ISO 22000:2005 expresses requirements that are ****ual in food safety management, rather than specific to any one type of organization in the food chain. The standard applies to all organizations in the food chain that wish to establish a system for assuring food safety, regardless of their size, type and the products they offer. It applies to agricultural producers, animal feed producers, food producers, wholesalers and retailers. It also applies to food-related equipment suppliers, logistics providers, packaging material suppliers, suppliers of agrochemicals and food additives, food-related service providers and restaurants.
ISO22000:2005 adopts the structure of the ISO9000 standard system and applies the principles of HACCP as a methodology to the entire system; clarifies hazard analysis as the core of planning for the realization of safe food, and incorporates the product characteristics, intended uses, flow charts, processing steps, and control measures in the preparatory steps developed by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) and the communication of hazard analysis as inputs to its updating. Hazard Analysis and its update as inputs; and the dynamic and balanced combination of HACCP planning and its prerequisite-pre-requisite programs. This standard can be integrated with other management standards, such as quality management system standards and environmental management system standards.
Overview of National Food Safety Management Systems
Food Safety Management Systems - Abstract
In the current situation of increasing global food trade, both importing and exporting countries have the responsibility to strengthen their national food management systems and to fulfill the food management strategies based on risk analysis. Politicians and scientists in most countries believe that an effective food management system is the basis for ensuring the health and safety of consumers in their countries. Based on relevant documents and publications of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), this paper addresses and discusses the conceptual difference between food quality and food safety, the components of a national food safety management system, the principles and rationale of food safety management, and how to strengthen the national food safety management system, in order to provide a reference for the reform of the national food management institutions and policy formulation.
Keywords food safety; food quality; management principles; risk analysis
Food Safety Management System - Necessity
With the increasing abundance of material wealth in the society, the continuous progress of science and technology, and the gradual improvement of the living standard, the consumers show unprecedented interest in the whole process of food production, processing, storage, transportation and sales, and constantly ask the government and food Manufacturers in food quality, food safety, consumer protection to assume more responsibility. In the current situation of increasing global food trade, both importing and exporting countries have the responsibility to strengthen their own food management systems and fulfill food management strategies based on risk analysis. Politicians and scientists in most countries believe that an effective food management system is the foundation for ensuring the health and safety of consumers in their countries.
Since entering the new century, social, political and trade problems caused by food safety issues have occurred from time to time, and the food safety management regulations, institutions, supervision, information and education in countries around the world are changing dramatically, so it is important to understand and grasp the trends in food safety management and related research results of various countries in time, and to choose a food safety management system that is suitable for China's national conditions, reflecting the scientific concept of development that puts people at the center of development and realizes the coordinated development of the economy and society. The scientific development concept of people-oriented, comprehensive and coordinated development of economy and society is the main challenge of food safety management in China. This paper introduces the principles, practices and experiences of international organizations, governments and non-governmental organizations in the construction of national food safety management systems for the reference of relevant managers, experts and scholars.
Food Safety Management Systems - Concepts
Food safety refers to acute or chronic hazards of food that are detrimental to the health of consumers. There is no room for negotiation on food safety. Food quality, on the other hand, involves other traits to the consumer, i.e., the value of the food for use, and there are positive traits, such as flavor, color, texture, etc., as well as negative traits, such as spoilage, discoloration, and change in taste. A clear distinction between food quality and food safety involves the development of relevant policies, as well as the content and structure of food management systems.
Food control is defined as a mandatory act of regulation that reinforces the protection of consumer interests by national or local authorities and ensures that all food products are safe, wholesome, and fit for human consumption during production, processing, storage, transportation, and distribution, and that they comply with the requirements of safety and quality, as well as are honestly and accurately labeled as described in the regulations. The first priority of food control is to strengthen food legislation to ensure the safety of food consumption and to keep consumers away from unsafe, unhealthy and counterfeit food, by prohibiting the sale of food that is not natural or of the required quality, which is not expected by the buyer.
Food hazards focus on five main areas: (1) microbial hazards; (2) pesticide and insecticide residues; (3) misuse of food additives; (4) chemical hazards, including biotoxins; and (5) counterfeit foods. Food hazards can also extend to genetically modified foods, allergens, veterinary drug residues, and the addition of hormones to animal products for growth promotion.
