REGISTER: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_a_TJ6RHPQuykdRfMcfkngQ
Members of the public are invited to attend an interactive, virtual panel discussion on the topic of food safety in Trinidad and Tobago, June 7, 2021, at 2 pm. This webinar is being hosted in celebration of World Food Safety Day and is named after the theme for 2021 – “SAFE Food Now for a Healthy Tomorrow”.
This hour-and-a-half-long event also marks the beginning of a three (3) month-long multi-stakeholder food safety campaign, which will be introduced to the public by panel discussion moderator and The Cropper Foundation CEO, Omar Mohammed.
Senator the Honourable Clarence Rambharat, Minister of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries, will address attendees.
The panel discussion will bring together experts from various backgrounds to weigh in on the question of how Trinidad and Tobago can ensure that food safety is a priority in our push towards achieving food security.
PANELISTS:
Dr Markus Lipp, Senior Food Safety and Quality Officer at The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO)
Dr Lipp leads the food safety work within the Food Systems and Food Safety Division at FAO. He also coordinates the organisation’s work on providing chemical and microbiological food safety risk assessment. Strengthening national capacity development for food safety is among his core areas of interest.
Dr Lipp previously worked in various public and private organisations focusing on a range of topics related to food safety, biotechnology and standard setting. Some of these organisations include the U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP), the International Bottled Water Association, Monsanto, Unilever and the European Commission. Dr Lipp holds a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany.
• Diana Francis, Representative for the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture Delegation in Trinidad and Tobago (IICA)
Diana Francis brings significant experience in the Caribbean region that includes supporting Ministries of Agriculture in formulating Agricultural Policy and Strategy; policy guidance emphasising the importance of strong planning capacity for Caribbean agriculture; and programme and project leadership across the Caribbean with a focus on agricultural sector policy, trade, resilience and sustainability.
Her areas of interest include increasing the efficiency of policy and programming processes under conditions of constrained institutional and resource capacity for development, and increasing the pool of published material and effective knowledge management on agriculture in the Caribbean. She is a graduate of the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine with a BSc. Economics and Cave Hill with an MPhil in Economics.
Carla Marcelle-Boyce, Deputy Chairman of the National Food Safety Coordinating Committee
Carla Marcelle-Boyce is a food technologist who is qualified as an ISO 9001 quality management systems lead auditor and certified as a Food Safety and Quality Auditor by the American Society of Quality. She has experience in both the private and public sector, working on food research, product development, food manufacturing and food safety auditing.
Over the past years, her focus has shifted to the development of food safety management systems and food safety policies, in an effort to promote the culture of food safety in Trinidad and Tobago. She currently holds the position of the Deputy Chairman of the National Food Safety Coordinating Committee – a multi-agency Committee established to coordinate the country’s food control system. She holds a BSc in Chemistry and an MSc in Food Science and Technology from the University of the West Indies St Augustine.
PARTICIPATION:
The last 30 minutes of the panel discussion will be dedicated to fielding questions from panel attendees and members of the media.
The panel discussion will be held virtually via Zoom and will be broadcast live to social media via The Cropper Foundation’s Facebook and Youtube pages. Members of the public wishing to engage with panellists during the question and answer segment are required to register using the following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_a_TJ6RHPQuykdRfMcfkngQ
SAFE Food Campaign stakeholders include: The Cropper Foundation, The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), The National Food Safety Coordinating Committee, The National Agricultural Marketing and Development Corporation (NAMDEVCO), Trinidad & Tobago Bureau of Standards (TTBS), Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture Delegation in Trinidad and Tobago (IICA) and The Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (CARIRI)
This campaign is being implemented under the IDB Lab-funded action “Making Agriculture Profitable and Sustainable”.
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