Global food safety capacity building fund

Article

LCGC Asia Pacific eNews

LCGC Asia Pacific eNewsLCGC Asia Pacific eNews-11-25-2011
Volume 0
Issue 0

Waters has announced, alongside Mars Incorporated and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), that they have jointly pledged $1 million to create the first ever global food safety capacity building fund.

Waters has announced, alongside Mars Incorporated and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), that they have jointly pledged $1 million to create the first ever global food safety capacity building fund. The announcement was made at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in Hawaii.

The fund will support global food safety improvements through a greater understanding of food safety standards and best practices throughout the food safety system. Pilot training programmes will be developed, high priority food hazards will be tackled and the overall competency of food testing methods will be strengthened. Local stakeholders will be encouraged to invest in food safety.

The fund will build on the Memorandum of Understanding between the APEC Food Safety Cooperation forum and the World Bank, who will manage the fund. It will leverage APEC’s unique food safety training programmes and utilize the World Bank’s global reach and contributions from governments and private industry.

Dr Rohit Khanna, vice president of Worldwide marketing for Waters, said, “To really improve food safety and improve food supplies for everyone, we must work cooperatively on a global basis in the most efficient way possible. Teaching the science behind food safety, teaching the best and latest methods, teaching how to read results and understand whether food meets standards, this is core to who Waters is and a key component to a comprehensive food safety programme.”

World Bank Managing Director Sri Mulyani Indrawati commented, “We believe that the proposed Global Food Safety trust fund has enormous potential to advance collaboration on this important global issue, and we are looking forward to this shared endeavour.”

Feed the Future Deputy Coordinator for Development at USAID, Tjada McKenna, commented, “The objectives of this innovative new fund are directly aligned with Feed the Future, the US global hunger and food security initiative. The fund will complement investments made through the transformative Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme to further advance the collective efforts we are making with our partners to make a significant impact in reducing hunger and undernutrition.”

For more information please visit ref="http://www.waters.com">www.waters.com

Related Videos
Robert Kennedy
John McLean | Image Credit: © Aaron Acevedo
Related Content