ISO publishes new standard for business continuity management

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http://www.iso.org/iso/pressrelease.htm?refid=Ref1587&utm_source=ISO&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=News

China to lift ban on Malaysian bird's nest products

BEIJING: China recognises the presence of natural nitrite in bird's nest and will lift the import ban on the products from Malaysia after determining a permissible level, Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said.He said the Chinese authorities understood that the presence of nitrite was a natural occurrence when swiflets were raised.

“We reached a very important consensus today after we explained to them why there is natural nitrite in our bird's nest.

“We agreed that there should be no nitrite additive in Malaysian bird's nest exports to China during the production process.

“But the Chinese authorities will allow the presence of natural nitrite in the product,” he said after meeting Chinese health officials here yesterday.

Liow said both sides had set up a working committee comprising food specialists and experts with immediate effect, to determine the permissible level of nitrite in bird's nest products.

The committee will be headed by the ministry's food safety and quality division senior director Noraini Mohd Othman and two Chinese officials from relevant agencies.

“The committee started work today and Noraini will stay in China to discuss how we will work out the details and the timetable for nitrite standards,” Liow added.

He had led a delegation of officials and bird's nest exporters to China to discuss the issue with the Chinese authorities following reports of fake Malaysian bird's nest.

Federation of Malaysia Bird's Nest Associations president Datuk Paduka Beh Heng Seong said Malaysian bird's nest exporters would adhere to the nitrite standards as long as the permissible level was reasonable.

“We have assured the Chinese authorities that we will further improve the quality of our products and restore Chinese consumers' confidence in Malaysian bird's nest,” he said.

Courageous Leaders Don't Make Excuses...They Apologize by Erika Andersen

I’ve been thinking about the power of apology lately.  I’ve been noticing that the people for whom I have the most respect don’t hesitate to say “I was wrong,” or “I’m sorry I…”  On the other hand, the people I have the hardest time respecting seem constitutionally unable to take responsibility for their own mistakes.  Even when they try, it comes out sounding like “I may have been partly at fault, but…” or “It may seem that I was wrong, but…”  They just can’t do it.

Apologizing freely requires a good deal of courage.  It’s not comfortable for any of us admit an error, or to acknowledge that something we’ve done has caused others harm or inconvenience. So when someone truly apologizes, we know he or she is putting honesty and honor above personal comfort or self-protection.  It’s inspiring, and it feels brave.

I just today read a great article here on Forbes about this very topic called Creative Leadership: Humility and Being Wrong.  The authors, Doug Guthrie and Sudhir Venkatesh, make a really clear and well-reasoned case for the positive power of admitting and apologizing for one’s mistakes.  At one point in the article, they note that:

We are frequently taught that leaders, especially aspiring leaders, should hide weaknesses and mistakes. This view is flawed. It is not only good to admit you are wrong when you are; but also it can also be a powerful tool for leaders—actually increasing legitimacy and, when practiced regularly, can help to build a culture that actually increases solidarity, innovation, openness to change and many other positive features of organizational life.

And courage begets courage: your followers are more likely to make their own tough decisions and to take responsibility for them when you model that behavior.  You have their backs – so they’re much more likely to have yours.I couldn’t agree more. Followers look to see whether a leader is courageous before they’ll fully accept that person’s leadership.  If they see courage (and taking full responsibility for actions and admitting and apologizing for mistakes are two of the five key indicators of courage), it feels safe to ‘sign up.’ People need courageous leaders in order to feel there’s someone to make the tough calls and to take responsibility for them – they need to know that the buck truly does stop with the leader. With a courageous leader, people feel protected – not that they’re helpless, but they know the person in charge really has their back.

Because so many of us have a hard time apologizing, I thought it might be helpful to have an ‘apology primer.’  Here you go:

• I’m sorry: this is the core of a genuine apology.  “I’m sorry.” or “I apologize.”  It’s the stake in the ground to communicate that you truly regret your behavior and wish you had acted differently. No apology is complete without this.

