Founded in 2004 as a joint activity between the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) International Division and the European Federation of Food Science and Technology (EFFoST), the Global Harmonization Initiative (GHI) is an impartial organisation consisting of a network of individual scientists and scientific organisations working together to promote harmonization of global food safety regulations and legislation through sound science.

Our overall Mission is to achieve consensus on the science that underlies food regulations and legislation to ensure the global availability of safe and wholesome food products for all consumers.

The global harmonization of food regulations and laws will help:

• Eliminate trade barriers that masquerade as food safety protections.
• Reduce world hunger and foodborne disease by reducing the amount of food that is destroyed due to unnecessary trade barriers.
• Limit the potential for pandemic foodborne illness outbreaks. As the international food supply chain becomes more interconnected, foodborne disease outbreaks that were once localized now have the potential to become massive in scope.
• Aid in the development, adoption and application of new technologies to ensure improvement in the safety and quality of the food supply for consumers worldwide.