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Global Harmonization Initiative


GHI MATTERS


 

GHI Matters June 2024

President’s message

Dear GHI members,

June has been an eventful month for GHI. I am thrilled to announce the launch of the Global Harmonization Initiative (GHI) World Congress website, celebrated on the eve of International Food Safety Day, June 7. Please join us for the upcoming Congress, to be held from June 25-27, 2025, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and submit your abstract to secure your presentation spot. Details about abstract submission, awards, registration, sponsorship opportunities, and more can be found on the Congress website at www.ghiworldcongress.org.

This year's World Food Safety Day reminded us to expect the unexpected and to continuously raise awareness about the importance of global food safety. It encourages us all to actively participate in preventing, detecting, and managing foodborne risks, contributing to food security, campaigning against foodborne illnesses, and helping manufacturers produce clean, safe, and nutritious food worldwide.

On June 20, 2024, the WHO (World Health Organization) joins UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) and partners in observing World Refugee Day with the theme "Solidarity with Refugees". This theme emphasizes the need for inclusive health systems and equitable care globally, which directly relates to GHI's commitment to ensuring safe and nutritious food for all, including vulnerable populations like refugees. This alignment reinforces GHI's goal to engage and empower food scientists, industry experts, and policymakers globally to create a more inclusive and secure food safety framework.

At GHI, we are committed to meaningful and concrete actions. We have successfully consulted with our entire membership regarding the GHI Food Safety Curriculum, launched two new working groups, hosted numerous events, and remain dedicated to working together for the best future of GHI.

Dr. Diana Bogueva
GHI President, 20th June 2024



The complete newsletter: GHI Matters June 2024 issue

    CONTENTS
  • President’s message
  • Editor’s Message

  • Introduction of GHI Membership Fees
  • In Memorial to the unforgettable Gerald Moy
  • GHI Food Safety Club – Nigeria Activities
  • Food Safety Curriculum Consultation
  • Working Groups Update
    • Ethics in Food Safety Practices working group
    • GHI has increased the numbers of its working groups and is happy to welcome two new working groups
    • Livestock Methane Reduction Working Group
  • World Food Safety Day Week activities
  • GHI Joint Webinar with LAFST, NDU, and MEFOSA
  • Other GHI participation in World Food Safety Day activities
  • GHI Special Session at IUFoST
GHI Matters April 2024

President’s message

Nature has presented humanity with numerous challenges, particularly evident in places like Dubai and Guangdong Province, China, where massive and devastating flooding has occurred. Despite the human tragedy associated with such events, they should serve as a wake-up call, prompting us to contemplate what is needed to adjust to the new realities, how it will impact the food system and what we as individuals and through GHI can do. As April includes Earth Day and Earth Week, GHI needs to reinvigorate its efforts to assure a safe and sufficient food supply. Thinking positively, this month has been wonderful for GHI, filled with many opportunities for growth and positive impact. Within GHI, we have launched a new working group on Safe Water, and we were engaging in consultations on developing a Food Safety curriculum applicable around the world at the high school level. I am exceptionally proud of all our GHI members who are actively interested in and pursuing these important projects with genuine enthusiasm, providing us with scientifically competent and humane advice. It is heartening to see how our members are dedicating themselves to these crucial issues, understanding the significance of safe water and food safety for our younger generations and communities worldwide. Their passion and expertise are invaluable assets as we navigate these challenges together. In a world that often emphasizes negativity and challenges, it can be difficult to maintain a positive outlook. However, I believe that by staying focused on meaningful projects and leveraging our collective expertise, we can make a significant difference. Together, we can continue to create positive impacts and contribute to the well-being of humanity and to the success of GHI’s mission.

Dr Diana Bogueva, April 2024
GHI President



The complete newsletter: GHI Matters April 2024 issue

    CONTENTS
  • President’s message
  • Editor’s Message

  • Signing of the FoodSafety4EU consortium agreement
  • Memorandum of Understanding Signing
  • GHI Food Safety Club – Nigeria Activities
  • 'Future Career Perspectives in Food Safety and Regulatory Compliance' - A GHI Co-Sponsored Events with IFSA
  • GHI Special Session at IUFoST
  • GHI Congress New Date Now Out
  • World Food Safety Day: What are You Doing about It?

 

GHI Matters February 2024

The President Emeritus’s message

Dear GHI Members,

In 2004 GHI was formed as a response to the news that in various countries thousands of people were dying while in the harbors there was enough food to feed them all. The reason was that governments felt that the food may not be safe although the food was considered safe in the countries of origin. A small group of people meeting at an international scientific conference agreed that this is absurd and unacceptable, and therefore scientists should try to convince the world that food safety regulations should be harmonized. The Global Harmonization Initiative was conceived. Since then, I have been leading GHI but knowing that I would turn 80 early 2024, I felt that GHI, as a fairly young and vibrant organization, needs a younger president.

I am proud of the new GHI Board, elected in November 2022, that on average is much younger than before, is gender-balanced, and has representatives from all five big continents. I felt that I should step down and propose that GHI elect another president.