• Stay in the first person:  Many, perhaps most, apologies run off the rails at this point, when the apologizer shifts into the second person, e.g., “I’m sorry….you didn’t understand me.” Or “I’m sorry….you feel that way.” Suddenly, you’re no longer apologizing for your actions; you’re telling the other person that you regret their actions or feelings.  A true apology sounds like, “I’m sorry I….” or “I’m sorry we…”

• Don’t equivocate:  Once you said what you regret about your actions or words, don’t water it down with excuses.  That can blow the whole thing.  The former manager of my apartment building once said to me, “I’m sorry we haven’t gotten back to you about your security deposit, but you have to understand we’ve got hundreds of tenants.”  I definitely didn’t feel apologized to – in fact, I felt he was telling me I was being inconsiderate to hold him accountable!  Just let the apology stand on its own. “I’m sorry we haven’t gotten back to you about your security deposit.”

• Say how you’ll fix it.  This seals the deal.  If you genuinely regret your words or actions, you’ll to commit to changing. This needs to be simple, feasible and specific. “I’m sorry we haven’t gotten back to you about your security deposit. We’ll have an answer to you by this Friday.”

• Do it. I know some people who don’t have a hard time apologizing, but seem to have a hard time following through on their apologies. If you apologize and say you’re going to behave differently, and then don’t – it’s actually worse than not having apologized in the first place. When you don’t follow through, people question not only your courage, but also your trustworthiness.

So there you have it.  Next time you’re clearly in the wrong, take deep breath, put aside your self-justification, your excuses, your blame, your defensiveness, and simply apologize. Being courageous in this way is generally scary in anticipation. But it feels great once you’ve done it….to you, and to those you lead.

Source: 

Forbes

More than 100,000 salted duck eggs suspected of being processed with potentially poisonous industrial salt were found at a workshop in Jiangmen, Guangdong province, last week.Three workers were making salted eggs with industrial salt, according to investigators, in an apartment in a residential community in Jiangmen. Investigators also found 2 metric tons of industrial salt and 52,500 unprocessed eggs stored there, Jiangmen Daily reported.

The investigators seized the goods and are testing the processed eggs.

They are also trying to track down 50,000 salted eggs the boss said he had sold to agricultural produce markets in Jiangmen.

However, that may prove difficult because most salted eggs sold at markets are unpacked and bear no brand label or production lot number, said Shi Chengtie of the quality and technology supervision bureau of Jiangmen.

Industrial salt costs about 800 yuan ($127) per ton, according to the boss, who also operated a salted egg wholesale store in the community and is under investigation. Salt meant for consumption, in contrast, sells for up to 1,400 yuan per ton. according to investigators. It remains as yet unknown how he acquired industrial salt, which is sold only to properly licensed industrial businesses, said Liu Lijie, an official with the salt bureau of Jiangmen.

The three workers said they were not aware that they were using industrial salt or that industrial salt is prohibited in food processing. They said that they occasionally ate the salted eggs they made.

Industrial salt contains poisonous nitrite and may have harmful substances such as lead and arsenic, according to the website of Guangdong Salt Industry.

Eating industrial salt can cause dizziness, headache, fatigue, difficult breathing, vomiting, diarrhea and even death.

“I always buy unpacked salted eggs in small stores. Now I guess it would be safer to buy packaged ones in supermarkets,” said a woman named Zhang in Guangzhou.

In 2006, eggs processed with industrial salt containing a large amount of barium killed two people and poisoned more than 20 others in Jiangxi province. Food cooked with industrial salt sold at a delicatessen in Shanghai killed one person and poisoned 25 others in 2009.

In Guangdong this year, industrial salt was found to be used in soy sauce in Foshan, salted eggs in Dongguan, cooked meat in Guangzhou and preserved vegetables in Huizhou.

Workshops in Beijing, Yinchuan in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region and Leshan in Sichuan province, were found this year to package industrial salt in edible salt bags for sale, according to media reports.

International Conference On Food Science & Nutrition 2012 in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia (16-18 July 2012)

For more info:

http://www.mift.org.my/home/highlights-a-news/90-international-food-safety-cof-2012.html