VIENNA, 7 October 2022 – The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), together with the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) and the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) organized the Vienna Food Safety Forum 2022 to share knowledge and experiences on data-driven innovation in food safety.

 

The hybrid event convened high-level representation, including from Cambodia and Ethiopia, and experts from government ministries, regulators, food safety scheme owners, certification bodies, industry actors, and development partners in Vienna and around the world. Attended by 400 participants from 65 countries, the Forum emphasized the need for collaboration and partnership among diverse public and private actors to disseminate knowledge and share experiences related to food safety innovation.

The event provided a timely platform for participants to share and exchange knowledge on data-driven, innovative approaches, regulatory frameworks, application-based tools and sectoral partnerships needed to transform global food systems, ahead of the upcoming Codex Alimentarius Commission meeting in November. The VFSF dialogue helped to develop a better understanding of current digital trends in food safety and their deployment within different regional and national contexts to achieve better public health outcomes and facilitate enhanced trade.

UNIDO Director General, Gerd Müller acknowledged the unique challenges faced by global food systems in 2022 and called for multi-collaborative effort to ‘transform global food system to sustainably feed nearly ten billion people by 2050’ in his opening remarks.  

The Chair of the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS) and Acting Deputy Secretary of the DAFF Agriculture Trade Group, Ms. Nicola Hinder PSM, reiterated Australia’s commitment to promote global food safety. Calling ‘safe food the cornerstone of our existence’, she reflected on the Forum’s timely focus on innovative solutions to secure access to safe food and ‘a wonderful opportunity to guide and change how we are going to be looking at our food systems for future generations’.

Chairperson of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, Steve Wearne, appreciated the unparalleled opportunity offered by the VFSF to steer collaborative efforts to achieve the ‘compelling vision of the right data, available at the right time, supporting the right decisions for food safety’. He further called upon the attendees to work within their ‘spheres of influence, across organizations, sectors and regions – in Codex and elsewhere – to harness the power of data and digital innovation for common good’.

 

The findings and lesson learned from the Forum will inform UNIDO’s engagement in piloting programmes and partnerships to steer food safety compliance and innovative solutions for global food systems transformation.

 

Visit the VFSF Gallery here.

Learn more about UNIDO’s existing work in the area here.

For more information, contact:

Gabor Molnar