The election took place during the first Board meeting in 2024, on 17 January.

It is a real pleasure to inform you that the newly elected president is Dr. Diana Bogueva. Diana has been extraordinarily active in GHI in the past six years, gradually assuming responsibility for many tasks, including becoming Working Group Director, which means supporting 20 working groups. I have been leaning on Diana's shoulders now for quite a long time. With her motivation and insights in GHI's matters, I am certain that she will be a very good president, and I am happy that the other members of the Board felt the same and are willing to support her as they did support me, the last year as board members but before that in their various other functions on behalf of GHI. Diana is born in Bulgaria but lives in Australia.

Note that I am not resigning from the board. I shall remain a board member at least until the next board election, providing support where and when needed and possible.

Take care and kind regards,

Huub Lelieveld, 29th February, 2024



Incoming President (Dr. Diana Bogueva)’s Message

Dear Esteemed Members,

I am honored to address you as the newly elected President of the Global Harmonization Initiative (GHI), following in the footsteps of the esteemed Prof Huub Lelieveld. Inspired by his legacy in the realm of food safety and security, I am eager to continue the remarkable journey he began in 2004.

GHI was born out of a commitment to rectify the regrettable destruction of food due to legal correctness at the expense of scientific and moral considerations. Today, with the baton passed to me, I am excited to usher in a new era of progress and innovation within our organization. As we transition to a new chapter, I am committed to preserving our core principles while introducing initiatives that will redefine and elevate our organization.

This journey is not going to be successful without all of you the members of GHI and the support of all the people next to me, our Board members, directors, working groups chairs and vice chairs. Together, we will amplify the name and expertise of GHI on the world stage. Let's work collaboratively to eliminate differences in food safety and security, laws and regulations between countries. By doing so, we will prevent the needless spoilage, confiscation, and destruction of safe and healthy food, ensuring that no one goes hungry in a world where more than 820 million people still face food insecurity.

I invite you to join me on this journey as we transform GHI into a beacon of global cooperation. Together, we can make a lasting impact on food safety, security, and the well-being of millions.

Best regards,

Diana Bogueva, 29th February, 2024


The complete newsletter: GHI Matters February 2024 issue

    CONTENTS
  • The President Emeritus’s message
  • Incoming President (Dr. Diana Bogueva)’s Message
  • Editor’s Message

  • GHI Member publications
  • GHI Announces Vacancies
  • GHI Congress New Date Now Out
  • GHI Readies Itself for a Robust Financial Future
  • GHI Board Proposes a Creation of an Executive Board
  • GHI Group Influencing Food Safety Conversations in Nigeria
  • GHI Food Safety Club in Nigeria
  • Events and conferences
    • Memorandum of Understanding Signing Ceremony between GHI and the IFSA (International Food Safety Association) based in Hong Kong
    • Memorandum of understanding for co-operation between Lebanese Association of Food Scientists and Technologists (LAFST) and GHI
    • International Cereal and Bread Congress (ICBC)
    • The 22nd World Congress of Food Science and Technology IUFoST 2024
  • Upcoming GHI webinars
  • Celebrating the progress of GHI WG
  • Have You Visited the GHI YouTube Channel Lately?

 

GHI Matters November 2023

President's message

This issue of GHI Matters was intended to replace the August issue and the plan was to indeed publish in October, meanwhile it is November - we are running late again. My sincere apologies for these delays that are absolutely not intentional. This all has to do with our plans to have the 2nd GHI Congress in 2024 that proved to be more difficult than expected. For one reason we learned that the legal formalities have increased significantly over the past years and hence everything took more time than we would have liked. When we were ready with all the preparations and started to advertise for the Congress, the terrorist attack in Israel took place, which meant many of our members had additional constraints on their travel. This meant we had to renegotiate everything with the third parties involved. This all meant many meetings and consultation with the Organizing Committee and Scientific Committee and all our other internal and external partners .... regrettably this meant less time was dedicated to GHI Matters.

However, this does not mean that GHI ceased to be active. On the contrary, this issue carries information about GHI’s progress on several fronts including some key highlights, such as the establishment of a GHI Food Safety Club in Nigeria.

There is much going on in GHI and there are many ideas about what activities GHI might pursue to promote food safety and security in the world and if you are willing to actively contribute to these endeavors, please tell us, you will be very welcome! The need to contribute effectively to the food safety and harmonization endeavors all over the world is increasing with the increased unrest in the world.

Let us hope that world leaders will really do everything they can to achieve peace and save the lives of the many innocent victims of the violence.

