‌

About Us

The Institute for Global Food Security based at Queen’s University Belfast conducts cutting-edge research, developing robust techniques to safeguard the food supply. Working with colleagues across the globe, the Institute aims to play an important role in delivering food security, not only locally but on a global scale, to provide the world’s growing population with a sustainable, safe and secure supply of high-quality food.   

safefood is the all-island consumer body established in 1999 to promote best practice in food safety and healthy eating across the food chain on the island of Ireland. safefood provides independent research, delivers consumer campaigns and collaborates with partners to contribute towards public health and wellbeing.

Université Laval is a French-language, public-research university based in Quebec City, Canada. The University was founded in 1852, with roots in the founding of the Séminaire de Québec in 1663 by François de Montmorency-Laval, making it the oldest centre of higher education in Canada. The University is ranked among the Top 10 Canadian universities in terms of research funding and holds four Canada Excellence Research Chairs.

The Belfast Summit on Global Food Integrity 2018 will bring together representatives from international and governmental agencies, the academic and industrial research community, non-governmental organisations and the commercial & technical leaders in the food industry and its supply chain to discuss, debate and provide leadership on tackling a range of serious challenges that face the integrity of our global food supply system.  The Summit will feature a number of high level strategic presentations on key issues by internationally recognised leaders. It will also place a firm emphasis on harnessing the collective knowledge and experience of the delegates to address these challenges through the formulation of policy recommendations to governments and a Summit communique.  

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisations (FAO) of the United Nations, amongst a spectrum of respected commentators, the global food chain is under continued threat from an alarming increase in the number of outbreaks of animal/plant pests and diseases, and also food safety events.  Such challenges are, to a degree, indicative of an erosion of the integrity of the global food chain, which in itself is a consequence of the knock-on effects of rapid human population growth and urbanisation, along with the resultant pressures on finite resources.  The food security challenge is also linked to broader public policy matters such as climate change, increased pollution, environmental degradation and loss of biodiversity, as well as cultural, social, political and demographic changes. It may even be a contributory factor in many past and current conflicts. There can be no global food security without global nutritional security as this impacts on the health and wellbeing of a growing world population.

Opportunities for highlighting the proceedings of the Summit will be exploited including the technical and commercial press, social and digital media channels, the World Wide Web, and leading international scientific journals. 

‌