:
· Food Safety is a Key Strategy: How embedding food safety into corporate strategy reduces risk, strengthens resilience, and drives growth beyond compliance.
· Moving Beyond “Check-the-Box” Compliance: Treating food safety as a mere regulatory obligation is a high-risk approach in today’s global supply chain environment. The intersection of where regulations, consumer demands and diagnostic tools will be explored.
· Culture Change is Dynamic: Organizations must embed safety and quality into culture and operations, making them intrinsic values rather than afterthoughts. Practical steps for organizations to champion a culture where safety and quality are core business values will be discussed.
· Global Responsibility: Why supporting developing markets is critical – not only to protect vulnerable consumers but also to safeguard global supply chains and brand reputation. How do we influence standardization in these developing regions?
· Transparency Builds Trust: How transparency and accountability translate into loyalty and consumer trust. Perspectives from a Global Food Manufacturer.
Join us to discover how elevating quality and safety from regulatory obligations to strategic priorities can protect what matters most – your food, your business, and your consumers.
Location: Breakout 2
This session highlights how AI is transforming the way the food industry anticipates and manages safety risks. Experts will showcase research innovations and real-world applications of AI in rapid pathogen detection, predictive analytics and contamination prevention. Through industry case studies, participants will gain practical insights into implementing AI-driven quality assurance systems that move food safety from reactive control to proactive protection.
Location: Breakout 1
As demand for recycled content in food packaging accelerates, ensuring food safety and maintaining audit integrity across increasingly complex supply chains have never been more critical. This session examines how stakeholders verify compliance at every step – from confirming the quality of recycled materials to guaranteeing that finished packaging meets safety standards. Amid auditor shortages and overlapping certification schemes, industry leaders will share strategies to preserve trusted controls, strengthen compliance, and keep food safety verification at the heart of circular packaging innovation.
Location: Breakout 2
Join this interactive workshop series designed to foster open discussion and collaboration on the evolving landscape of food safety auditing. Guided by expert facilitators, participants will explore key questions and challenges shaping audit practices of tomorrow. Through inclusive small-group discussions and hands-on engagement, each session will generate practical insights contributing to a post-conference paper that will help define GFSI’s future auditing approach.
*Separate registration is required for the workshop (at no additional cost) and places will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. An RSVP link will be sent to all registered delegates who have completed their registration fee payment.
Location: Plenary Hall
Digital Handwashing, Real-World Impact: Using AI to Uplevel Food Safety Culture through a Case Study
Digital hand hygiene is transforming food safety by enabling real-time verification and behavior change at scale. McDonald’s and PathSpot together will share practical insights on deploying AI-enabled handwashing programs, integrating data with safety systems, and driving team engagement. This joint McDonald’s and PathSpot session brings together a global food safety leader and a technology innovator to demonstrate how AI-enabled, digital food safety systems are transforming safety from a manual, reactive task into a measurable, auditable, and preventive control.
This session highlights the shift from manual checks to technology-enabled compliance, showcasing operator-centric dashboards, AI-driven alerts, and outcomes measurement. The goal is to reduce risks, strengthen consumer trust, and support preventative food safety practices. Christine Schindler, CEO & Co-Founder of PathSpot, will share real-world evidence from deployments of AI-powered hand hygiene verification and analytics, and how these insights integrate with PathSpot’s broader digital food safety platform – including temperature monitoring, labeling, task management, and compliance workflows. Dr. Bizhan Pourkomailian, Global Director of Food Safety, Restaurant & Distribution at McDonald’s, will discuss operational lessons from implementing data-driven food safety programs at enterprise scale, including governance models, frontline behavior change, and ROI. Together, they will map a practical pathway for moving from manual checks to continuous, data-rich assurance – showing how digital signals across hygiene and other critical control points can trigger timely actions, prevent incidents, and strengthen food safety culture.
Location: Presentation Theatre in the Exhibition Hall
Food Safety 4.0: Unifying Quality Operations
From compliance programs to predictive, connected prevention
Food Safety 4.0: Unifying Operations introduces a modern operating model for food and beverage companies seeking to move beyond periodic, compliance-driven programs toward continuous, connected, and predictive control. The presentation highlights how today’s digitally enabled food systems generate constant signals from laboratories, suppliers, sanitation, production, and distribution, which require real-time interpretation and coordinated, enterprise-wide decision-making. It outlines the core principles of Food Safety 4.0, including unified risk analysis, connected intelligence across all quality and safety areas, and early-warning use cases such as sanitation drift, environmental monitoring trends, and supplier-risk detection. The session concludes with a practical roadmap for implementation, emphasizing phased pilots, strong data governance, leadership alignment, and measurable indicators that support prevention, resilience, and faster, more confident responses.
Location: Presentation Theatre in the Exhibition Hall
Join Dr. Donald Prater, Principal Associate Commissioner for Human Foods at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, for an insightful session on the evolving landscape of food safety regulation and oversight in the United States. In his keynote address, Dr. Prater will share the FDA’s strategic vision for enhancing food safety systems, addressing current challenges, and fostering innovation in regulatory approaches. The session will explore critical topics including supply chain security, regulatory adaptation to emerging technologies, and strengthening industry collaboration through initiatives like the Global Food Safety Initiative. Following the keynote, Isabelle Kumar will moderate an engaging Q&A discussion, delving into the FDA’s response to current operational challenges, technological integration in food safety monitoring and strategies for building a more resilient food safety framework.
Location: Plenary Hall
Location: Plenary Hall
19:00: Meet at the Vancouver Convention Centre (VCC) for departure to the official dinner at Science World (1455 Quebec St, Vancouver, BC V6A 3Z7).
Wayfinding staff will be available on-site to assist guests.
22:30: Last transfer departs Science World for the VCC.
