Tag: Food Safety
FPSC announces iFoodDecisionSciences as a Silver supporter
The Fresh Produce Safety Centre Australia & New Zealand today announced that iFoodDecisionSciences (iFoodDS) has joined the FPSC as a Silver supporter.
The Chairman of the FPSC, Mr Michael Worthington, said: “It is wonderful to have fresh produce solutions providers such as iFoodDecisionSciences publicly pledging their support the FPSC, and we warmly welcome iFoodDS on board as a Silver supporter.”
“”e are seeing an increase of support over recent times, as the industry steps up its commitment to fresh produce food safety. We are delighted that we can now count iFoodDS as an FPSC Silver supporter. The more companies that join along the supply chain, the more work the FPSC can do to promote safer fresh produce,” Mr Worthington said.
A leading provider of food supply chain safety, traceability and quality solutions for farmers, harvesters, shippers, packers, processors, distributors, retailers and foodservice, iFoodDS’ cloud-based offerings provide advanced analytics and insights for safety, regulatory compliance and process improvements. Find out more about iFoodDecisionSciences here.
iFoodDS’ Regional Manager for Australia and New Zealand, Ilango Surendran said: “We joined the FPSC because we firmly believe that iFoodDS can provide value and knowledge in food safety technology for the produce industry and FPSC supporters. We have seen the importance and evolving change in technology to improve food safety across the supply chain. In particular, we have seen the accelerated growth and adoption of technology with the COVID-19 pandemic. We are delighted to partner with the FPSC.”
iFoodDecisionSciences will be joining the Fresh Produce Safety Centre at the Silver supporter level.
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Fresh Produce Safety Centre announces Harvest Moon as a new supporter
The Fresh Produce Safety Centre Australia & New Zealand today announced that Harvest Moon has joined the FPSC as a supporter.
The Chairman of the FPSC, Mr Michael Worthington, said: “We warmly welcome Harvest Moon to the growing list of supporters of the FPSC.”
“Now, more than ever, food safety must be front and centre of our industry’s focus. Committing to a strong food safety culture and practice in fresh produce businesses is always important, but the current crisis demands an even higher level of food safety commitment. We are delighted that Harvest Moon is demonstrating industry leadership through its support for the FPSC,” Mr Worthington said.
Harvest Moon is a privately-owned produce company with operations in Tasmania, Victoria and Queensland, supplying over 90,000 tonnes of vegetables and employing up to 300 people. Find more about Harvest Moon here.
Harvest Moon’s Managing Director Neil Armstrong said “We have joined the Fresh Produce Safety Centre because Harvest Moon has always regarded a strong food safety culture as central to our success. The work that the Centre has done and is continuing to do supports our industry in enhancing the safety of the fresh produce we grow.”
Harvest Moon will be joining the Fresh Produce Safety Centre at the Bronze supporter level.
The Fresh Produce Safety Centre’s supporters are:
Platinum Supporters: PMA Australia-New Zealand Limited | The University of Sydney Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd | Woolworths Ltd
Gold Supporters: AUSVEG | Freshcare Limited
Silver Supporters: Costa Group | Fresh Select | Harris Farm Markets Pty Ltd | Horticulture New Zealand | Perfection Fresh Australia Pty Ltd | Seeka | United Fresh New Zealand | Zespri International
Bronze Supporters: Harvest Moon | GS1 Australia | MG Marketing and LaManna | Metcash Food and Grocery | OneHarvest | PM Fresh Pty Limited | Symbio Laboratories
Conference Partners: Agriculture Victoria | Fresh Markets Australia | AUS-QUAL
Find out about how join the FPSC as a supporter here.
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Horticulture challenges the current state of food safety
The Fresh Produce Safety Centre Australia & New Zealand (FPSC A-NZ) is leading the conversation with Australia and New Zealand’s top horticultural growers, packers, manufacturers, retailers, supply chain experts and academics in the food safety arena.
The Centre is bringing together over 30 key influencers in Australia and New Zealand’s horticultural and innovation sectors to challenge the current thinking on fresh produce food safety compliance.
The Innovation Forum – the first of its kind in horticulture – will see industry experts be challenged by the emerging capabilities of new technologies both homegrown in Australia and New Zealand as well as from overseas.
“This forum, on Thursday 13 June, is our opportunity to delve into what the future of fresh produce food safety compliance looks like beyond 2025”, said Jessica Purbrick, Executive Officer, FPSC A-NZ.
“It is time we had this conversation across our industry and bring in the innovation experts, outside of our natural space to help us find solutions”.
Tag: Food Safety
Listeria in fresh produce. Are we any the wiser?
‘The role of food safety staff must go beyond compliance and keeping the regulatory guys happy,’ said Suresh DeCosta, Director of Food Safety, Lipman Family Farms (USA) and Technical Committee, Center for Produce Safety (USA), at the 5th Annual Fresh Produce Safety Conference in Sydney last week.
The number of deaths from the 2017 listeriosis outbreak in South Africa reached 216, making it the most lethal outbreak in history. The source was cured meats.
On a much smaller scale, Australia recently experienced lethal outbreaks traced to cheese and rockmelons. While the number of recorded hospitalised cases in Australia is low – around 70 a year – Listeria continues to be a major problem for the food industry, and a priority theme for the Fresh Produce Safety Centre Australia & New Zealand.
Microbiologist Dr Robert Premier explained there are 17 species of Listeria but most are harmless and only two are implicated in human infections.
Tag: Food Safety
AU: Woolworths, Coles and Aldi sliced mushrooms recalled over potential plastic hazard
ABC News: Punnets of sliced white and brown mushrooms are being recalled from across the country due to the potential presence of large pieces of white plastic.
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US: Outbreaks bring sense of urgency to food safety symposium
Chris Kroger / The Packer: CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The backgrounds of scientists and their areas of focus at the Center for Produce Safety’s ninth annual symposium were certainly diverse, but presentation after presentation laid down a basic message: shared knowledge is critical.
Read the full article at The Packer
Tag: Food Safety
AU: Food safety becoming a serious issue for South Australians
Australian Institute of Food Safety: 2017 was one of the worst years in recent history for food poisoning cases in SA. Does it need to come into line with the stricter requirements of other states?
Read the full article at the Australian Institute of Food Safety website
Tag: Food Safety
AU: Yet another cruise ship gastro outbreak
Australian Institute of Food Safety: It’s proving difficult to keep track of gastroenteritis outbreaks on cruise ships these days with 6 outbreaks being reported in Australian waters within the last 12 months. In the latest incident, approximately 200 passengers on the Sea Princess, a cruise ship bound for Brisbane from New Zealand, were struck with norovirus.
Read the full article at the AIFST website
Tag: Food Safety
UK: Food safety paramount for Chinese online shoppers of imported food
Undercurrent News: Based on an online survey of 1,259 Chinese consumers, the survey finds food safety and product quality rank ahead of trust in e-commerce platforms; attractive prices; convenience; and being accustomed to shopping online, among the factors which determine Chinese shoppers’ purchases.
Read the full article at undercurrentnews.com
Tag: Food Safety
UK: Red Tractor fresh produce to be recognised by two major food assurance schemes
Farminguk: Tesco has announced that from the beginning of April 2018 it will recognise Red Tractor’s standards as equivalent to its Nurture scheme. International assurance body GLOBALG.A.P. also confirmed that as a result of its own benchmarking exercise the requirement for a further farm assessment has been removed.
Read the full article at farminguk.com