The food and beverage industry must use the upcoming GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) Conference to revisit its approach to change, according to a leading global assurance provider, LRQA (Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance).
With consumer expectations, investor demands, and global events accelerating the rate of change, LRQA is calling on the industry to focus on 'how' rather than 'what' they do to meet evolving goals. As such, LRQA's Global Technical Director for Supply Chain Assurance, Kimberly Carey Coffin, will speak on the evolving risk landscape at the GFSI Conference 2023.
From the 24th to the 27th of April in Atlanta, USA, the three-day event will bring together food safety professionals worldwide to discuss ongoing challenges and the future of food safety.
Coffin will lead discussions linked to GFSI's theme for 2023, Delivering Safe Food in Turbulent Times: The Need for Agility & Resilience, on the conference's opening day.
"The past three years have shown that change in the risk landscape is inherent. Managing risk is essential to deliver safe food in a food industry context," shared Coffin.
"Food and beverage businesses must have agile and resilient supply chains. Simply put, being agile and resilient is about moving quickly, adapting and recovering easily."
Coffin's discussion will cover why now is the right time to extend views of risk and the processes and systems needed to mitigate it. She will also explore data's critical role in establishing risk appetite and how it can drive the organisational focus of resources on what matters.
The Technical Director added that establishing a resilient business model required a process-driven approach that evaluated threats and allowed those in the industry to develop a framework or plan to respond to potential incidents.
Coffin elaborated further, stating that organisations should take a step back to assess the suitability of current systems, processes, and procedures. Critical gaps needed to be identified to achieve a harmonised risk-based approach to supply chain management.
Those in the industry would need to be a balancing act for businesses where there must be a consideration for regulatory requirements, customer expectations, internal commitments, and objectives.
At GFSI, Coffin has promised to explore the key areas important in maintaining food safety and quality during times of change.
Coffin and the wider LRQA team will be available on stands 15-16 for questions or further discussions.