Food Safety Management System - Components of a Management System
The objectives of a national food management system are: (1) to reduce foodborne illnesses and protect public health; (2) to protect consumers against unhygienic, unhealthy, misbranded, or counterfeit food products; and (8) to promote economic development through the establishment of a fully compliant international or domestic food trade system and the preservation of consumer confidence in the food management system. (viii) maintain consumer confidence in the food management system by establishing an international or domestic food trade system that is fully compliant with the rules, thereby promoting economic development. A food management system should cover the production, processing and distribution of all foods in a country, including imported foods. The food management system must be based on law and must be enforced.
Most national food management systems consist of five units: 1) food regulations; 2) food management; 3) food supervision; 4) laboratory testing; and 5) information, education, communication and training.
2.1 Food Regulations
The enactment of food laws is the basic unit of a modern food regulation system. Traditionally, food regulations have included definitions of unsafe foods, mandatory recalls of unsafe foods, and penalties for responsible organizations and persons. Modern food regulations are largely designed not only to ensure that food safety is legally enforceable, but also to allow food safety authorities to establish a system of preventive safeguards under the law.
In addition to food safety legislation, government departments need to upgrade and modernize food standards. A number of high-level standards codes have replaced previous standards related to food safety objectives. Countries should draw on the strengths of the Codex Alimentarius and learn from the practices of other countries in the development of food safety standards, and adapt the relevant information, concepts, and needs to incorporate them into their national standards system. Such national standards systems should be able to meet the needs of the country as well as the needs of SPS agreements and trading partners.
2.2 Food Management
An effective food management system requires effective coordination at the national level and the introduction of appropriate policies. Responsibilities include the establishment of a lead agency or department for food safety management, with clear roles for these agencies or departments in actions such as: developing and implementing a coherent national food management strategy; operating a national food management program; obtaining funding and allocating resources; setting standards and regulations; participating in joint international food safety management initiatives; developing procedures for responding to food safety emergencies; conducting risk analyses, etc. The core responsibilities can be summarized as follows. Its core responsibilities can be summarized as the establishment of normative measures to guarantee the functioning of the monitoring system, the continuous improvement of physical conditions and the provision of policy guidelines.
2.3 Food Regulation
The regulation and operation of food laws and regulations requires the foundation of honest and effective investigations. Investigators, who are a key element of investigative work, should be highly qualified, well trained and honest, dealing day in and day out with the food industry, the food trade and the community. The reputation and impartiality of a food management system is largely based on the integrity and professionalism of the investigators. Therefore, proper training of investigators is a prerequisite for an effective food management system. The State should ensure that investigators are continuously trained and improved through sustained human resource policies to gradually form a team of investigation experts.
2.4 Laboratory Construction
Laboratories are a basic component of a food management system. The number and location of laboratories depend on the objectives of the system and the magnitude of the workload. Consideration should also be given to equipping a central reference laboratory to accomplish some complex tests and comparison tests. It is the responsibility of the food administration to supervise these laboratories according to the standards and to manage the process of their operation. The analytical results of food safety laboratories are often used as legitimate and valid evidence in court, which requires a high degree of care in the process of laboratory analysis to ensure the credibility and validity of the experiments.
2.5 Information and Education Communication
Information dissemination, food safety education, and advice to agents at multiple points in the food chain play an increasingly important role in food safety management systems. These efforts include the provision of comprehensive and factual information to consumers, the systematization of information, the introduction of educational programs for food industry executives and staff, the implementation of "train-the-trainer" programs, and the provision of references to a wide range of employees in the agricultural and health sectors.
Food Safety Management Systems - Principles and Rationale
3.1 Principles of Food Safety Management
There are many rationales and values that underpin food management actions that must be taken into account when a country establishes, upgrades, strengthens, or changes a national food safety management system. These principles include:
1) applying the precautionary principle as fully as possible in the food chain to minimize food risks;
2) positioning the chain from farm to fork;
3) establishing emergency response mechanisms to deal with specific hazards (e.g., food recall systems);
4) establishing science-based principles and values that underpin food management actions.
4) Establishment of a food control strategy based on scientific principles;
5) Establishment of a prioritized system for hazard analysis and effective measures for risk management;
6) Establishment of a unified action on the whole of the economic gain/loss and target risk;
7) Recognition that food safety management is a multifaceted and broadly accountable endeavor, and that it requires the active interactions of a variety of stakeholder advocates.
3.2 Principles of Food Safety Management
3.2.1 The Holistic Concept of Farm-to-table The most effective way to reduce risk is to follow the precautionary principle in the food production, processing and distribution chain. To maximize the protection of consumer interests, the most basic is to establish food quality and safety in the whole chain of food production from planting (farming) to consumption. This chain from agricultural growers (farmers), processors, transporters and sellers is called "from farm to table", and each link in this chain is very critical in food quality and safety.
