I am currently at the Global Food Safety Initiative annual conference, being held for the first time in Asia, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  What I find fascinating as I listen to speaker after speaker discuss the current state of food safety in the world (that varies from "we are okay" to "we have a long way to go", is that there is very little reference to the consumer.  Indeed, the general attitude is that consumer's "trust the supplier" to ensure the food they eat is safe.  But time and again that trust breaks down, for example the recent contaminated frozen berries case in Australia.  Consumers are getting more concerned, and are starting to agitate for more to be done to improve food safety.  The result in the US is the Food Modernisation Act, and more and more governments and regulators are responding by creating their own legislation or tightening regulation.  But today's food companies should not wait for legislation to enforce tougher standards around food safety.  Consumers today want food companies to be more proactive in improving their processes, systems and standards to ensure safe food is delivered to the table.  They want to see and hear about the positive aspects of what companies are doing.  They want to be communicated to about the initiatives in place.  Silence from the industry is not the answer - communication with consumers is critical.