It is a golden era for the European Hygienic Engineering & Design Group (EHEDG), which provides a solid and competent knowledge platform and the necessary expertise to improve food safety worldwide, as Ludvig Josefsberg, EHEDG president and senior director of Tetra Pak Processing Systems, and his EHEDG colleagues, will explain during the during the EHEDG’s World Congress, which takes place from 21-22 November in London during Food Matters Live.
“These are exciting times for EHEDG,” said Josefsberg. “The global food industry is meanwhile collectively recognising the importance of hygienic engineering and design for safe food processing and packaging. Food producers, scientists, legislators and equipment manufacturers acknowledge and advocate that hygienic design is an indispensable prerequisite for a safer food production.”
EHEDG is today a solid and competent knowledge platform that provides the necessary expertise to improve food safety worldwide, he added. Consequently its membership is growing. And, since all of these members bring in their own unique knowledge and experience, EHEDG has more expertise than ever before, he added.
EHEDG influence worldwide
The leading role of EHEDG in hygienic engineering and design is also being noticed by other organisations that strive to make the world of food a safer place, explained Josefsberg.
“The European Commission is considering including hygienic design as a best available technique, while the 3-A organisation in the US is referring to EHEDG guidelines to formulate its sanitary standards for food producer,” he said. “and the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) decided to develop one of its scopes with the support of EHEDG expertise.
“These are great opportunities for EHEDG to position the working field of hygienic engineering and design in a broad context of global food safety. This is the golden era of hygienic design because the food industry realises that investing in hygienic engineering and design creates a win-win-win-situation for people, planet and profits.”
EHEDG’s well-established product portfolio provides practical guidance to the industry; its certificates keep on proving their practical value; and its training programmes reach more industry stakeholders every day, he added.
“They will continue to do so via face-to-face training as well as online e-training programmes, all as parts of our roadmap to establish an EHEDG Training Academy. By continuously improving and communicating our product offering, EHEDG collectively contributes value to its member companies.”
Maximising the value of EHEDG
To stay relevant, it is vital that EHEDG continuously maximises its value proposition to its members, stressed Josefsberg. The many EHEDG committees and working groups will continue to offer guidance with factual and unbiased information. They keep up with new legislation and innovation developments, publish new and update existing guidelines, establish certification opportunities and enhance training programmes.
“These volunteers will tell you that being part of the global EHEDG community and working collectively with people from all over the world is rewarding both professionally and personally,” he said.
“All EHEDG members share a common objective: we want to help securing food safety globally. Thus it is an important mission of the EHEDG leadership to safeguard the objectivity of all EHEDG activities. That’s why the EHEDG Executive Committee chooses to operate and communicate in a fully transparent manner.
“As we speak, new online and offline channels are put into place so that every EHEDG member can safely share knowledge and exchange views under the flag of the protected EHEDG brand. Because sharing our knowledge means caring for food safety.”