Huub Lelieveld, 1st November, 2023


The complete newsletter: GHI Matters November 2023 issue

    CONTENTS
  • President's message
  • Editor’s Message

  • GHI Member publications
    • Traditional fermented dairy products of Iran
    • Olive oil, fruit and leaves in diabetes mellitus type 2 treatment
  • GHI Group influencing food safety conversations in Nigeria
    • GHI Food Safety Club in Nigeria
  • Events and conferences
    • 6th edition of the ISEKI E-conference
    • International Cereal and Bread Congress (ICBC)
  • 2023 IFT-EFFoST International Non-thermal Processing Workshop & Short Course
  • The 22nd World Congress of Food Science and Technology IUFoST 2024
  • POSTPONEMENT: The 2nd GHI Congress
  • Celebrating the progress of GHI WG
  • GHI Webinar Series and Launch of the GHI YouTube Channel
  • World Food Safety Day: Perspective from a GHI Board member

 

GHI Matters June 2023

President's message

In many parts of the world, it is vacation season now. I congratulate the parents among our now more than 1400 member scientists if their daughters and sons got their diplomas and take a break before continuing their study or starting their career.

It is a pleasure to see that the increase in membership results in many activities that indeed promote safe food for everyone, as shown by the series of GHI webinars, and the participation of GHI members in conferences and the writing of (chapters for) books. Special congratulations to Dora Marinova and Diana Bogueva for winning the prestigious award described below.

Enjoy reading and make sure you are not missing any of the events or publications that are relevant to you.

Take care and kind regards,

Huub Lelieveld, 30th June, 2023


The complete newsletter: GHI Matters June 2023 issue

    CONTENTS
  • President's message
  • Editor’s Message

  • GHI participated in the Fi Ingredients Conference in Cairo, 28-30 May 2023
  • Annual International Conference "Agriculture for Life, Life for Agriculture", 8-10 June 2023
    • Workshop in the Biotechnology Session - 8 June 2023
    • GHI Global Incident Alert Network. Case study: Romania
    • Valorification potential of some fruit processing waste in various new applications – The outcomes of mild sus fruit – ERA NET project
    • Legislation on packaging at national and international level
    • Bottled water consumer risk exposure in Romania
    • Sustainable preservation of marine biomasses for an enhanced food value chain (SuMaFood)
    • How GHI may be successful in improving food security and safety
  • Safe cassava project
  • Manual on Food Safety in Disaster Areas
  • Two GHI members and seasoned scholars win the best of the best book prize
  • Celebrating the progress of GHI Working Groups
  • GHI Webinar Series and Launch of GHI YouTube Channel
  • Eid-al-Fitr and food safety
  • Abstract Submission at GHI Congress

 

GHI Matters April 2023

President's message

Dear Readers, both members and non-members,

It is a pleasure to see the work to develop the 2nd GHI Congress about which you will read much in this issue. The preparation of the congress demands much effort from many of our leadership as do the work of the many working group activities and the editing of GHI books. For this reason, I want to attract your attention to the "GHI Position Vacancies" at the end of this issue. You will also find details about the 10th World Sustainability Forum, which is very relevant GHI's activities.

Next time you will read about the progress made by several of the working groups, such as about saving peoples’ lives by teaching them about correct preparation of cassava, the staple food of a billion people; the potential of bacteriophages in food safety; the Manual on Food Safety in Disaster Areas, and more.

Hoping for an end to the wars in the world, I wish you all success in your endeavours.

Huub Lelieveld, 30th April, 2023


The complete newsletter: GHI Matters April 2023 issue

    CONTENTS
  • President's message
  • Editor’s Message

  • Events and Notifications
    • IUFoST Newsletter
    • GHI Congress 2024
    • 10th World Sustainability Forum
    • GHI Position Vacancies

 

GHI Matters February 2023

President's message

Dear Readers,

The world is not getting any better these days: With three severe earthquakes in Turkey and Syria with disastrous consequences, while the war in Ukraine seems likely to continue for some time. Apart from wishing those suffering strength and material support, there is very little that most of us can do about all of this, regrettably. GHI should continue with its task, promoting sufficient availability of safe food everywhere including areas of war and devastation.

The preparation for the 2nd GHI World Congress on Food Safety and Security is now in full swing. In this and the following issues of GHI Matters you will be continually updated.

Hoping that there will be improvements in the state of the world during the rest of the year, I wish everybody strength and happiness, and a will to help others as much as possible.

Huub Lelieveld, 25th February, 2023


The complete newsletter: GHI Matters February 2023 issue

    CONTENTS
  • President's message
  • Editor’s Message

  • Events and Notifications
    • GHI Congress, 2024
    • 14th International Congress on Engineering and Food (ICEF14)
    • Agriculture for Life, Life for Agriculture Conference, Bucharest, Romania
    • Food Safety Summit 2023 in Johannesburg, South Africa
  • GHI Webinar Series 2023
    • Food Safety Short Stories
  • Request for Article Submissions
    • Applied Sciences special issue “Functional Food Development”
    • Ultrasonics Sonochemistry special issue "Sustainable Ultrasound Technology"
  • Earthquakes
  • New Director of the Ambassadors Programme

 

GHI Matters YEAR 2021

President's message

Dear Readers,

The year is almost over and there was no lack of excitement, with a totally unexpected war at a time that conflicts should be resolved by talking, not fighting. Let us hope that it will end soon and let us focus on matters that we can influence. It is a real pleasure for me that following the successful GHI session in conjunction with IUFOST 2022 in Singapore, we have a new GHI board. I cordially welcome in particular the new board members and I am also happy that we retained many of the experience ones. Details below.

