The China Food Safety & Quality Conference and Expo
Beijing 12-13 September 2007
The following article is adapted from a report kindly provided by Donna Kippax at FACTA Australia. Rob Sherlock from FACTA Australia was a speaker at the conference, and presented on allergens and allergen management. View the official CIFSQ 2007 conference report.
This inaugural conference attracted more than 1000 delegates from 72 countries. In the opening ceremony Li Changjiang (Minister, General administration of quality supervision, inspection and quarantine) stressed China's role as a responsible partner in ensuring the safety of the global food supply. Presentations from other Chinese and US officials included representatives from the World Health Organisation, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation, and the US Food and Drug Administration. Frank Yiannas (President, International Association of Food Protection, and Director, Food Safety and Health, of the Walt Disney World Corp) highlighted how far we have come with food safety issues over the centuries, and how we are still striving to provide safe and nutritious food that fits our needs and lifestyle.
Most speakers stressed the importance of meeting safety & quality standards both locally and when exporting for the sake of everyone's health. It is an issue that affects every person as we all have to eat!
The afternoon was broken down into 5 categories:
- Microbial Food Safety Hot Topics
- Food testing developments
- Food safety Management
- Risk/Crisis communications
- Food safety vendor seminars
The afternoon sessions were a lot more specific and hopefully informative for the local industry trying to get up to speed with testing requirements. It has become clear that meeting all the standards for different groups and countries can be very challenging and confusing, with everyone having different requirements.
The second day included presentations by officials from CODEX, EFSA and SGS. Australia's own Karen Mocatta spoke on HACCP. David Silverstein, the CEO from Breakthrough Management Group in the US, spoke on his views about concentrating on making the processing perfect to eliminate the need for testing as much as possible by knowing your product is safe.
Rob's presentation at the end of Day 2 was well-attended, with the president of China Entry-exit Inspection & Quarantine Association, Ge Zhirong amongst the audience. Her talk was jam-packed with information on allergens, ensuring there was relevant information for the variety of people attending. However, we got the feeling perhaps the local companies had many other issues to tackle before addressing allergens.
Overall the consensus was that although China has a long way to go to achieving a food quality that meets standards around the world, they are starting to take steps in the right direction by hosting the conference and expo. I think we are well aware of the potential China has to supply the rest of the world with food products in the future; however, it is in our best interest that we all help to ensure the quality of these products.
