The 9th International Safe Food conference was recently held at a local hotel here. The conference was jointly hosted by English Biscuit Manufacturers Private Limited (EBM), the makers of Peek Freans biscuits and United Registrar of Systems (URS).
Realising that the farm to fork philosophy of the food safety chain is incomplete if the retail channel is not addressed, the theme of this year's Safe Food conference was "Enhancing Food Safety at the Retail Level" and aimed to raise greater awareness of food safety issues amongst all stakeholders, the consumers, manufacturers, academia, regulators, retailers and distributors of food products. The conference brought together leaders from the food industry to address on how investment in food safety management systems and emphasis on incorporating technology, innovation and safety measures could serve to increase overall food safety awareness and implementation.
Speakers at the conference included Dirk Eesmann of Metro Cash and Carry, Dr Jagath Wanninayake of Sri Lanka and other prominent researchers and heads of multinational and local companies, academia, and members of different business communities attended this conference.
Speaking on the occasion, Naveed A Khwaja, Chief Operating Officer of English Biscuit Manufacturers (Pvt) Limited said: "As a caring corporate citizen, EBM has been promoting the concept of Safe Food for over 40 years, through various initiatives. The EBM Retailer Food Safety Programme is our latest initiative towards this cause.
We believe that creation of mass awareness of food safety issues is essential to generate and mobilise the support of key health partners in government and civil society, and provide avenues to build collaboration for health actions. It is also essential to educate not only consumers but also retailers at the grassroots levels on food safety issues, and the impact of unhygienic and contaminated food on health so as to minimise the possible risks to the final consumers".-PR