The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) has announced the launch of a public-private partnership with the Argentinian Ministry of Agribusiness. The two entities have signed a Letter of Intent to work together on a national training program based on GFSI’s Global Markets Program, as well as to collaborate on national food safety events.

The objective of the collaboration is to combine efforts between the public and private sectors and support the scaling up of current programs. The ultimate aim is to strengthen food safety in Argentina in a collaborative pursuit of the GFSI vision of safe food for consumers everywhere.

One Partnership; Three Clear Goals
A three-fold focus has been defined for this partnership. The primary focus is to build food safety capacity in Argentinian facilities. This will be based on GFSI’s Global Markets Program, a step-by-step capability building program designed to help companies develop effective food safety management systems through a systematic continuous improvement process.

A second focus will be to collaborate on national events to develop awareness on food safety standards, as well as dedicated programs for small and medium-sized enterprises in Argentina.

Finally, the partnership also sets out to strengthen the “Argentina Quality Stamp”: Argentina food a natural choice, a quality seal that distinguishes food made in Argentina meeting specific quality standards. The goal is to support an increasing commitment to food safety, both for national consumption and international export.

A Core Component of GFSI’s Strategic Objectives
“Deepening partnerships with food safety regulators is a critical part of advancing sustainable food safety on a global scale. As such, it is one of GFSI’s three main strategic objectives” says Sergio José Riera, Local Group Chair and Quality, Food Safety & Compliance Director at Arcos Dorados, McDonalds Operator in Latin America. “With today’s complex global food supply, safety goals cannot be achieved by any one company or country alone.”

GFSI brings together key actors of the food industry to collaboratively drive continuous improvement in food safety management systems around the world. Putting what GFSI has built collaboratively at the service of the public sector can complement and support governments’ efforts.

Furthermore, partnering with government food safety regulators, through dialogue and participation in joint programs contributes to the global harmonization of food safety regulations and to the reduction of barriers to trade. The ultimate goal is to increase consumer trust in the safety of their food, no matter where in the world they live and no matter where that food originates.

Argentina is an increasingly significant country for GFSI’s regional work and is home to the GFSI South Latin America Local Group. One of six Local Groups, this community of committed food safety experts is leading outstanding efforts to implement GFSI global strategy at a regional level.