GFSI 2026 | From Reaction to Anticipation
GFSI 2026 | Vancouver, CANADA | 24 – 26 March 2026
GFSI 2026: Shaping the Future of Food Safety
At the GFSI 2026 Conference (Global Food Safety Initiative) in Vancouver, our Expert Partner VP Sabahnur Demirci participated in a roundtable session on a critical industry challenge—data for risk anticipation. Key industry decision-makers included Alejandro Mazzotta (Chobani), Raquel Medeiros (Nestlé), Susi Garcia-Schauerman (Mondelez International), and Hannes Pouseele (bioMérieux), moderated by Roy Kirby (FoodsafERM).
Key Takeaways from our GFSI 2026 Special Session
The conference highlighted a major shift in the industry, showing how the focus is moving away from simply reacting to food safety issues and toward a proactive model of anticipation and prevention.
1. The Evolution of Food Safety: From Data to Insight
The session emphasized that the value of food safety has evolved through three distinct stages:
- Accuracy and Trust: Reliable testing remains the essential foundation for compliance and brand protection.
- Context and Insight: Data becomes powerful only when it is no longer viewed in isolation. By connecting results, companies can begin to understand the “why” behind food safety trends.
- Anticipation and Prevention: This is the ultimate goal. Once data is trusted and contextualized, organizations can foresee potential deviations before they occur.
2. Moving Beyond Reactive Compliance
Industry leaders are no longer just asking for more technology; they are seeking risk-based decision support.
- Instead of just receiving a “pass/fail” result, professionals need to know in near real-time whether to accept raw materials or if extending a production run is safe.
- The transition involves using trend analysis and environmental monitoring to identify where risks accumulate within the supply chain.
“Testing and auditing must move from static compliance to preventative risk management to eliminate hidden vulnerabilities.”
Raquel Medeiros | Nestlé
3. Harnessing the Power of Collaboration and Expertise
A key theme was that technology alone is not a “silver bullet.” Effective anticipation requires:
- Human Expertise: Having the right experts at the right points in the supply chain to interpret data and make the final call.
- Integrated Systems: Predictive approaches must be embedded into the entire management system, including supplier oversight, food safety culture, and governance.
4. Balancing Short-Term Wins with Long-Term Strategy
The session concluded with a call for balance. While multi-year digital transformation is necessary, it must be grounded in immediate, practical successes.
- Short-term: Focus on “sharper” investigations and smarter environmental monitoring to build internal trust today.
- Long-term: Use these early wins as a foundation for a fully automated and predictive food safety ecosystem.
“We need to move beyond “annual snapshots” toward dynamic, real-time visibility across global supplier networks.”
Susi Garcia-Schauerman | Mondelez International
5. The “Trusted Third Party” Initiative
Finally, the blog highlights the collaborative model between bioMérieux and Mérieux NutriSciences. By acting as a Trusted Third Party, they help companies aggregate and anonymize data. This collective intelligence allows the industry to identify emerging risks (such as those driven by climate or supply chain disruptions) that no single company could detect on its own.
“We transition clients from reactive troubleshooting to proactive resilience via expert intervention and connected data architecture.”
Sabahnur Demirci | Mérieux NutriSciences
