Food safety guaranteed

There were almost 400 participants at the IFS Food Safety Conference in Budapest at the Corvinus University on 5 November. Before the speakers took the floor IFS business development consultant Marek Marzec welcomed those present. Later in the coffee break he told Trade magazin that the longer the supply chain, the more important food safety is. The first speaker was Dr Ferenc Helik from the National Food Chain Safety Office (NÉBIH), who told that they had implemented 1,130 checks, destroyed 1,980 tons of products and imposed HUF 639.2 million worth of fines. Anette Kata and Tamás Balogh from DNV introduced IFS standards and related rules for material which is in contact with food. Dr Andrea Bajkai from SGS spoke about the sustainable palm tree oil standard (RSPO), the sustainable coffee, tea and cocoa standard (UTZ) and HALAL standards. György Laczkó, from Bureau Veritas introduced the non-binding recommendations of the PAS 96 food protections guidelines. Attila Illés from Bizerba spoke about how food producers need to commission specialists with supervising the production process if they wish to leave the world of small manufactures behind. János Wicha from Ecolab talked about the importance of the proper cleaning of machines used in food production. Péterné Antal from AMSA Higiénia Kft. brought products developed especially for cleaning such machinery. Dr Tamás Szigeti and Gábor Balázs from Wessling informed participants about calculating, measuring and indicating the nutritional value of food products. Zoltán Kiss M. from Oldcet Kft. spoke about Hungarian and EU grant opportunities for food manufacturers. The last speaker was Ferenc Deák from the Ministry of Agriculture, talking about the latest legislation and the problems in children’s public service catering.