The Fresh Produce Safety Centre is pleased to announce the successful delivery of our first hybrid conference! On 11 August we were joined by our largest audience yet with almost 200 in-person & online delegates.

We hope our audiences found the distinguished line-up of twenty speakers, wide-ranging topics and individual sessions to be engaging, informative and thought-provoking.

While the main conference has concluded, the event is far from over. We have four upcoming skills workshops, being held as a weekly online series every Thursday from 1pm – 2pm AEST. All ticketholders have received an email on how to register for these workshops (once registered, zoom links are shared 24 hours prior). Non-ticketholders can purchase workshop tickets by emailing us at events@fpsc-anz.com.

 

Our four skills workshops:

Thursday 18 August, 1-2pm AEST
FPSC Fact Sheets: Food Defence & Foreign object contamination 
with Dr Kim-Yen Phan-thien, Senior Lecturer, University of Sydney & Dr Andreas Klieber, Chairman, FPSC 

In light of past intentional contamination events, food defence has become of particular concern for industry and governments. Such incidents can compromise the safety of food and place public health at risk. Along with foreign object contamination, these events can threaten a business’s reputation and viability. Engage with our experts in a discussion about how to manage these important issues in your business.

Thursday 25 August, 1-2pm AEST
Embedding food safety culture to make systems more practical 
with Elizabeth Frankish, Food Safety Consultant & Clare Hamilton-Bate, Director & Lead Consultant, Mallsgate Pty Ltd 

This workshop delves into the issue of food safety culture and how to build this culture within the business to continuously enhance food safety. Practical guidance is provided on what food businesses can do to identify, measure and improve the food safety culture in their business from two speakers with strong credentials in both research and business.

Thursday 1 September, 1-2pm AEST
Guidelines on Exclusion Periods: case studies and explanations 
with Deon Mahoney, Head of Food Safety, IFPA-ANZ & Belinda Hazell, Principal Consultant, Optimum Standard

Fresh Produce Safety Centre Technical Group members will  discuss the recent changes to Section 6.2 Microbial Contamination, Exclusion Periods of the ‘Guidelines for Fresh Produce Food Safety (2019)’. They will address the research background behind the recommended changes to the exclusion periods between application of raw or untreated manure/grazing of animals and harvest.

Thursday 8 September, 1-2pm AEST
Interpreting and responding to Microbiological Test Results 
with Dr Sukhvinder Pal (SP) Singh, Institute Director, NSW Department of Primary Industries & Kashif Ahmed, National Microbiology Manager, Symbio Laboratories 

This practical workshop will have you thinking more about microbiological test results – how to read and interpret them and what to do when the report is not what you were expecting.
Dr Singh is an expert in understanding practical food safety from a business perspective and Kashif Ahmed will help explain the numbers.

 

Thank You to our Speakers!

Thank you to our wonderful speakers for joining us on the day and sharing their expert knowledge and research on all things fresh produce safety:

  • Our Keynote Address featuring Drew McDonald, Senior Vice President Quality & Food Safety at Taylor Fresh Foods and Chair of the CPS Technical Committee
  • Professor Brent Kaiser, Director, Sydney Institute of Agriculture, University of Sydney
  • Michael Simonetta, Group CEO, Perfection Fresh Australia
  • John Said, CEO, Fresh Select
  • Catherine Velisha, Managing Director, Velisha Farms
  • Nora Galway, Director, Food Safety & Response, FSANZ
  • Craig Shadbolt, Principal Food Safety Scientist, NSW DPI
  • Patrick Ulloa, Technical Manager, FPSC
  • Dr SP Singh, NSW DPI
  • Nicola King, ESR
  • Kim Leighton, JAS-ANZ
  • Prof PJ Cullen, University of Sydney
  • Claire McClelland, CEO, AFPA
  • Sachin Ayachit, National Program Manager, Growcom Fair Farms
  • Rachel Kilmister, Research & Development Programme Manager, NZ Apples and Pears
  • Dean Parsons, Sustainability Programmes Manager, CHEP
  • Dr Jess Gray, Postdoctoral fellow, CSIRO
  • Jo Rothwell, PhD student, University of Sydney
  • Dr Mark Bradbury, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Sydney
  • Bianca Cairns, Research & Development Manager, Hort Innovation

 

Launch of the revised Guidelines for Fresh Produce Food Safety 2022

The FPSC was pleased to launch the revised Guidelines for Fresh Produce Food Safety 2022 at the Conference. The Guidelines now include revised exclusion periods for application of raw or untreated manure; grazing of animals and harvest – Section 6.2 Microbial Contamination, Exclusion Periods.

The Guidelines are available to read here.

 

Conference Recordings

The full conference recording and highlight videos will be made available shortly. Our team is currently processing the video footage and working to publish this across our channels. All ticketholders will be informed when the recordings are available.

 

Thank you to our Sponsors!

Our deepest thanks to our wonderful conference sponsors without whose support the conference would not be possible:

Our conference partners: Hort Innovation and Perfection Fresh Australia
Our conference sponsor: Office of the NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer | R&D NSW
Our session sponsors: University of Sydney, Coles Group, One Harvest and Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ)
Our next generation knowledge sponsor: Fresh Select (Aust) Pty Ltd
Our quick break sponsor: Mérieux NutriSciences
Our exhibitors: FreshTest and NEOGEN Australasia