IFT Virtual Workshop on Food Fraud Prevention to Address Supply Chain Disruptions

CHICAGO — The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), a nonprofit scientific organization committed to advancing the science of food and its application across the global food system, is hosting a four-part virtual workshop on “Food Fraud Prevention: Reducing Disruptions through Supply Chain & Enterprise Risk Management.” Part of IFT’s new virtual workshop series, the four sessions will be held April 1, 3, 8 and 10, from 3–4:30 p.m. CDT.

The workshop will guide participants through the latest Global Food Safety Initiative benchmarked standards and provide a deep dive into the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which mandates certain practices in financial recordkeeping and reporting for corporations. It 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:

• 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 structured approach for compliance
• Insights into resource allocation decision-making
• Practical applications for evaluating suppliers and real-world examples and best practices of food fraud prevention strategies that have been applied within organizations

“Food fraud is a billion-dollar problem for the global food industry, and as food fraud risks continue to threaten supply chains, addressing these challenges and disruptions has become a compliance requirement,” said IFT Chief Science and Technology Officer Bryan Hitchcock. “This course, led by one of the leading experts on food fraud prevention, addresses a rare but potentially devastating food issue that all food companies cannot afford to miss.”

The workshop is hosted by John Spink, Ph.D., director of the Food Fraud Prevention Academy and assistant professor, Department of Supply Chain Management in the Business School at Michigan State University. His food fraud prevention research focuses on policy and strategy. He is widely published in academic journals and has helped lead national and global regulatory and standards activity.

Register for the workshop. IFT Premier members receive a 20% discount.

IFT’s Journal of Food Science has created a content collection that includes some of the top scientific research examining the complexities of food fraud and measures to combat it.