GFSF Summit in Vietnam

Save the date!  Food Safety Training Summit: Growing Markets for High Quality Vietnamese Products, August 28, 2017, New World Saigon Hotel, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.   For more information, please visit our website at
https://www.gfsfvietnam.org

FoodOnline Posts Notice About GFSF Summit

FoodOnlineNews | June 27, 2017       

Food Safety Training Summit: Growing Markets for High Quality Vietnamese Products

In 2017, Vietnam plays host to the Global Food Safety Forum's highly anticipated annual conference. Vietnam's food and seafood products play a vital role in the global supply chain; in 2016, Vietnam’s seafood exports reached $7 billion, including $3.13 billion of shrimp exports. This year's conference titled "Food Safety Training Summit: Growing Markets for High Quality Vietnamese Products" will bring together food safety officials, experts and specialists from the public sector, the private sector, and international organizations to discuss challenges and opportunities in the global food safety arena, with a particular focus on the Vietnamese export market.
August 28, 2017
New World Saigon Hotel
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Further details available at https://www.gfsfvietnam.org/

GFSF at Workshop in Vietnam

Foodonline features article about participation of Global Food Safety Forum in International Workshop on Global Food Safety Trends -- Solutions to Expand the Export Markets for Vietnamese Enterprises.  http://tinyurl.com/lqq3nza

In the context of growing concerns about food safety in the world, the USA’s FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act) and EFSA of the European Union have had the dramatic impacts to the export markets of Vietnamese enterprises. Recently, the Business Association of Vietnamese High Quality Products has collaborated with AmCham Vietnam to conduct the Delegation of Experts to the United States to study about FSMA. On the occasion of Mr. Rick Gilmore’s, Chairman of GFSF (Global Food Safety Forum), business trip to Vietnam, the International Workshop on “GLOBAL FOOD SAFETY TRENDS - SOLUTIONS TO EXPAND THE EXPORT MARKETS FOR VIETNAMESE ENTERPRISES” will be organized.
Organizers:  Business Association of Vietnamese High Quality Products in collaboration with AmCham Vietnam and GFSF.
Main topics: Reviews on the Global Food Safety, its impacts to Vietnam, and how to sustain the export markets for Vietnamese food and agricultural products in the context of world economic integration?
Time and Venue: 8:30 AM, Wednesday 26 April 2017 at Caravelle Hotel’s Hall, District 1, HCMC
Proposed agenda:
(1) Mr. Rick Gilmore's presentation on the results of global food safety trends and the impacts of these trends on Vietnam's food and agricultural exports.
(2) Presentation from Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) on solutions for Vietnamese seafood exporters to technical barriers from the US - Experience in business cooperation between large Vietnamese enterprises and farmers to supply the clean products that meet market’s demands.
(3) Experience in supporting small businesses and farmers to promote organic farming and introduction of the new criteria "Vietnamese High Quality Products - Integration Standard" in the direction of positive support for Vietnamese businesses and farmers to increase the exports to United States and EU’s markets.
We would like to invite you to attend this International Workshop and we do hope that you can share your valuable ideas and experience so that 200 food enterprises nationwide will find useful and appropriate solutions for their issues.
Yours sincerely,
On behalf of Organization Board
VU KIM HANH
Chair-woman of Business Association of Vietnamese High Quality Products

Op Ed by Hannah Kyle of GFSF's FOCUS

Featured in foodonline.com:

The Impact of Trump’s Executive Order on Regulations: Food Safety

Opinion editorial by Hannah Kyle, contributor to the Global Food Safety Forum (GFSF) FOCUS newsletter. In this article, Kyle discusses how U.S. president Donald Trump has signed an executive order mandating that two regulations be eliminated for each new regulation proposed. The two regulations eliminated must have the same net impact on the U.S. economy as the proposed regulation.
http://tinyurl.com/mswfenp

FOCUS: Big Focus on Vietnam!

FOCUS:  April-May 2017 ISSUE

FOCUS this month spotlights Vietnam.  The kick-off for GFSF Vietnam will be the upcoming Workshop in Ho Chi Minh City on April 26.

Rick Gilmore, GFSF Chairman, writes “We’re extremely proud to be joined by AmCham Vietnam and High Quality Vietnamese Goods Business Association”  He added that “our joint mission is to develop a comprehensive food safety program in collaboration with leaders from the private and public sectors in Vietnam.”

Highlights of this issue include an analysis of the seafood safety challenges facing Vietnam, as well as interviews with Vu Kim Hanh, Chairperson of the High Quality Vietnamese Goods Business Association (HQVPBA) and Herb Cochran, Executive Director of AmCham Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City Chapter. HQVPBA and AmCham Vietnam will be co-hosting our FSMA  workshop on April 26.  In her interview, Ms. Hanh paints a stark picture of the consequences for Vietnamese suppliers in ignoring FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act) or EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) requirements: “Failing to fulfill requirement of FSMA and EFSA, it is certain that our export will diminish, weaken and, ultimately, perish.”

In this issue of GFSF, Hannah Kyle, GIC Group, provides an analysis of the food safety compliance impacts of the Trump administration’s recent executive order pledging to revoke two regulations for every new one put forward. GFSF Director, Vince Paez, cautions Vietnamese shrimp growers about cross contamination in their ponds, a critical concern given the strategic importance of Vietnam’s seafood exports. 

For further information, please refer to GFSF blog: gfsfasia.blogspot.com or contact GFSF Director, Vince Paez:  vincent.paez.gfsf@gicgroup.com

GFSF and NOAA Welcome Vietnamese Food Safety Delegation

Global Food Safety Forum is pleased to welcome a food safety delegation from Vietnam to their offices in Alexandria, where they met with representatives from NOAA to learn about the functions of that organization.  The delegation visit, March 18-25, 2017, is under sponsorship of the High Quality Vietnamese Goods Business Association.  Other meetings include CFSAN/FDA, APHIS, Hill Committees, and other international affairs agencies. 

GFSF Announces Vincent Paez is New Director

      Director of GFSF, Vincent Paez

GFSF is pleased to announce the appointment of Vincent Paez as Director of GFSF worldwide.  He is an analytical chemist with an MBA from the Anderson Graduate  School of Management, UCLA.  He previously has worked for Hewlett Packard/ Agilent Technologies where his responsibilities included serving as Asia Programs Manager; Director of Food Safety Business Development at Thermo Fisher Scientific; and since 2012, Senior Director of Food Safety, Environmental and Forensics Toxicology Testing Markets at SCIEX, responsible for bringing new mass spectrometry based solutions to these markets.

“Vincent has a longstanding relationship with GFSF, having represented Thermo Fisher Scientific and SCIEX as strategic partners.  His unique science based training and affiliations will add the dimension of food safety technology to GFSF’s mission in Asia.  Under Vince’s direction, we look forward to an exciting phase of GFSF’s work in China and its new launching in Vietnam,” said Rick Gilmore, Founder and Chairman of GFSF. 

In his assumption of the Directorship of GFSF, Mr. Paez stressed that he looks “forward to working with our members and reaching out to new members whose products and services will assist the private and public sectors in compliance objectives for our global food supply chain.”   In his closing comments, he added, “I plan to build on GFSF’s role as an information sharing platform open to both the private and public sectors worldwide.”

 For further information, contact GFSF at 703-684-1366.