Gradually this year, after the Covid pandemic became less threatening, more live meetings took place and it has been my pleasure to attend several of these and physically meet colleagues again. I hope that many of you had the same experience and that you will be able to attend more meetings, of which several are announced below.

You are encouraged to take an active part in forthcoming events, announced in this issue. Also note that there are a number of opportunities to contribute to special issues of journals where members of GHI are (co-)editors. There are also new books that are GHI goals related that have recently been published or are being published soon. Remember, when you order books from Elsevier, the code GHI30 will give you a 30% discount.

With this last "President's Message" of 2022, I wish you all as happy a time as possible around the change of the year. In particular for those living in countries where there are wars, famines or both, I wish you strength and courage to move on and persist. Let us hope for a better and happier 2023!

Take care!

Kind regards

Huub Lelieveld, 15th December, 2022


The complete newsletter: GHI Matters December 2022 issue

    CONTENTS
  • President's message
  • Editor’s Message

  • Key Highlights
    • New GHI Board
    • New Constitution
    • IUFoST 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award
    • GHI Special Session at 21st IUFoST World Congress
    • Membership in the Royal Society for Public Health
  • Events Notification
    • 14th International Congress on Engineering and Food (ICEF14)
  • GHI Related Events
    • Agriculture for Life, Life for Agriculture conference, Bucharest, Romania
    • Food Safety Summit 2023 in Johannesburg, South Africa
  • Publications by Members of GHI
    • Food Safety Short Stories
    • Present Knowledge in Food Safety
    • Applied Sciences special issue "Recent Advances in Dietary Supplements"
    • Applied Sciences special issue "Functional Food Development"
    • Ultra Sonochemistry special issue "Sustainable Ultrasound Technology"

 

GHI Matters October 2022

President's message

Dear Readers,

Hopefully you have heard of the new Covid variations, but are not suffering from them. Many of us intend to meet each other at the forthcoming events in Singapore, Dublin, Dubrovnik and elsewhere, and I hope that meeting many of you will not become impossible because of Covid infections. You will find details of the GHI sessions in Singapore and Dublin in this issue.

On 2 November the GHI General Assembly will meet and elect the new board for the next three years. It is my pleasure to know that we have many well-motivated candidates from all continents and that there is also a fair gender balance.

In many areas of the world there are severe problems, including wars and extreme weather conditions, and many people are suffering. I wish those who are suffering strength and courage and I hope that those who can will provide as much help as possible.

Huub Lelieveld, 15th October, 2022


The complete newsletter: GHI Matters October 2022 issue

    CONTENTS
  • President's message
  • Editor’s Message

  • Key Highlights
    • Improving the nutrient content of street-vendor beverages
  • GHI Related Events
    • GHI at the 21st IUFOST World Congress of Food Science & Technology in Singapore
    • 4th International Congress on Food Safety and Quality in Dubrovnik
    • GHI at the EFFoST Conference in Dublin
    • ISO advances food safety harmonization with publication of ISO 22003 Parts 1 & 2
  • Updates from Working Groups
    • Substances not intentionally added (NIAS) to foods and food safety

 

GHI Matters August 2022

President's message

Dear Readers,

Hopefully you are safe and healthy, but I know many of you live in areas where there is famine, war, or both. The world is not getting better, reason to persist in our goal of advocating safe food for everybody in this world. You are encouraged to participate in the online UN event "Uniting Business Live", organised by United Nations Global Compact, see (item 5 on page 5), below. In three days many aspects of the "Sustainable Development Goals" will be discussed by real experts and you may be able to comment. Participation is free.

Many of our officers have been actively participation in various very relevant events, such as the National Whistleblower Day in the US (item 1 page 4) and the World Food Safety Day (item 11) and I know that there are many other activities. If you have been participating in such an event, please send a report to Ben Oloo, the Editor of the newsletter. This may inspire others!!

It will be sad if, worsened by the global crises, -more scientists from the very disadvantages areas in the world will not be able to participate in events in which GHi is involved. Apart from the various events this year, I hope that there will be possibilities for participation in the 2nd GHI Congress, which had been postponed twice for obvious reasons but is intended to take place in March 2024. More about this is the next issue of GHI Matters. Because of these events, I urge you to help if you can to promote the goal of GHI by making a donation, see (item 2 on page 5).

I hope to meet many of you live at the IUFoST 21st World Congress of Food Science & Technology in Singapore (item 2 page 3, below). This is one of the few chances to meet that we have since Covid and the war (in the Ukraine and elsewhere) crises.

Wishing you all health and happiness and strength in dealing with difficult circumstances!

