The third annual conference of the Fresh Produce Safety Centre Australia & New Zealand was held at the beautiful Holme Building at the University of Sydney on 10 August 2016.

Over 130 people attended to hear an array of Australasian and overseas speakers on topics around innovation in the fresh produce industry, network, and view the sponsor exhibits.

The event provided:

• Information on advances and future directions in food safety
• Innovative ways to better manage food safety
• Lessons from recent food safety crises, here and abroad
• Insights into what the latest research was revealing
• The facts on foodborne illness litigation
• A technology showcase
• Excellent networking opportunities
• Sponsorship opportunities for companies working in food safety

The FPSC is grateful to the speakers who contributed on the day.

The Background to speakers document is available here.

The Conference program can be downloaded here.

FPSC thanks speakers for making the following presentations available for viewing.

PRESENTATIONS

KEYNOTE ADDRESS:

Keynote: Trevor Suslow, Extension Research Specialist, University of California, Davis Global technology advances in food safety

INNOVATIVE TECHNIQUES AND TECHNOLOGIES TO BETTER MANAGE FOOD SAFETY

Associate Professor N Alice Lee, School of Chemical Engineering, Food Science & Technology, UNSW, Rapid testing technology for food safety

Associate Professor Vitali Sintchenko, Director, Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology (CIDM), Next Generation Sequencing: A new tool for identifying the cause of an outbreak

HARMONISED AUSTRALIAN RETAILER PRODUCE SCHEME (HARPS):

Belinda Millard, Key Account Manager – Oceania, GLOBALG.A.P; Director, D&B Enterprises Pty Ltd and Tristan Kitchener, Kitchener Partners, Rolling out the new QA harmonisation program for fresh produce

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNT FROM RECENT FOOD SAFETY CRISES?

Bill Marler, Managing Partner, Marler Clark, Foodborne illness litigation

Allison Clark, Marketing Manager, Houston’s Farm, Operational lessons: What should we be doing differently as a consequence of these events?

Dr Trevor Suslow, Extension Research Specialist; Director, Postharvest Technology Center, University of California, Davis, Practical perspectives: Dump tanks and other scary places: lessons learned

R&D SESSION

Professor Roger Stanley, Director Centre for Food Innovation, University of Tasmania, Sanitation of freshcut products: Options for killing the bugs and not the produce

Dr Joanne Daly, CSIRO Honorary Fellow, Consumer perceptions of food technology and food safety

Clare Hamilton-Bate, Executive Officer, Freshcare, and Dr Jenny Ekman, Researcher, Applied Horticultural Research, From Chickens to Compost to Capsicums Safe use of animal wastes in horticulture

RESEARCH UPDATE

Professor Robyn McConchie, ProDean Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, University of Sydney; FPSC Director: Research initiatives 2017 – 2020 in the new ARC ITTC Centre Food safety in the fresh produce industry

TECHNOLOGY SHOWCASE

Joe Giblin, Director, Icon Global Link
Keeping pace with industry changes and information technology requirements

Todd Gordon, Sales and Marketing Director, Oritain Global Limited
Latest technology to combat food fraud

The FPSC sincerely thanks the conference sponsors, whose support made the event possible.

The Fresh Produce Safety Conference is the annual event of the industry-led and industry-managed Fresh Produce Safety Centre. The conference is recognised as the key event on the fresh produce safety calendar in Australia and New Zealand.