11th Dubai International Food Safety Conference to discuss trending technologies

The 11th Dubai International Conference on Food Safety, which will be held from 19th to 21st November, 2017, will discuss trending technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, IoT Devices and their uses in food safety.

The conference, which be held at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, is organised by the Food Safety Department of Dubai Municipality with support from the International Association for Food Protection, International Union of Food Science and Technology and the Institute of Food Technologists.

Food safety experts and professionals from around the world will review, over the three days, the most important smart solutions, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT) and electronic sensing tools, to take advantage of all these techniques to find innovative solutions to the challenges to food safety at the international level, and discuss how regulatory authorities can use these techniques to adopt the required food safety measures Announcing the launch of the conference, Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director-General of Dubai Municipality, said that this year's conference coincides with the launch of the vision of the future by the Government of Dubai, 10X, and other initiatives that support the emirate's drive to make Dubai a unique destination of progress and development.

"Therefore, the theme of this year's conference is 'Predict Prevent Protect'. The topics of the conference will focus on the application of forecasting, tracking and pro-preventive measures that benefit from modern food safety techniques in light of the enormous information revolution that has taken place all over the world," he said.

"There will be a special session on the role of media in food safety and nutrition. The star journalists, broadcasters, television programme presenters and social media activists will be invited to this session," he said and hoped that this distinguished media session will achieve the desired objectives in determining the different roles of regulators, media and the public alike.

Khalid Sharif Al Awadhi, Assistant Director-General for Environment, Health and Safety Control Sector, said, "We are sure that the programmes of the conference will help all those involved in the development, implementation and maintenance of food safety programmes as they are designed for food safety professionals from the food industry, regulatory authorities, policy makers and academic institutions and students," he said.

Noura Al Shamsi, Chairperson of the Organising Committee of the Conference, said that more than 2,500 participants are expected to attend this year, representing more than 55 nationalities from various food-related entities such as regulatory authorities, universities and research centers, food companies and civil society organisations.

Topics of discussion in the conference also include Data Science, Food Additives, HACCP, TACCP, Social Media and Risk Communication, Microbial Risk Assessment, Predictive Microbiology, Food Traceability, DNA Barcoding, Microbiological Shelf Life, Food Inspection and Auditing, Cleaning and Disinfection, Pest Management, Pesticide Residues, Antimicrobial Resistance, Food Safety Culture, Vision Expo 2020, Packaging Technology, Food Banks, Food Sustainability, Applied Nutrition and Food in Schools.