Mars opens Global Food Safety Centre in China

Mars held the grand opening of its Global Food Safety Centre in Huairou China yesterday.

A pioneering, $15 million facility, the Mars Global Food Safety Centre aims to raise global food safety standards through pre-competitive research and training.

With a global population expected to grow to nine billion by 2050, we have many food safety challenges to solve for ahead of us. The Global Food Safety Centre will leverage insights and expertise from over 60 Mars partnerships, dedicated to innovative, sustainable and responsible food safety practices. These partnerships include the World Food Programme (WFP), the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa (PACA), and the IBM/Mars Consortium for Sequencing the Food Supply Chain.

Global Food Safety Centre houses analytical chemistry and microbiology laboratories

In advance of the Centre’s opening, David Crean, Vice President, Corporate R&D, Mars Incorporated, commented, “Unlike an R&D or innovation centre focused on product development and improvement, the Mars Global Food Safety Centre is a state-of-the-art facility dedicated to advancing food safety research through collaboration and the pre-competitive sharing of information. We firmly believe that in order to ensure generations of families have access to safe and nutritious food, we must work together to evolve food safety management programs and create robust, sustainable supply chains.”

Located just north of Beijing, the Global Food Safety Centre is an investment in Mars’ ongoing commitment to working with world-leading experts to ensure the safety and security of food for generations of families. While approximately 30 Associates will work on food safety research and training at the Mars Global Food Safety Centre, the Company said there will be a variety of sabbatical positions open to academic and regulatory researchers. The facility will house analytical chemistry and microbiology laboratories, interactive training laboratories and a conference auditorium to enhance knowledge sharing as 95% of the pre-competitive research conducted that Mars Global Food Safety Centre will be shared on the public domain.