July 19, 2017     

The Food Safety Consortium (FSC), initiated by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), has recently been awarded the C.B. Shogren Memorial Award by the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) in recognition of FSC’s exceptional achievement in advancing global food safety, and in particular with its objectives and efforts in line with the mission of IAFP - “to provide food safety professionals worldwide with a forum to exchange information on protecting the food supply.” FSC becomes the first IAFP affiliate outside of the Americas to receive this prestigious award. The award ceremony was held on July 12, 2017 at the 2017 IAFP Annual Meeting which took place in Tampa, Florida.

PolyU officially launches the FSC in December 2015 with significant support from its Innovation and Technology Development Office and the Food Safety and Technology Research Centre, with the mission of addressing unmet food safety needs through innovation. FSC is committed as a platform to foster closer engagement and collaboration among the industry, academia, and government in strengthening capacity building in food safety. It also utilized scientific approaches to enhance capacity and technical competency with a view to addressing current food safety challenges among food industry, with the ultimate goal of benefiting public food health. 

Founded in 1911, IAFP is home to educators, government officials, microbiologists, food industry executives and quality control professionals from 50 nations who are involved in all aspects of growing, storing, transporting, processing and preparing all types of foods. IAFP aims to provide food safety professionals worldwide with a forum to exchange information on protecting the food supply.

FSC was recognized as the Hong Kong affiliate of IAFP since mid-2015, as the two organizations have consistent objectives and the affiliation will effectively synergize their efforts in advancing food safety in various regions of the world.

In two years, FSC has grown from its budding stage to:

• being the home of 49 local and multinational Corporate Members from different sectors of the food industry – manufacturing, retail & wholesale, catering, testing & services, food security management, and other stakeholder organizations and internationally renowned Advisors;
• being a key driver towards the establishment of the DISH Global Centre for Food Safety in collaboration with Lund University (LU), National Food Institute – Technical University of Denmark (DTU), and the University of Bologna (Unibo) to serve as a unique EU-Hong Kong platform to address global food safety challenges with world-class solutions;
• organizing the first Global Food Safety & Technology Forum (GFSTF) - an international technology exchange conference to address food safety problems with science and technology - and ensuring its sustainability in collaboration with LU, DTU and Unibo;
• participating in global initiatives such as the International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN) and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS);
• initiating and participating in various collaborative projects in food fraud, food supply intelligence and technology development, and the most recent EU-China-Safe project under the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 program; and
• -organizing various other activities and outreaching globally to foster exchanges among the industry, academia, government, and other food safety stakeholders.

While the C.B. Shogren Memorial Award is a significant recognition of FSC’s development, PolyU will build upon these solid foundations and bring about the most cutting-edge food safety and food technologies to benefit the global community.

PHOTOS & CAPTIONS

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(Left to right) IAFP Executive Board Member and Affiliate Council Chair Mr. Neil Bogart presenting the C.B. Shogren Memorial Award to FSC Convenor, Director of Innovation and Technology Development Dr. Terence Lau and FSC Secretary, Manager at Innovation and Technology Development Office Ms. Nelly Lam.

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The C.B. Shogren Memorial Award was presented at the IAFP Awards Banquet on July 12, 2017 in front of numerous food safety experts worldwide.

Relevant links:
International recognition in advancing food safety

https://www.polyu.edu.hk/cpa/excel/en/201707/achievements/a1/index.html

The #FoodSafety Consortium initiated by #PolyU was awarded the C.B. Shogren Memorial Award by @IAFPFood.
https://twitter.com/HongKongPolyU/status/892692831155834880