WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S. — The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) appointed Rishi Banerjee as GFSI senior manager for the United States and Canada. It is a part of GFSI’s ongoing strategy to further implementation at a regional level while advancing harmonization at the global level. Meanwhile, the opening of this senior position dedicated to GFSI’s efforts in North America is a signal of the region’s importance in the advancement of food safety globally.

GFSI is powered by The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), a global industry network working with its more than 400 member companies to support Better Lives Through Better Business. Banerjee will join the CGF’s Washington, D.C., office, a base to further GFSI’s partnerships with both with regulators and food safety leaders from across the country.

“With the U.S./Canada region being so critical, I am truly excited about the potential for growth,” Banerjee said. “I’m looking forward to building on the existing relationships we have with stakeholders and forging new ones. As new senior manager, I’m excited to be the go-to person for the region, improving on operational efficiency.”

Banerjee joins GFSI as an experienced government affairs and policy professional based in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. He has a proven track record of fostering public-private partnerships, while his background in microbiology, food industry and regulatory agencies has allowed him to support advocacy initiatives relating to food safety, nutrition and environmental regulations.

Prior to joining the CGF, Banerjee was consulting manager at Savan Group, a management consulting firm, where he worked with numerous federal agencies to advise their rulemaking activities. He has held both technical and policy positions at FiscalNote, the American Frozen Food Institute and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The GFSI works to bring together key actors of the food industry to collaboratively drive continuous improvement in food safety management systems around the world with a vision of safe food for consumers everywhere. The GFSI community works on a volunteer basis and is composed of the world’s food safety experts from retail, manufacturing and food service companies, as well as international organizations, governments, academia and service providers to the global food industry.