Recapping The 2016 GFSF Annual Summit

By Rick Gilmore, chairman, Global Food Safety Forum

This year’s Global Food Safety Forum (GFSF) summit was special in many respects, not the least of which was the site itself. The Yanqi Lake Convention and Exhibition Center is the official Asia-Pacific Economic Cooporation (APEC) convention site, underscoring a central theme of the Summit — the integral link between food safety and international trade. In addition, the scale of the Center was ideal for accommodating record attendance levels.

This year’s presenters were recognized experts from the private and public sectors. These speakers brought new perspectives on critical issues covering regulatory developments, advancements in technology, compliance concerns, problems, and prospects.

Government officials were forthright about the compliance obstacles and foreseeable remedies.  Among the most notable on their list were: 1) a lack of uniform enforcement of the Food Safety Law at the provincial government level, 2) auditor training levels, 3) budgetary constraints, and 4) insufficient access to new detection technologies and verification systems.