Third-party certification has been for many years an established and widely-used tool for the management of food safety across food supply chains. Yet it has come under increasing criticism for its slow adaptation to today's ever-changing world, its decreasing quality of output, and more broadly its relevance to today's industry needs. As a benchmarking organization for food safety certification programs, the Global Food Safety Initiative has found itself at the heart of animated debates about this decline of satisfaction from food businesses, what is driving it and what needs to change. Determined to remain relevant and committed to delivering safe food to people everywhere, GFSI embarked on its 20th anniversary on a strategic review of its activities and a program of modernization which identifies key opportunities to raise the bar for food safety certification. A year on, we are joining this Food Safety Consortium event to share those opportunities, our progress and challenges along the way and what lies in the future for GFSI and food safety certification.