ISSUE 03 | JULY 2016
Food Quality Magazine
UNIDO and GFSI Sign MOU to Solidify Strategic Partnershipfor Food Safety Capability Building
Source : GFSI
On June 15th , 2016 amidst a gathering of the world ’ s consumer goods industry leaders at the CGF Global Summit in South Africa , the United Nations Industrial Development Organization ( UNIDO ) and the Global Food Safety Initiative ( GFSI ) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding ( MoU ) to signal their commitment to a large-scale partnership for food safety .
Addressing Critical Challenges on a Global Scale
The partnership solidified today sets out to harness the vast experience and knowledge of both global organisations in order to implement “ a roadmap for scaling up ” by developing large-scale food safety capability building projects in a number of key regions in the global food supply network .
This development programme will be based on the GFSI Global Markets Programme , which sets out how small or less developed food companies can meet the challenge of food safety and gain market access . It will be enabled by UNIDO , benefiting from their specialised experience in industrial development capability building .
A Roadmap for a Far-Reaching Implementation Plan
According to a roadmap which is currently being crafted , this farreaching food safety capability programme will be implemented in a number of key geographies , starting with China , Southeast Asia and Africa before being continued in further regions .
In China , the partnership aims to scale up food safety capacity building for local food enterprises throughout
China in line with the Sustainable Supplier Development Programme ( SSDP ) and establish the China Food Safety Initiative ( CFSI ).
In South East Asia , the aim is to initiate a regional SSDP programme , scaling up the UNIDO-AEON Malaysia SSDP programme into a multi-country , and multi-buyer initiative .
In Africa , the project will benefit from a strong UNIDO presence to design and build a joint UNIDO-GFSI multi-country , multi-buyer project for Africa on capacity building .
Going Further Thanks to Cross-Sector Collaboration
Commenting on the new partnership , Philippe Scholtès , Managing Director , Programme Development and Technical Cooperation at UNIDO , said : “ The World Health Organization estimates that up to 600 million people fall ill every year after eating contaminated food . Our collaboration with GFSI will further strengthen and promote multiple benefits of safe food for social inclusiveness , sustainability and industrial development .”
Mike Robach , Chair of the GFSI Board of Directors said “ We are very enthusiastic about the potential to have a bigger impact in these key regions thanks to this collaboration with UNIDO . Multi-sector collaboration is the way forward in achieving food safety across borders and barriers . Our joint efforts within this partnership will take us further and faster towards our vision of safe food for consumers , everywhere .”
The Global Summit in South Africa served as a natural backdrop to this signing ceremony as 800 top business leaders of major consumer goods companies gather to discuss the future of the industry . With the motto Better Lives Through Better Business , The Consumer Goods Forum collaborates with its 400 members to drive positive change and business efficiency , across social and environmental sustainability , health and wellness , end-to-end value chain and food safety through GFSI .
UNIDO is the specialised agency of the United Nations that promotes industrial development for poverty reduction , inclusive globalisation and
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