Huub Lelieveld, 30th August, 2022


The complete newsletter: GHI Matters August 2022 issue

    CONTENTS
  • President's message
  • Editor’s Message

  • Key Highlights
    • GHI at the 34th EFFoST Conference in Dublin, 7-9 November 2022
    • GHI at the IUFoST 21st World Congress of Food Science & Technology in Singapore
    • National Whistleblower Day in the US
    • 8th International Dietary Fibre Conference
    • Financial support for participation in meetings that GHI encourages attending
  • GHI Webinars
  • GHI Ambassadors
  • Uniting Business Live
  • Publications by members of GHI

  • World Food Safety Day
    • From Macedonia
    • From México
    • From Ethiopia
    • From Nigeria
    • From Tanzania

 

GHI Matters June 2022

President's message

Dear Readers,

Time moves fast. I had the feeling that I just finished my message for the previous issue of GHI Matters. GHI is growing and so is the number of working groups although some are not very active, but some, including new ones are indeed very active. It becomes hard to follow all these developments. The growth partly results from the webinars. They are successful and following a seminar there are always new member applications. A big thank you to the organisers and presenters!

GHI has also been active in relation to the World Food Safety Day. More about this in the next issue of this newsletter.

I invite readers to pay attention to the message about the General Assembly (GA) where nominations for the election of board members will be announced again. It is my feeling that the board should have a more diverse global and a better gender distribution. It is a pleasure to know that there are at the moment four new candidates for the board which means that the members of the GA have an important role in voting on these applicants..

In many parts of the world, the situation is still very troublesome and I hope that we shall see more peace in the near future.

Kind regards,

Huub Lelieveld, 30 June, 2022


The complete newsletter: GHI Matters June 2022 issue

    CONTENTS
  • President's message
  • Editor’s Message
  • Key Highlights

  • GHI Related Events Announcements
    • GHI at IFT in Chicago, US
    • GHI at the IUFoST 21st World Congress of Food Science & Technology in Singapore
    • GHI General Assembly
    • GHI at the 36th EFFoST International Conference in Dublin, Ireland
    • Lodging at EFFoST
    • The 7th ISEKI-Food Conference 2023
    • Central European Congress on Food and Nutrition (CEFood 2022)
    • International Dietary Fibre Conference 2022
    • The 2022 World Congress of EHEDG
    • Financial support from GHI for participation in meetings that GHI encourages attendance
  • Books by GHI Members
    • Food in a Planetary Emergency
    • The Pseudocereals Book
  • The IUFoST WG 1.2 Education - Emerging Issues Short Survey
  • Science in Exile
  • Ambassador Section
    • Appointment of New GHI Ambassadors
  • GHI Webinars
    • Working Group on Consumer Perception
  • Publications by GHI Members
    • Ultra-processed Foods Classification
    • Health Problems Associated with the use of Calcium Carbide as a Ripening Gas

 

GHI Matters April 2022

President's message

Dear Readers,

Time moves fast. I had the feeling that I just finished my message for the previous issue of GHI Matters. Now that the pandemic is close to over in most countries - but regrettably not yet everywhere - we may meet again live. Postponed events are now taking place again and I hope I shall talk with many of you at events like the World Food Congress of Food Science and Technology in Singapore and the EFFoST conference in Dublin, both in November. Before that, however, there will also be the annual meeting of the Institute of Food Technology (IFT) in Chicago, in July. EFFoST and IFT were represented at the inception of GHI and there have always been good attendance of GHI members and we often had GHI meetings at those events. We have started to organize a GHI meeting during the IFT meeting again this year. The second GHI Congress that should have taken place this year in St. Petersburg, Russia, for obvious reasons had to be cancelled. The Board is investigating where and when this congress may take place, but it certainly will not be this year. We hope to be able to tell you in the next issue of GHI Matters.

As GHI is global, it is important to encourage a global participation in all of these events. Earlier this month I sent a message to the members of GHI inviting donations to enable GHI to provide support to members who without financial support would be unable to join these meetings. If you are able and would like to help, please do so, see the relevant section below (Financial support from GHI for participation in meetings that GHI encourages attendance).

I wish all of you a peaceful future, hoping that the war that nobody expected will soon end.

Kind regards,

Huub Lelieveld, 30 April, 2022


The complete newsletter: GHI Matters April 2022 issue

    CONTENTS
  • President's message
  • Editor’s Message
  • Key Highlights
    • Halal Certifiers List
    • GHI at IFT in Chicago, US
    • GHI at the IUFoST 21st World Congress of Food Science & Technology in Singapore
    • The GHI session programme
    • GHI at the 36th EFFoST International Conference in Dublin, Ireland
    • Lodging at EFFoST
    • Financial support from GHI for participation in meetings that GHI encourages attendance
    • Ordering GHI books from Elsevier
    • Ambassador Section
    • GHI webinars
    • Scientists in War Zones
    • Working Group on Consumer Perception
    • Publications by GHI Members

 

GHI Matters February 2022

President's message

Dear Readers,

Hopefully 2022 started better for you than 2021. It is starting to look like the pandemic is over its maximum and life may gradually become more - although not completely - normal again.

