In October 2017 the Thematic University Network (Food) was started at the ANUGA Exhibition in Cologne as a manifest for blended learning about standards along the distribution from farm to fork. The former ERA-trainee Dr. Alina Pukhovskaya designed the www.european-retail-academy.org/TUN as a multi-lingual option for global training.

Now Violena Nencheva from Bulgaria starts her ERA-training by pushing the Spanish TUN-Site ; her next step in applied sciences would be Middle- or South America. Language is important not only for the flow of product distribution but also for the knowledge distribution in a globalizing world as Prof.Dr.Hallier stated when welcoming Violena Nencheva.
 

The CREATIVITY of retail can be seen according to Prof.Dr.Hallier in a lot of short-term initiatives to protect consumers in the food business against COVID-19. Some of the best practices will become teaching material for blended learning at this Site in one of the next News-editions.

Part of the overall effort to contain the spread of the virus had been on the level with trading partners to guarantee supplies despite panic buying; instore-operations had been partly re-arranged ; own personnel had to be educated for the new situation and consumers to be instructed to change shopping-behavior; e-commerce had been speeded up to reduce risks for people better to stay at home. Prof Hallier gives a lot of credit-points to the "Heroes of Supply".
 

Mass Production for consumer-goods is only possible by pre-packaging of industry. It is worth to mention according to Prof.Dr.Hallier that in Germany in context of the change of life-style after World War II in 1957 the Institute of Self-Service/ISB (today EHI) was founded to standardize within a dialogue with the branded goods - and package-industry solutions for the new store-formats "supermarkets". Examples of that meanwhile 60 years existing work-shop are publications like technical demands for one-way package or multi-trip.

In 1958 the packaging and machine sector founded the fair "Interpack" - followed in 1966 by the "EuroShop" exhibition of the retail institute : both today world-leaders of competence in their sectors at the Duesseldorf Fair Ground and show-cases for Applied Sciences. "The national GNP is determined by the amount of practical results from Research" Prof.Hallier claims.
 

Environmental Challenges like the Climate Change as well as growing Egoism in national Economies - as seen lately in the Corona crisis - will increase according to Prof.Dr.Hallier the gap between the rich and the poor: in individual economies and in the worldwide competition. Food Availability will become one of the social battlefields in the next decades.

As ERA-trainee Dr. Alina Pukhovskaya looked into buying habits in affluent countries versus increasing demand of poorer populations for EU-publication about Food Waste (See eBook). Later she expanded the topic and analyzed in her PhD research at CIRCLE International/Vitez University the case of the Mexican Food Bank (See Publication). According to Prof.Hallier this project should be enlarged by the Global Green University to further countries: also to be customized to other cultural habits/needs around the globe.
 

MEFOSA from Beirut/Lebanon is the Middle East North Africa Food Safety Association. Permanently they inform by newsletters or webinars about actions how to improve food safety.

An example is the explanation of ISO 9001 and its potential action extension via ISO 22000 or ISO 17025 to go global or to interconnect with the own laboratory or accredited external systems or to measure impacts/benefits.