Lifestyle
Awareness and Participation Skyrocketed at the 1st Food Safety Conference in Cebu
Fresh farm produce on sale from OURFood farmer-partners
It was an awe-inspiring conference!
Participation was beyond expectation as people from all over the country from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, came to hear and learn about food safety. Producers, suppliers, processors, service providers, business executives, planners and policy-makers from various government agencies and the rest of the stakeholders in the food supply chain converged to learn, exchange information and possibly do business on safe and quality food.
With the theme, “Promoting Food Safety from the Farm to the Fork”, the 1st OURFood Conference on Food Safety was held on June 16-18, 2016 with an unexpected 400 delegates that filled the conference hall to the rafters. More than 20 renown Resource Speakers both local and international with various expertise in the food supply chain provided valuable information and techniques that stakeholders need to deliver safe and quality food for the consumers.
The conference, organized by AFOS-OURFood Project in cooperation with the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was divided into 2 parts. First was the 2-day Technical Sessions (June 16-17, 2016) at the Cebu City Marriott Hotel. The technical session was comprised by a plenary on the topic, “Food Safety in the Value Chain” followed by 4 concurrent sessions on the topics: “Food Safety for MSMEs; Food Safety at Farm; Food Safety for Exporting Companies; and, Food Safety in Food Service”.
The second part was the Market Encounter and Exhibition (June 17-18, 2016) at Robinsons Galleria where 23 exhibitors from the food and related industries showcased various fresh and processed food products as well as food related merchandises, a miniature farm, cooking demonstrations and food tasting events. The exhibition was open to the public and was visited by at least a thousand viewers.
Indeed, it was a very successful conference that culminated with the drafting of resolutions which the organizers shall be submitting to concerned government bodies for inclusion in the drafting of laws in the food industry. And with the astounding success of the 1st conference, a 2nd conference on Food Safety is in the offing.