Meanwhile, during the pandemic, the officers of GHI have been very active and I hope that you are as pleased as I am with the information in this issue of GHI Matters. Please read it carefully because you may want to act, and if so, you need to do so on time.

Take care and kind regards,

Huub Lelieveld, 19th February, 2022


The complete newsletter: GHI Matters February 2022 issue

    CONTENTS
  • President's message
  • Editor’s Message
  • Key Highlights
    • Scientists in occupied territories
    • Elections of New GHI Board Members
    • 21st World Congress of Food Science & Technology
    • Announcement of GHI Student Video Poster Competition at IUFoST World Congress 2022 – Singapore, 31 Oct to 3 Nov.
  • The Whole Grain Initiative puts consensus definition for whole grains on the table
  • Welcoming New GHI Ambassadors
  • Books by GHI Members
    • Ensuring Global Food Safety- 2nd Edition has been Published
    • Book proposal by Dr. Sunita Singh
  • Events
    • 20th ICC Conference 2022
    • GHI webinars Series
    • NUTRICON Congress 2022
    • IFW 2022 | 3rd International Conference: Insects to Feed the World 2022

 

GHI Matters December 2021

President's message

Dear Reader,

Although for some readers Christmas is on 7 January, for most readers it was the 25th December. I hope that it has been or will be a happy time.

The past year has not been easy for many or perhaps even most of you. Online teaching has become the norm by now and that usually involves more effort. Despite this, many of you have been very active supporting the objective of GHI: safe food for everyone in this world. The number of membership applications is continually increasing and so is the number of our ambassadors. Several of the working groups have been active and productive. All of this meant an increasing burden for our honorary directors, all of whom do this work in their spare time in addition to their regular professional duties. Without our directors and other officers, spread over the entire globe, GHI would not be sustainable.

We are grateful to the leadership and staff of the high quality, thoroughly peer-reviewed African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development (AJFAND) in which GHI Matters has been incorporated since the beginning of 2021. It gives GHI more exposure and the journal potentially more authors.

A special mention of the work of the working group Global Incident Alert Network who launched in August the first and only truly anonymous whistleblowing webpage in the world and thanks to many active ambassadors, that webpage is now available in more than 30 languages and that number is still increasing. It means that it will be difficult to find an excuse for NOT reporting a serious otherwise unreported food safety incident, wherever it takes place, saving victims from harm or even death.

GHI has many book editors and they too have been productive. Several new volumes of the series "Nutrition and Health Aspects of Traditional and Ethnic Foods" have been published this year and several other new ones are under development. Also, the second edition of "Ensuring Global Food Safety - Exploring Global Harmonization" has been completed and the 2nd edition of "Food Safety Management: A Practical Guide for the Food Industry" has >50 updated and/or new chapters, and is almost ready for production. To support this book, with input from many GHI members, the book "Food Safety Stories" has been produced this year. It contains many real life examples of food safety incidents.

Of course, I need to mention the Editor-in-Chief of GHI Matters, Ben Oloo, who has assumed the responsibility of having an issue of the newsletter every two months, which is a big task. He is to be congratulated on maintaining the schedule required by AJFAND.

Finally, I would like to mention the strong support of members of the GHI Board. Because we are global, board meetings - without exception online this year - means for some of them getting up very early and for other staying up very late, because their participation is so important for wise and legal decisions.

Hopefully you did not suffer from Covid-19 and meanwhile have gotten your vaccinations to keep you free from the disease in the coming year, which again hopefully, we will not suffer from a new pandemic. Therefore, I wish you all a very happy new year’s eve, and a healthy and happy 2022.


Huub Lelieveld, GHI President, December, 2021

The complete newsletter: GHI Matters December 2021 issue

    CONTENTS
  • President's message
  • Editor’s Message
    •    
  • Still interested in joining the Proposed GHI Working Group on Risk Assessment
    		•
  • Books
    •    
  • Nutritional and Health aspects of Food in the Balkans
    		•
       
  • Food Safety Management: A Practical Guide for the Food Industry, 2nd edition
    		•
       
  • Food Safety Stories
    		•
  • Published Articles by GHI Members
    •    
  • How global nutritional standards could pivot to harmonization for safer foods
    		•
  • Food laws and regulations around the world
  • Events
    •    
  • 20th International Association for Cereal Science and Technology (ICC) conference
    		•
       
  • First Joint Food Safety Conference for Africa
    		•
       
  • NUTRICON Congress 2022
    		•
       
  • IFW 2022 | 3rd International Conference: Insects to Feed the World 2022
  • GHI Ambassadors Receive International Recognition and Awards
    •    
  • Prof. Huub Lelieveld-Science to Society Award by EFFosT-2021
    		•
       
  • Dr. Benard Oloo: Visiting International Professional Programs (VIPP) Alumni Award, Michigan State University, Early Career Achievement Award
    		•

 

GHI Matters October 2021

President's message

Dear Reader,

Welcome to the October 2021 issue of GHI Matters. I hope that you have remained free from Covid-19 and if not, that you have been or are recovering completely. Then, of course, I hope that you will find information in this issue that is important for you to know.

