Fruit Logistica flags

The first day of Fruit Logistica in Berlin will feature a special look at last year's E coli crisis in the hall session 'How to handle crisis management', featuring expert speaker Clara Aguilera Garcia.

A top-level visitor at Fruit Logistica this year, Garcia has served as the Minister of Agriculture and Fishing in Andalusia, Spain, since April 2009.

In May 2011, she responded to the E coli scare with a number of crisis management measures, after several European countries unilaterally decided to close their markets to fruit and vegetables from Spain – a significant setback for the country's growers and exporters.

Garcia will report on her experiences, the latest developments and how future crisis management can be organised during the forum session, alongside Raquel Izquierdo de Santiago of Freshfel Europe and Dr Robert Schaller from the German Federal Ministry of Nutrition, Agriculture and Consumer Protection.