While this figure was 3.9% down on the year before, there’s still a high level of potentially dangerous incidents that threaten consumer safety and firms’ reputations.
Almost 50% of the notifications related to food and feed rejections at EU borders. Of the alert notifications, 526 were for serious risks in products on the market.
Key role
The EU’s Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed is an IT tool that facilitates the cross-border flow of information between national food safety authorities, such as the UK’s Food Standards Agency (FSA). It also plays a key role in ensuring a high level of food safety within the EU.
It’s all about having ready access to the latest intelligence. And that is what Food Manufacture’s 2013 Food safety conference: What have we learnt from recent crises? will cover.
The one-day event will discuss a number of recent major food safety incidents and how they will change future regulation. It will offer insight into the latest technologies and methods to help businesses avoid prosecution for food safety failures.
The conference takes place at the National Motorcycle Museum, close to Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre on October 17. It will be chaired by Professor Colin Dennis, formerly director general of Campden BRI and former president of the Institute of Food Science and Technology.
It will include presentations by Andrew Rhodes, director of operations at the FSA; David Brackston, technical director of the British Retail Consortium; and Sue Davies, chief policy adviser with consumer champion Which?
Food fraud
Authenticity expert Mark Woolfe, formerly with the FSA, will give an insight into food fraud, while Unilever’s science leader for allergy and immunology René Crevel will outline the latest thinking on allergen controls and action levels. Intertek’s John Searle will explain how the ability to detect lower and lower levels of contaminants makes more companies vulnerable to potential product recalls.
NSF-CMi’s David Edwards will advise on creating a strong food safety culture at work, with hazard analysis critical control points at its core. Legal expert Dominic Watkins from DWF will share news of firms that have handled product recalls well and the serious consequences for those that didn’t!
Leatherhead Food Research’s head of food security Professor Tony Hines, will advise on crisis management, while Infor’s Patrik Sjöberg will cover the latest traceability systems so you can stay one step ahead of the next recall.
Professor Robert Newman from Wolverhampton University will explain how technologies, such as radio frequency identification, can be used to identify and to trace food information across Europe from producer to consumer.
For details and to book click here.