GHI is continually growing and along with that becoming more active. This applies to working groups, editors of GHI books, GHI ambassadors and GHI officers. All of them would be happy with more volunteers to share the workload. Therefore, if you are willing to spend a couple of hours per week to advance GHI's goal of safe and nutritious food for all people in the world, let us know. We would be happy to make you responsible for an important task or arrange for you to work with others to accomplish a larger task.

You will read that the number of GHI ambassadors is increasing (there are >100), more new ambassadors are likely to be appointed shortly. As with members, also the number of ambassadorship applications is growing.

Many ambassadors have translated the anonymous whistleblowing reporting website that will soon be available into >20 languages. More about this in the December issue of the newsletter.

There are announcements of events of which some are live again, such as the EFFoST conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, where GHI has a special session with 8 presenters.

Enjoy reading!

Huub Lelieveld, GHI President, October, 2021

The complete newsletter: GHI Matters October 2021 issue

    CONTENTS
  • President's message
  • Editor’s Message
    •    
  • Proposed GHI Working Group on Risk Assessment
    		•
  • Books
    •    
  • Nutritional and Health aspects of Food in the Balkans
    		•
       
  • Food safety stories
    		•
  • Published Articles by GHI Members
    •    
  • How global nutritional standards could pivot to harmonization for safer foods
    		•
  • The European Commission (EC) and GHI
  • Food laws and regulations around the world
  • New GHI Ambassador Appointments
  • Events
    •    
  • Valedictory Symposium for Professor O.C. AWORH
    		•
       
  • First Joint Food Safety Conference for Africa
    		•
       
  • NUTRICON Congress
    		•
       
  • EFFoST Annual Conference
    •    
  • The GHI Special Session at the EFFoST conference
    •    
  • IFW 2020 | 3rd International Conference: Insects to Feed the World

 

GHI Matters August 2021

President's message

Dear Reader,

Regrettable the Covid-19 pandemic is not over yet and it looks like it may take quite some time before the world will be a little bit normal again. It will probably never be completely as before the pandemic; we shall have to get used to the presence of the SARS-Cov-2 virus and its mutations and probably more new viruses. For the shorter term it still means fewer life global events. The next GHI Congress is postponed until an unknown date, as there are just too many uncertainties. It looks like the annual EFFoST conference will take place, this year probably live and it is the intention that GHI make its presence felt, as usual. Regrettably many GHI members from outside Europe who intended to participate are either not allowed to travel to Europe yet or do not yet want to risk traveling in planes as long as the pandemic is not under control. Therefore, regrettably it will largely be only Europeans this time.

In this issue of GHI Matters, you will read a bit more about the anonymous whistle blower's page that the WG Global Incident Alert Network developed and that has attracted quite some media attention. Translations of the webpage are arriving and shortly the webpage will be available in many languages. The same applies to the press release (PR) of 9 August, 2021 and you are encouraged to distribute the PR in the language(s) most suitable for where you live to local food related magazines.

It is my hope that all of you remain free from Covid-19 and if you got the virus, that you will recover quickly and completely. I look forward to see many of you sometime soon again, somewhere.

Take care and kind regards,

Huub Lelieveld, GHI President, August, 2021

The complete newsletter: GHI Matters August 2021 issue

    CONTENTS
  • President's message
  • Editor’s Message
    •    
  • Proposed GHI Working Group on Risk Assessment
    		•
  • Books
    •    
  • Food safety management: A practical guide for the food industry, 2nd edition
    		•
       
  • Food safety stories
    		•
       
  • Nutrition and health aspects of traditional and ethnic food of Eastern Europe
    		•
       
  • Food traceability in Jordan
    		•
  • EFSA publishes the Stakeholders News
  • The European Commission (EC) and GHI
  • Food laws and regulations around the world
  • Whistleblower food safety incident report site
  • Project participation
    •    
  • Updates from FoodSafety4EU
    		•
  • Events
    •    
  • EFFoST Annual Conference
    		•
       
  • IFW 2020 | 3rd International Conference: Insects to Feed the World
    		•
       
  • Food BioTech Conference
    •    
  • MiFFI 2021 Conference - Microbial Food and Feed Ingredients

 

GHI Matters June 2021

President's message

Dear Reader,

Regrettable the Covid-19 pandemic is not over yet and it looks like it may take quite some time before the world will be a little bit normal again. It will probably never be completely as before the pandemic; we shall have to get used to the presence of the SARS-Cov-2 virus and its mutations and probably more new viruses. For the shorter term it still means fewer life global events. The next GHI Congress is postponed until an unknown date, as there are just too many uncertainties. It looks like the annual EFFoST conference will take place, this year probably live and it is the intention that GHI make its presence felt, as usual. Regrettably many GHI members from outside Europe who intended to participate are either not allowed to travel to Europe yet or do not yet want to risk traveling in planes as long as the pandemic is not under control. Therefore, regrettably it will largely be only Europeans this time.

