Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) Welcomes New Board Members

John Carter, Senior Director Own Brand and Product Quality Assurance, Metro Cash & Carry, Germany 

Anthony C. Huggett, Vice President Quality Management, Nestlé, Switzerland

Jian Xu, Vice President, China Resources Vanguard Corporation, China 

 

Carter, Huggett and Xu will bring a wealth of knowledge and experience from their respective sectors. 

 

John Carter joined Metro Cash and Carry International in 2012. He is currently responsible for the safety and quality of Metro Own Brand products, both food and non-food, in the 29 countries in which Metro operates. Prior to this he was the Director of Corporate Quality for the Central/Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEEMA) Region of Kraft Foods International. John has a degree in Chemical Engineering from London South Bank University, and an MBA from Cambridge University in the UK. 

 

Commenting on his appointment, Mr. Carter said “I am deeply honoured to be following in the footsteps of Jürgen Matern of Metro AG, who has been a key driver in the improvement of food safety globally, not least in his past leadership of the GFSI having spent over 10 years on its Board both as a Member and as a Chair. I am also excited to be working with peers and colleagues on the GFSI board; it is truly special to be part of a team with such talent, and experience taking responsibility, namely reducing food safety risks around the world while enabling efficiency. I look forward to participating to the best of my ability in the future. With joined forces METRO and GFSI will further promote best trading und supply, efficient food management and safety.” 

 

GFSI is honoured to welcome Nestlé as a new company to the GFSI Board. Anthony Huggett, during his 23 years at Nestlé, has held a variety of positions in the areas of Food Safety and Quality Management in Europe and in Asia. Before joining Nestlé, Anthony Huggett, who earned a Ph.D. in Biochemistry & Toxicology from the University of London, UK, worked for 6 years as a research scientist in the area of cancer aetiology at the National Cancer Institute at NIH in Bethesda, Maryland, USA. In 2011, he was appointed as Head of Quality Management for Nestlé with strategic and functional leadership for the 8000 Quality and Food Safety professionals in the Nestlé group. 

 

Mr. Huggett commented “I want to thank the GFSI Board for their trust. Nestlé will play an active role in supporting the current work of GFSI and will contribute to taking the work of GFSI forward enhancing food safety globally for all consumers through the comprehensive alignment of food safety management across the whole value chain. The production of safe food depends on an increasingly complex and interdependent global food system. The challenge is to build comprehensive food safety systems that ensure the long term involvement and commitment of all concerned parties along the entire value chain. The GFSI programmes have already made substantial contributions to reducing food safety risks by delivering equivalence and convergence between effective food safety management systems and through competency and capacity building. The GFSI Board can count on Nestlé’s commitment backed by its strong technical expertise and long experience in food safety to augment existing programs and to ensure the means are in place to identify and address food safety issues.” 

 

Head Office 22/24 rue du Gouverneur Général Eboué, 92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux, France • Tel : (+33) 1 82 00 95 95 • Fax : (+33) 1 82 00 95 96 • 

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Jian Xu is the Vice President General Manager of the Northwest Business Branch for China Resources Vanguard Corporation (CRV) based in Xi’an, Shanxi province, China. He is a graduate of Xi’an Jiao Tong University and majored in Business Administration. Mr. Xu started his career in the retail industry with Xi’an HOME CLUB Supermarket in 1999. Prior to joining CRV, he spent nearly 5 years as Vice President for Tianjin Jiashijie Chain Commercial Group. He joined China Resources Vanguard in April 2007 as the General Manager of the northwest region and is in charge of the Group Quality Management. 

 

Mr. Xu commented “I am honoured to be following in the footsteps of Kevin Chen on the GFSI Board. GFSI’s impact has gained tremendous momentum over the last few years in many parts of the world and China is a key region for the development of the Initiative. As we continue to build awareness among private and public stakeholders in the food industry in China on the work of GFSI, the GFSI Board can rely on CRV to fully support the various initiatives to drive continuous improvement across food supply chains”. 

 

“We are thrilled to welcome these three leaders to the GFSI Board of Directors,” commented Yves Rey, Chairman of the GFSI Board. “Their combined experience in the food industry will provide valuable insights and a new perspective into the existing and future work of GFSI as we bring together even more stakeholders to collaborate and work towards our common goal of providing safe food for consumers everywhere. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Jürgen Matern and Kevin Chen for their vital contribution to the Initiative during their time on the Board. Their guidance and commitment have been invaluable to the development of GFSI.” 

 

The 16 companies currently represented on the GFSI Board are: 

 

AEON GLOBAL SCM, Japan                    CARGILL, USA 

CARREFOUR, France                                CHINA RESOURCES VANGUARD, P.R. China 

COFCO, P.R. China                                   DANONE, France 

HORMEL FOODS, USA                             KROGER, USA 

McDONALD’S, USA                                  METRO GROUP, Germany 

MONDELĒZ INTERNATIONAL, USA       NESTLÉ, Switzerland 

ROYAL AHOLD, The Netherlands         THE COCA-COLA COMPANY, USA 

TYSON FOODS, USA                                WALMART, USA 

 

The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) is a business-driven initiative for the continuous improvement of food safety management systems to ensure confidence in the delivery of safe food to consumers worldwide. GFSI was launched in 2000 following a number of food safety crises when consumer confidence was at an all-time low. Its collaborative approach to food safety brings together international food safety experts from the entire food supply chain at technical working group and stakeholder meetings, conferences and regional events to share knowledge and promote a harmonized approach to managing food safety across the industry.  For more information, please visit: www.mygfsi.com 

 

The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) is a global, parity-based industry network, driven by its members. It brings together the CEOs and senior management of over 650 retailers, manufacturers, service providers and other stakeholders across 70 countries and reflects the diversity of the industry in geography, size, product category and format. For more information, please visit: www.theconsumergoodsforum.com