In April, the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) will host a four-part virtual workshop series on food fraud prevention.

The virtual workshop series, titled, “Food Fraud Prevention: Reducing Disruptions through Supply Chain and Enterprise Risk Management,” will take place from 3:00–4:00 P.M. CT on April 1, 3, 8, and 10, 2025. Participants will be guided through the latest Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI)-benchmarked standards and a provide a deep dive into the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which mandates certain practices in financial recordkeeping and reporting for corporations. The workshop will also cover COSO-based Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) frameworks, which are essential to providing a framework for assessing food fraud vulnerability throughout the supply chain and helping ensure food safety protocols are met across the entire enterprise.

Participants will also gain an overview of the following:

• The critical role food fraud prevention plays within broader supply chain management and risk management efforts
• How food fraud vulnerability assessments fit within the ERM framework
• How exploring COSO-based ERM systems can streamline the identification and mitigation of food fraud risks, offering a structure approach for compliance
• Insights into resource allocation decision-making
• Practical applications for evaluating suppliers
• Real-world examples and best practices to see how food fraud prevention strategies have been applied within organizations.

The workshop will be hosted by John Spink, Ph.D., Director of the Food Fraud Prevention Academy and Assistant Professor in the Business School Department of Supply Chain Management at Michigan State University. He is an expert on food fraud prevention whose research focuses on policy and strategy. Dr. Spink is widely published in academic journals and has helped lead national and global regulatory and standards activity.

Registration for the workshop is required and costs $915. IFT Premier members receive a 20 percent discount on registration. Register here.