In this issue of GHI Matters, you will read a bit more about the anonymous whistle blower's page that the WG Global Incident Alert Network developed and that has attracted quite some media attention. Translations of the webpage are arriving and shortly the webpage will be available in many languages. The same applies to the press release (PR) of 9 August, 2021 and you are encouraged to distribute the PR in the language(s) most suitable for where you live to local food related magazines.

It is my hope that all of you remain free from Covid-19 and if you got the virus, that you will recover quickly and completely. I look forward to see many of you sometime soon again, somewhere.

Take care and kind regards,

Huub Lelieveld, June 2021

The complete newsletter: GHI Matters June 2021 issue

    CONTENTS
  • President's message
  • Editor’s Message
  • Anonymous reporting of serious food safety incidents
  • World Whistleblower Day
  • Obituary of Wentzel Gelderblom
  • GHI keeps abreast with developments at EFSA
  • Covid-19 and Food translations
  • How to share information you feel to be of relevance for other members of GHI
  • Articles by members of GHI
    •    
  • Sunlight-activated spray could protect crops
    		•
       
  • COVID-19: Food Safety in global food supply chain
    		•
       
  • Halal certifiers webpage
    		•
  • Halal certifiers webpage
  • Regional agribusiness initiatives in the Middle East and North Africa
  • Global sodium benchmarks
  • Study on remote learning in food studies
  • Events
    •  
  • Fi AFRICA 2021 event
    		•
  • Biofilm and food processing
  • World Food Safety Day (WFSD)-2021-reports from around the world
    •

 

GHI Matters Extra Issue May 2021

Editor’s Message

Dear Reader,

I hope you have had a chance to read the April, 2021 Issue of GHI Matters available here. We are sharing a short ‘Extra’ supplementary addendum to the issue. The information in this 2-page supplement would not be relevant by the time the June Issue arrives. Kindly take the time to read through this and learn about the call for Food Safety Incidents Stories, the World Food Safety Day, and finally note the correct link to the Presentation about CoVId-19 and Food that was in the last issue of GHI Matters, which was published in the AJFAND.

Benard Oloo, 28th May, 2021

The complete newsletter: GHI Matters May 2021 Extra issue

    CONTENTS
  • Editor’s Message
  • Correction
  • Food safety incident stories
  • World Food Safety Day
    •

 

GHI Matters April 2021

President's message

Dear Reader,

It is a great pleasure to be able to address you for the first time from our "home" journal. You may notice that we have revamped the layout, mostly by removing superfluous information that you can easily find on the GHI website. It is a fresh start, and it is also a pleasure to acknowledge that the new Newsletter Editor has done a great job. It may also be good to know that GHI and AJFAND have worked together to ensure that we remain compliant with the privacy requirements of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), as shown on the relevant webpage.

We hope that much of the information in this issue will be of interest to you, such as the downloadable presentation on Covid-19 and food. It is available not only in English but also in several other languages and more shall be forth-coming. It is also my pleasure to congratulate many GHI members for receiving prestigious awards, Ruth Oniang'o, the Editor-in-Chief of AJFAND, Vishweshwaraiah Prakash, Joe Regenstein, Aurora Saulo and Bala Balasubramaniam. Details are below.

I would like to point to the Food Safety Profession proposal, prepared by the Working Group for Ethics in Food Safety Practices. I feel that this is an essential issue to ensure food safety for everyone around the world.

The large number of events are listed that gives you a number of opportunities to participate. Many are hybrid while others are online. Those that are hybrid or online only offer participation to those who would not be able to attend the live events due to the considerable costs to attend. GHI members are also active in writing as you will see. We try to make it easy for readers to download these items. Many of them provide information that you may have missed but will be helpful to know.

There is much more in the newsletter and I hope you will take the time to read GHI Matters carefully so that you can keep informed about what GHI is about. In addition you may want to read articles in this peer-reviewed open access journal. They tend to be very interesting, which is another good reason for choosing AJFAND!

GHI is growing and has many active members. It implies that the workload of GHI officers is continually increasing. That is why you will also find a paragraph about a vacancy for the function of Honorary Communications Director. It is an important opportunity to contribute to a better world. It would be great if you are the one who can and wants to take the responsibility for this essential GHI task.

Huub Lelieveld, 29 April 2021.

The complete newsletter: GHI Matters April 2021 issue

    CONTENTS
  • President's message
  • Editor’s Message
  • Affiliation of GHI with the African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development (AJFAND)
  • A presentation about Covid-19 and food
  • Awards
  • Resistance levels in bacteria causing foodborne infections
  • Honorary Communications Director vacancy
  • Events
  • Food Safety Profession proposal - A plan for globally safer food
  • Women in Science International Awards
  • Newly appointed GHI Ambassadors, 2021
  • EFSA Management Board vacancy
  • Books, articles and book chapters by GHI and members of GHI on food and nutrient safety and security
    •

 

 
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