Foodborne illnesses, food fraud and other food safety and quality issues create significant adverse health, social, and economic impacts across Asia as well as globally. PolyU’s Food Safety Consortium (FSC), as the Hong Kong affiliate of the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP), organised the 5th Asia-Pacific Food Safety International Conference (APFSIC) virtually from January 27-28, 2021. As one of the IAFP’s regional conferences, the APFSIC brought together 80 speakers and 400 registrants from the industry, academia, research institutes, government, supranational bodies, as well as students worldwide for a two-day convention on food safety and quality.

The keynotes and plenary speeches covered topics such as COVID-19 and food safety, the FDA’s new era of smarter food safety, the latest regulatory developments in Hong Kong, fostering food safety culture, food supply chain analytics informing management of public health risks, food safety from the perspective of animal health and zoonosis, smart technologies and innovations, controlling COVID-19 transmission through food packaging, and supranational level adaptation in response to COVID-19 and the post-pandemic era. There was also an engaging discussion among the IAFP regional affiliates in strengthening their partnerships.

“Under the pandemic and the new normal, the global food supply is facing immense hardship and disruptions and therefore requires pioneering innovative technologies that demonstrate great adaptability, safety, and quality,” said Dr Terence Lok-ting Lau, Interim Associate Vice President (Innovation and Technology Development), PolyU, and Chairman of the Organising Committee of the APFSIC. “The APFSIC is the perfect occasion for food safety pioneers to maintain their momentum in keeping food safe despite these challenging times. We are ready to embrace 2021 with the best innovations, strongest partnerships, and extreme resilience.”

Founded in 1911, the IAFP represents over 4,000 educators, government officials, microbiologists, food industry executives and quality control professionals from 50 nations who are involved in different aspects of food safety. PolyU’s FSC has been recognised as the Hong Kong affiliate of the IAFP since 2015, helping to synergise their efforts in advancing food safety in various regions of the world. To learn more about their work, please visit the website of FSC.