GFSI Welcomes the Return of the China Focus Day, As Regional Impact Takes Centre Stage

BEIJING and PARIS, July 7, 2021 /3BL Media/ – The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) Coalition of Action on food safety, Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI; the Coalition) is pleased to announce the return of the GFSI China Focus Day on 19^th July 2021. The event, celebrating its 10^th anniversary, will welcome some 300 delegates to the Four Seasons Hotel, Beijing, to discuss food safety in China and the key role local CGF members and external stakeholders are playing in “Working together to Deliver Safe Food”.

With its emphasis on the need for even greater collaboration between the private and public sectors to ensure impact at scale, the GFSI China Focus Day will highlight how food safety is everyone’s business and that we all have a role to play to ensure safe food for people everywhere.

GFSI has a long and successful history in China, as one of the original focus areas of The Consumer Goods Forum in the country. Now, with CGF having established an official presence in China and with the launch of the China Board of Directors, headed by Angela Liu, Chairlady of New Hope Liuhe, and Daniel Zhang, Chairman & CEO of Alibaba Group, there is a renewed focus on where CGF can have its biggest impact in the country and where it can help bridge the gap between small- and medium-sized consumer goods retailers and manufacturers and the larger multinationals to help ensure it raises the food safety bar for all.

On the agenda, and covering topics such as capability building, collaboration and regulatory affairs, harmonisation and new technologies, highlighted speakers from industry and government include:

• Tom Wiester, VP, Global Food Safety & Science Affairs at Starbucks Coffee Company & Vice-Chair of the GFSI Steering Committee
• Junshi Chen, Chief Adviser of CFSA (China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment) & GFSI China Local Group Honorable Advisor
• Jianhua Xiao, Chair IAF & Chief Executive of China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment (CNAS)
• Heidi Yao, R&D Director, PepsiCo global quality program APAC, AMESA, & Europe & GFSI China Local Group Steering Committee Vice Chair
• Jie Xu, Food Safety Director, Danone China & GFSI China Local Group Steering Committee Vice Chair
• Yaling Jia, Director of Risk Management, Freshippo & GFSI China Local Group Steering Committee Vice Chair
• Erica Sheward, GFSI Director, The Consumer Goods Forum
• Xiaoyun Huang, Vice President and Secretary-General of the Chinese Pest Control Association (CPCA)
• David Crean, Chair of GFSI's New Science and Technology Advisory Group
• Yongxiang Fan, Director, Food Safety Standard Division I, China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment & Chairman of Codex Committee on Food Additives, CCFA
• Rong Jiao, Director of Quality Control, Carrefour China
• Kelvin Chen, Head of Quality Assurance, Metro Commerce Group & GFSI China Local Group Steering Committee Co-Chair
• Wai-Chan Chan, Managing Director, The Consumer Goods Forum

Erica Sheward, GFSI Director, The Consumer Goods Forum, said, “GFSI’s success in China remains a critical step in our vision of safe food for people everywhere. Our members in China, working alongside the Chinese government, have collaborated on improving food safety standards in the region for several years now and we are delighted these collaborations continue to deliver results. Our aim now, however, is to push even further and make sure the GFSI brand and the impacts we are seeing continue to grow.”

Yangying Xu, General Manager, CGF China, said, “We welcome the 10^th edition of the GFSI China Focus Day as a symbol of the positive story we are now telling in China thanks to the work of our local members and the support of the Chinese government. Thanks to the hard work over the years to improve food safety in the country, China is now well placed to have an influence on the global food safety agenda and the GFSI China Focus Day is an important part of our ability to showcase our successes and highlight the impacts we are seeing on the ground”.

For those interested in joining the event, please contact the CGF China team at shanghai@theconsumergoodsforum.com.

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About GFSI

The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI; the Coalition) is a CEO-led Coalition of Action from The Consumer Goods Forum, bringing together 38 retailers and manufacturers and an extended food safety community to help oversee food safety standards for businesses and help provide access to safe food for people everywhere. As one of the world’s largest networks to help achieve safe food , GFSI is committed to making food safety everyone’s business and the Coalition members are addressing challenges facing food safety systems in their supply chains and the markets they operate in, and are helping to raise the food safety bar globally. Its ambition is to strengthen and harmonise food safety systems so they are able to feed the growing, global population and develop markets that can deliver food safely, no matter where in the world the consumer is. To learn more, 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 more than 55 manufacturer and retailer CEOs. For more information, please visit: www.theconsumergoodsforum.com.

For further information, contact Lee Green, Communications Director, The Consumer Goods Forum: l.green@theconsumergoodsforum.com