Food crisis management conference

The inaugural issues and crisis management conference for the food industry will be held in Sydney in June 2008, hosted by the NSW Food Authority.

The three-day program draws together food industry leaders, crisis management experts and risk and communication specialists from across the globe. Speakers will examine recent high-profile case studies and explore ways of managing crises.

NSW Food Authority director-general George Davey said that planning for the unthinkable is critical in managing situations if they do go wrong.

"In Australia, we are fortunate to have one of the safest food supplies in the world, but we only need to look at past international and local incidents such as BSE, Equine Influenza and food sabotage to see how careful planning can make a difference.

"Public safety, corporate responsibility, liability, reputation and compensation all need to be carefully thought through," Mr Davey said.

Some of the experts who will be speaking at the conference include:

• Professor Robert Chandler, Chair of the Communication Division, Pepperdine University, California, USA, and specialist in organisational crisis communication; 
• Ellen Morrison, Director of the US Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Crisis Management (OCM) which serves as FDA’s lead office in responding to crisis and emergency situations;
• Alick Simmons, Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer, UK;
• Tom Stenzel, President and CEO of the United Fresh Produce Association, Washington, DC, USA;
• Terry Donohoe, Deputy Head of the UK Food Standards Agency, Food Protection Division, which has responsibility for providing the core response to any food-related incident or emergency and also leads on all aspects of emergency planning relating to food safety.

"These experts bring a wealth of international experience and cutting-edge approaches to crisis management," Mr Davey said.

"In addition to the international line-up, local experts and case studies will be drawn on. Companies such as Unilever, Mars, Coles, Simplot and Sydney Fish Markets will reveal their approaches to issues and crisis management, and we will also have case studies on Equine Influenza and Dioxins in Sydney Harbour."

Some of the communications sessions will include a panel of journalists called ‘Sometimes you want to shoot the messenger’, which will look at the media’s role in a crisis.

For the first time in Australia, the role of the new media in a food crisis will be explored. Iain Macdonald, creative director of the digital agency Amnesia, will be talking about the importance of internet presence in crises and how the first few hours can be the most crucial in getting messages across.

The conference will include presentations on Australian industry issues management plans developed by the dairy, meat, seafood, pork and egg and poultry industries as well as emergency management and food continuity planning. Hands-on management of issues and crises, risk communication and media management will also be examined.

The Issues and Crisis Management in the Food Industry will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel, Sydney from 3–5 June 2008.

More information is available on the conference website.