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Asia Pacific Centre for Food Integrity, executive director and conference organiser, Dr Helen Darling (pictured), sees great potential for New Zealand to play globally as a leader in food safety and security.
Registrations are now open for a new global food integrity conference to be held in Auckland on July 13-14.
Now is a key time on the world stage for food safety with regulations and requirements changing worldwide and impacting the entire food chain of suppliers and producers.
New Zealand's supply chain with China is at the forefront of the inaugural Food Integrity Conference 2016.
Initiated by local company, Asia Pacific Centre for Food Integrity, the Conference aims to provide a forum for discussion on current issues facing food producers both in New Zealand and in China.
Developing markets, especially China, are driving New Zealand's food and beverage export growth with Asia now the largest destination region.
Asia Pacific Centre for Food Integrity, executive director and conference organiser, Dr Helen Darling, sees great potential for New Zealand to play globally as a leader in food safety and security.
"We see this conference as an exciting opportunity for like-minded people to have conversations about the international regulatory environment," says Darling.
"We need to avoid everyone reinventing the wheel – New Zealand is a small country and to be competitive in the international marketplace we need to share knowledge and leadership. This Conference is an exciting and relevant forum to do this."
High powered international and local speakers have literally been lining up to speak, says Darling.
"It's really exciting to see the enthusiasm of both international and New Zealand experts in the food industry lining up to be involved in the Conference.
"I believe it's an indication of the need for a forum of this kind for food producers, manufacturers and exporters."
International keynote speakers include Col. John Hoffman from the USA, retired from a 31 year military career, Hoffman is now with the Food Protection and Defence Institute – a US Department of Homeland Security Centre of Excellence based at Minnesota University.
Sonia Bradley from the World Bank, Global Food Safety Programme, will start day two of the Conference with a key note address on Global Food Safety.
Speakers from China include Professor Wu, Chief Scientist, China National Centre of Food Risk Assessment in Beijing; and Kevin Wang, Editor-in-Chief, China Food Safety Magazine.
Local business woman Rachael Speedy is a vibrant and passionate speaker with a formidable reputation gained from running her successful company, NZ Premium Foods. Well renowned for exporting premium New Zealand food and beverages to South East Asia, as well as throughout New Zealand, Rachael is also involved in organising the Conference.
Australasian based Karl Ye, managing director, GMP Pharmaceuticals, joins executive director Export NZ, Catherine Beard and Hamish Findlay, general manager, ESR Ltd to discuss export opportunities.
Sam Whitelock is an All Black rugby great, Farmstrong Ambassador and working dairy farmer in the Manawatu. Having stepped away from professional sport and returned to his roots on the family farm, he talks about balancing farm life with advocating for rural wellbeing.
The Minister for Rural Communities, Mark Patterson, says there's a massive infrastructure deficit in rural areas.
The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners (the College) and Hauora Taiwhenua Rural Health Network are calling for investment in a proposed new training pathway for rural GPs, warning that many rural practices are struggling to recruit while a large share of the existing workforce nears retirement.
Striking a balance between meeting the needs of industry to speed up approval time for products but on the other hand ensuring that risks are properly assessed.
A partnership between state-owned enterprise Pāmu (Landcorp Farming Limited) and charity Meet the Need is putting more than quality New Zealand beef into food bank parcels this year.
A New Zealand initiative supporting farmers to restore the health of grazing landscapes has received international backing through the Regenerative Fund for Nature, a global collaborative fund supporting regenerative agriculture and the communities that produce natural fibres for the fashion industry.
Combine premium New Zealand products, blend in a family ritual and what do you get? A world-class functional drink.
Entries are now open across eleven regions for the 2027 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards (NZDIA).
Safer Farms is urging farmers to make sure everyone working on farm has safe, suitable footwear for the job.
The Government is backing work on a community-led water storage scheme that could irrigate up to 11,000 more hectares of the Poverty Bay flats, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says.
Agri-tech company Herd-i has become a new all-region sponsor of the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards (NZDIA), the largest nationwide celebration of excellence in the dairy sector.
