On the afternoon of November 10, 2014, the signing ceremony of American Safe Quality Food Institute Shanghai Ocean University SQF (Safe Quality Foods) Training Center was held in the College of Food Science. Wang Xichang, Dean of the College of Food Science, and Robert Garfield, Senior Vice President of American Food Marketing Institute, jointly signed the agreement on the establishment of the first training center of American Safe Quality Food Institute (SQFI) in China. The establishment of this center will further exploit the advantages of food disciplines of our university to the full so as to better serve the food industry of china and help SQFI expand its influence in Asia.

SQF is the highest standards of the global food industry safety and quality management system, which originates from the standards of the food safety and quality assurance system developed by Australian Agricultural Council for the enterprises related to the food chain. SQF has been owned and managed by American Food Marking Institute (FMI) since 2003 and became the benchmark of Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) in 2004. At present, SQF Code has already been redesigned to be applied in all fields of the food industry, including primary production, transportation and distribution. The 7th version SQF Code has replaced SQF Code 2000 6th version and SQF Code 1000 5th version. FMI reserves the right of final explanation. SQF Code, based on the food safety and quality management system of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP), features very strong comprehensiveness and operability. The certified suppliers enjoy a high reputation for manufacturing safe and high-quality food, complying with the requirements of global leading safety quality criteria and observing applicable food regulations.

Among others, LeAnn Chuboff (senior technical director of FMI), Bill McBrid (representative of FMI in Asia Pacific Region), Ma Zhiying (Director of Food Safety Special Committee, Shanghai Society of Food Science), Yan Weiling (Chief Engineer of Shanghai Food Research Institute), Gong Guangyu (Deputy Director of Dairy Industry Research Institute of Bright Dairy & Food Co., Ltd.), and Xu Jianping, Wang Zhengquan, Qi Ziyuan, Ni Ling and Xie Qingchao (Shanghai Food Quality Safety Testing Laboratory, Aquatic Product Storage and Preservation Safety Risk Evaluation Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture) attended the signing ceremony.

After the signing ceremony, LeAnn Chuboff introduced in detail the operating mechanism of SQF and its advantages in the industrial chain of food production, processing and sale. Then, experts from both parties discussed the hot issues.