This workshop is part of the workshop series “Global Understanding of Food Fraud (GUFF)” which were initiated in Quebec City in April 2017, followed by a second event held in Beijing in October 2017.
The Dubai meeting took place on the heels of discussions on Food Fraud, at the Codex Alimentarius Commission, in particular at the CAC41 meeting (2-7 July 2018) as well as the Codex Committee on Food Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS) held in Brisbane Australia on 22-26 October 2018.
The Objectives of the Dubai event included the discussion of the latest developments of global efforts to address Food Fraud in a concerted fashion, in particular:
o Current and future considerations of the development of food fraud regulatory policies (to address prevention, mitigation and to deter food crime)
o Efforts to develop validated and harmonized food fraud prevention tools to be applied by food industry
o Progress towards the development of Standard Method Performance Requirements (SMPRs) for non-targeted testing under the auspices of the Food Fraud Taskforce of the Association of Official Analytical Communities (AOAC) International
Over 70 participants from industry, government organizations, international organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) and academic institutions contributed with introductory presentations reviewing current efforts and setting the scene for subsequent discussions. Updates were provided on:
o the latest progress, accomplishments and future directions of the Global Alliance on Food Crime by Andy Morling, United Kingdom Food Standards Agency (UK FSA);
o recent actions developed and pursued by food regulators with emphasis on preventive approaches, in Europe and North America by Pamela Byrne, Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) and Ryan Newkirk, United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA); o actions and future considerations by FAO with emphasis on tailored approaches and indicators for developing countries by Renata Clarke (FAO);
o the landscape of industry action to address food fraud and the need for updated strategies, tools and approaches to anticipate, prevent and manage food fraud across the supply chain, by Monique Pellegrino, Danone Food Safety Centre, Paris, France and Robert Baker, Mars Global Food Safety Centre, Beijing, People’s Republic of China;
o the latest in the development and standardization of analytical methods respectively by Connor Black, Queens’ University, Belfast, United Kingdom and John Szpylka, Merieux NutriSciences, AOAC INTERNATIONAL along with Ron Johnson, Past President, AOAC INTERNATIONAL.
