Food Industry Asia (FIA) has launched a partnership with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the GMS Working Group on Agriculture (GMS WGA) to facilitate multi-stakeholder dialogue around challenges and opportunities for increasing safety and sustainability standards across food systems and products in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).

Global food safety standards like the Food and Drug Administration’s Food Safety Modernisation Act (FSMA) are designed to ensure safe food for all; it is the responsibility of all parties, including regulators and food and beverage industry players, to work in partnership to meet such standards. This was one of the key themes at the “Food Safety Training Summit: Growing Markets for High Quality Vietnamese Products” held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on 28 August 2017.

Food Industry Asia (FIA) Members Coca-Cola, Nestlé and PepsiCo are among seven beverage manufacturers that have signed a pledge committing to reduce the amount of sugar across their soft drink product ranges sold in Singapore – to 12 per cent or lower by 2020. This move emphasises efforts taken by industry players to provide consumers with healthier food options and encourage healthier lifestyles, and serves as part of a wider set of interventions needed to address the challenges of diabetes and obesity.