I am off to China to the International Food Safety & Quality Conference and Expo in a few weeks.  I am proud to be the lead sponsor of the event and am glad that I was able to convince our former Governor, Gary Locke, to attend as well.  China will become over the coming decades an even greater trading partner in food.  Coming up with strategies to help create an environment and culture where safe food is important is important to me.

Food safety is a worldwide issue that can benefit greatly from collaboration, standardized approaches, and common solutions. In many countries, food safety awareness is at an all-time high. New and emerging threats to the food supply are constantly being discovered, and our food supply is becoming increasingly global. Achieving food safety success in this changing environment requires novel prevention strategies, greater harmonization and more collaboration at the international level than ever before. As a responsible partner in the international food safety community, the General Administration for Quality Supervision Inspection & Quarantine (AQSIQ) is once again hosting the China International Food Safety & Quality Conference + Expo in 2008.