On November 3, 2015, the 4th annual “Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) China Focus Day” kicked off in Beijing under the theme of “Global Food Safety Vision: Making the Change”. As the only Chinese food production enterprise to serve as GFSI’s board member, COFCO Group has hosted this event for four successive years with the purpose of continuing to promote international exchange and cooperation in food safety.
 
COFCO Group President and the first president of China Nutrition and Health Food Association (CNHFA) Yu Xubo attended the event and delivered a speech, in which he noted that since the Party Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to food safety the overall situation of food safety in China has stabilized with the prospect of improvement under the joint social governance. According to him, COFCO leverages the platform of GFSI to introduce management experiences, technologies and standards and conduct in-depth exchange and cooperation with first-class international enterprises in areas of source management, inspection and testing, thus accelerating its alignment with world’s advanced management standards and boosting the international community’s confidence in China’s food safety. Food enterprises are faced with a new task of how to seize opportunities related to food industry along the “Belt and Road” after the launch of vision for China’s “Belt and Road” and its action plan. As China’s largest agro-product enterprise, COFCO has established a complete value chain from farm to fork in the China market and continuously enhanced in-depth cooperation with its global business partners in the international market over the past 66 years.
 
During the event, Yu Xubo signed a global strategic partnership agreement with GFSI on behalf of the China Nutrition and Health Food Association. Under the agreement, both parties will be committed to setting up a platform for industry players and public departments to network and communicate, and to share access to resources as well as best practices besides building food safety capabilities and carrying out educational activities. At the same time, a self-regulatory mechanism will be established, the world leading best food safety practices based on HACCP principles will be introduced and promoted, and food safety requirements for food purchasers and producers will be coordinated by developing GFSI-recognized standards.
 
COFCO Group Vice President Wan Zaotian, who is a member of the Communist Party Committee of COFCO, attended the event and expressed the hope to team up with global stakeholders in food production and jointly build a line of defense for safety. According to him, COFCO has been actively participating in the formulation of international standards, making use of benchmarked experiences, improving management levels and guiding and pushing food enterprises throughout the value chain to jointly enhancing the level of food safety management since it joined the GFSI four years ago. Mr. Wan Zaotian expected more food safety stakeholders including food producers, service providers, retailers, and industry associations to join the GFSI in establishing a technology exchange platform for food safety management, to benchmark top international enterprises, to improve food safety management system, and to push for the alignment of Chinese standards with advanced international ones.
 
The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) is an industry-driven initiative to provide continuous improvement in food safety management systems and to ensure confidence in the delivery of safe food to consumers worldwide. Established in 2000, the GFSI is an independent non-profit international organization comprised of the world leading supply chain providers including over 650 food production enterprises, retailers and catering businesses from over 70 countries. Its main goal is: “once certified, accepted everywhere” through verifying standards by comparison and mutual recognition of standards so as to achieve the global convergence of different food safety standards and boost the cost-efficiency of food supply chain.
 
Over 300 representatives from government agencies, industry associations, and food enterprises as well as domestic and foreign experts attended the event.