Global Harmonization Initiative

Founded in 2004 as a joint activity of the US-based Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) International Division and the European Federation of Food Science and Technology (EFFoST), the Global Harmonization Initiative (GHI) is a network of scientific organizations and individual scientists working together to promote harmonization of global food safety regulations and legislation. The Global Harmonization Initiative’s objective is to achieve consensus on the science of food regulations and legislation to ensure the global availability of safe and wholesome food products for all consumers. GHI facilitates global discussion about the scientific issues that will better support informed, objective decisions made by national governments and international regulatory bodies through: • Providing the foundation for sound, sensible, science-based regulations. • Creating a forum for scientists and technologists to interact with regulatory authorities, globally. • Giving industry, regulators and consumers an independent, authoritative information resource. As part of its efforts to provide tools and science-based guidance for promoting harmonization of food safety laws and regulations, GHI’s Working Groups continually collect and evaluate available data to produce consensus proposals or statements related to controversies and issues in science and regulations of food.