1st European Stakeholder Meeting: 6 May 2010 in Brussels
The Stakeholder meeting in May is the first in a series which will set the stage for the project activities in the coming months.
Stakeholders from Science, Industry, Trade, Retail, Consumers, Policy, and Administration Ongoing discussions on the competitiveness of the European food sector are closely linked with discussions on transparency within food chains from production agriculture to retail as well as with policy and consumers. The European Commission has initiated the CSA project ‘Transparent_Food’ (Transparency in the Food Chain) that aims at providing a clear picture on
- the current status of transparency regarding needs and realization,
- deficiencies, development barriers, and development opportunities, and
- requirements on research initiatives that could strengthen the competitiveness of
the sector and provide support in overcoming deficiencies and barriers.
It establishes close links with the European Technology Platform ‘Food for Life’ and especially its National
Platforms for information exchange and the identification of best practice examples in different scenarios and
cultural backgrounds.
It invites representatives from industry and trade, from policy and administration, from consumer groups, and
from research to bring in their views including needs, feasibilities, reservations, investment interests, and expectations.
Agenda
1st European Stakeholder Meeting ‚Transparency in the Food Chain’
May 6, 2010, Brussels
State Representative of North‐Rhine‐Westfalia, Germany
Rue Montoyer 47, B‐1000 Brüssel
From 09:30 Welcome coffee and registration
10:00 – 10:35 Setting the stage: Welcome and Introduction:
10:00 – 10:10 Transparency for sustainability and market success
(Representative of the European Commission and
Prof. Dr. Gerhard Schiefer, University of Bonn, Germany)
10:10 – 10:20 The European Project ‘Transparent_Food’ and its working
groups (Dr. Melanie Fritz, University of Bonn, Germany)
10:20 – 12:20 The Transparency Challenge: Expectations, Situation and Deficiencies
10:20 – 10:35 Supply chain and consumer link
(Dr. Barling, City University London, UK)
10:40 – 10:55 Transparency in the Food Chain: Consumer Perspectives (Dr George Chryssochoidis, Rlabs, Greece)
11:00 – 11:15 The transparency challenge from production to retail
(Dr. Ulf Sonesson, SIK, Sweden)
11:20 – 11:35 Can we build on ‘best practice’?
(Prof. Dr. Xavier Gellynck, Gent University, Belgium)
11:40 – 11:55 Towards a European backbone for tracking and tracing systems
(Dr. Martin Kunisch/Daniel Martini, KTBL, Germany)
12:00 – 12:15 The ETP ‘Food for Life’ National Platforms as Knowledge Base
(Andras Seboek, Campden BRI, Hungary)
12:20 – 13:00 Light lunch
13:00 ‐14:30 Working Groups
‘Transparency in Food’: Needs, Situation, Barriers and Research Requirements
Discussion and brainstorming in separate working groups.
14:30 – 15:00 Coffee Break
15:00 – 15:30 Reports from the working groups and general discussion
15:35 – 16:00 The European Platform ‘Food Transparency’
Objectives, Organization, Participation, Program, Technology
16:00 – 16:30 Concluding General Discussion and Stakeholder Involvement
(Needs and Opportunities)
Background information
Transparency in the food sector depends very much on agreements and a common understanding of
transparency objectives and opportunities. Keywords like ‘carbon footprint’ and ‘food miles’ but also ‘food safety’ and ‘food quality’ are expressions of transparency needs from different angles the sector will increasingly have to deal with. Initiatives like the SAI (Sustainability Agriculture Initiative), the reporting activity GRI (Global Reporting Initiative), tracking and tracing efforts, or the standardization initiatives by GS1 are supporting efforts.
The current initiative will identify the groups that are prepared to contribute to the specification of the state of the art and deficiencies, the identification of best practice examples and the formulation of a research agenda for future European research initiatives towards improvements in transparency that support a sustainable competitiveness of the food sector and its acceptance by consumers in a world with changing attitudes, requirements and production opportunities:
Enterprise representatives
are asked to bring in their views including needs, feasibilities, reservations, investment interests, and expectations.
Consumer representatives
are asked to clarify needs and deficiencies considering especially trends and cultural diversities.
Policy representatives
are asked to bring in the views of society and international regulatory frameworks.
Administration representatives
related to standardization initiatives, quality systems, marketing organizations and others are asked to provide their expertise regarding opportunities and deficiencies in moving towards better transparency.
Research representatives
are asked to support in outlining research agendas.