Food Industry Professionals Around the World Encouraged to Attend Major GFSI Conference to Advance Food Safety

• Annual GFSI Conference from 23 – 25 March will bring together over 500 food industry leaders, government representatives, IGOs and food industry stakeholders from over 60 countries
• Food industry professionals across public and private sectors will reflect on an unprecedented 12 months and discuss solutions to shared challenges
• Event to take place virtually for first time, making it even easier for attendees across the globe to take part

PARIS, 2nd March 2021 — The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), part of The Consumer Goods Forum and the world’s largest network to help achieve safe food for people everywhere, is encouraging food safety professionals around the globe to join the virtual annual GFSI Conference from 23 – 25 March.

The interactive three-day forum, now in its 20th year, is gearing up to convene hundreds of experts, decision makers and innovators from over 60 countries to share food safety best practice and encourage ongoing collaboration and action. Following an unprecedented 12 months for the food and beverage industry, this year’s theme is ‘Rethink, Reset, Recharge’.

Attendees will hear inspiring examples of leadership, ingenuity, and innovation, with expert speakers providing insights to address common challenges – helping to achieve the shared goal of safe food for consumers around the world. Senior leaders and experts from Amazon, HelloFresh, The Coca-Cola Company, Mars, Incorporated, Cargill, Target, PepsiCo,Walmart, Queen’s University Belfast, Georgia University of Technology and the World Health Organization are among those delivering talks and presentations.

The Conference will explore the most urgent topics in food safety – from Covid-19, supply chain disruption and public health, to building trust and transparency with consumers, as well as best practises, leading innovations and technologies set to shape the future food safety. The wide-ranging speakers include renowned experts and academics, CEOs, public authorities, industry leaders, innovators and grassroots professionals.

Erica Sheward, Director of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), said:“Collaboration to ensure safe food for consumers everywhere and sustainable food systems has never been more critical – and this event provides a major opportunity to learn from an unprecedented period and move forwards in the best possible way. We’re excited by the chance to help colleagues across the industry build on the ingenuity, resilience and dedication shown by the food industry over the past 12 months.”

“With the Conference taking place virtually for the first time, it’s easier than ever before for food industry professionals to get involved – and we’re urging people from all corners of the globe to ensure they’re part of this unique and collaborative forum. Food safety is everyone’s business, and we must continue to work together to build consumers’ trust in the food they buy.”

GFSI has set up bespoke online networking features to ensure attendees can establish new connections across the global community and strengthen existing relationships.

As part of the interactive conference experience, attendees will be able to create personalised virtual versions of themselves, which they can move around a 3D immersive site to meet and mingle with others – no matter where they are in the world.

Highlight sessions and speakers across the three-day programme include:

• Leading in times of crisis with Dirk van de Put, Chairman & CEO, Mondelēz International
• The evolution of E-Commerce: How Covid-19 has impacted food safety operations – including insights from Amazon’s Head of Food Safety EMEA
•  Covid-19, Public health and food safety: A call for leadership and resilience – with the Assistant Director-General of UHC/Healthier Populations at the World Health Organization
• The frontier of food safety: New science, discoveries and innovations – with Mars, Incorporated
• Doing the right thing: Food Safety Trust and Transparency – with the Director General of Consumers International and the University of Oxford
• Auditing tomorrow with Yunling Zheng from Cargill
• Keynote Speech from Dr Andrew Steele, Scientist and Author of Ageless: The New Science of Getting Older Without Getting Old

This year’s event also includes all-new sessions such as ‘Ask GFSI’ Q&A panels on the final day – giving attendees the chance to put a wide range of topics directly to the GFSI leadership to hear their views on key issues. The official conference partner is Ecolab.

To find out more about the Conference and register to secure your ticket, visit: mygfsi.com/events/gfsi-conference/

The GFSI is a landmark initiative of The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), a global industry network working to support better lives through better business.

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For more information contact georgie@forster.co.uk or paola@forster.co.uk

Notes to Editors

Visit GFSI on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Facebook to be the first to hear updates and new programme confirmations.

About the Global Food Safety Initiative

The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) brings together key actors in the food industry to collaboratively drive continuous improvement in food safety management systems around the world. With a vision of safe food for consumers everywhere, food industry leaders created GFSI in 2000 to find collaborative solutions to collective concerns, notably to reduce food safety risks, audit duplication and costs while building trust throughout the supply chain. The GFSI community works on a volunteer basis and is composed of the world’s leading food safety experts from retail, manufacturing and food service companies, as well as international organisations, governments, academia and service providers to the global food industry. GFSI is powered by the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), a global industry network working to support Better Lives Through Better Business. For more information, please 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 3.5 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 58 manufacturer and retailer CEOs. For more information, please visit: www.theconsumergoodsforum.com.