Food hazards and quality losses can occur at different points in the chain, and identifying them is difficult and expensive. A preventive approach organically organized to control multiple links in the food chain can be effective in improving food quality and safety. Potential hazards in the food chain can be controlled through the application of good practices, such as Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and Good Hygiene Practices (GHP). An important preventive approach - Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) can be applied to all stages of food production, processing and handling, and HACCP has become a basic tool for improving food safety.
3.2.2 Risk Analysis Risk analysis is the process of risk assessment, risk management, and risk communication for food safety. Risk assessment is the science-based process of defining, characterizing, evaluating and describing the possible hazards of food. Risk management is the process of selecting appropriate preventive and control measures by consulting on the results of the risk assessment, discussing the level of consumer protection and acceptability, evaluating the level of impact on fair trade, and weighing the level of impact of policy changes. Risk communication is the process of transferring the results of risk assessments and the opinions and insights that underlie management decisions among food safety scientists, regulators, producers, consumers, and interested groups.
The Codex Alimentarius regulates the process of risk analysis at the international level, having introduced SPS protocols. Relevant international organizations encourage other countries to recognize the results of international risk analysis in their national food management systems.
3.2.3 Principle of Transparency Food safety management must develop into a transparent behavior. Consumer confidence in the quality and safety of the food supplied is based on the ability to see the effectiveness and holistic operation of food control operations and actions. All stakeholders in the food chain should be allowed to express positive suggestions, and management should give an explanation of the basis for decision-making. The principle of transparency in the decision-making process is therefore important. This will encourage cooperation between all interested groups and increase the acceptance of the food safety management system.
Role
The food safety authority should be able to provide the public with information about what is relevant to food safety. This information includes scientific opinions on food safety incidents, overviews of investigative behavior, findings of food details involving foodborne illnesses, food poisoning episodes, and notorious food counterfeiting. All of these behaviors can be used as part of food safety risk communication to consumers so that they can better understand foodborne hazards and minimize losses when they do occur.
Food Safety Management Systems - Management Systems
Worldwide, there are at least three ways in which national food management systems are organized, namely, the multiple regulatory agency system, the single regulatory agency system, and the unified regulatory agency system. After the occurrence of many food safety problems, some countries are starting to reform their national food safety management system, and the unified food safety management system is being practiced in some developed countries.
The Concept of Unified Food Safety
The Unified Food Safety Management System demonstrates that the desire and determination of multiple agencies to work effectively together along the food chain from farm to fork is correct, and that a typical Unified Food Safety Management System organization should operate at four levels.
Level 1: policy development, risk assessment and management, standards and regulation development;
Level 2: food management activities, regulatory and inspection cooperation;
Level 3: monitoring and enforcement;
Level 4: education and training.
In reforming national food regulatory agencies, some governments want to create an autonomous national food regulatory agency responsible for the first and second levels, retaining the original diversified regulatory agency setup, which will be responsible for the third and fourth levels.
Rural Food Safety Supervision
Firstly, due to the influence of the consumption level and the consumption concept, the phenomenon of counterfeit and shoddy goods is more common in the rural market. Most farmers belong to the low level consumption group and have limited purchasing power, so they mostly try to get cheaper in shopping, and they are poor in recognizing the fakes and counterfeits, thus providing the market for the counterfeit and shoddy goods with low cost and low price.
The second is the relatively low quality of the main operators, most of whom are farmers with a low level of education, lacking the necessary legal knowledge and the concept of law-abiding operation. Individual operators often only seek economic benefits, regardless of the quality of goods, not to mention the evil consequences caused by people consuming substandard food. Therefore, even if the food has exceeded the shelf life, or knowingly inferior food, in order not to lose money, or even profitable, operators will try every means to sell the goods.
Thirdly, in the countryside, there is a large number of scattered food dealers such as kiosks and food stores, which operate on a small scale and are widely distributed in all corners of the countryside. These conditions meet rural consumer demand, but are not conducive to regulation.
Fourth, peasant consumers are less aware of self-protection of rights and interests. When encountering infringement of their rights and interests, they can not correctly use the law to protect their rights, mostly self-admitted bad luck. There are also in the way of fellow townspeople, do not claim their own rights and interests, thus enabling the illegal operation of long-term survival.
Advantages of unifying food safety
The advantages of unifying the food safety management system are:
1) the national food management system has consistency;
2) there is no disruption of the original agency's investigations, supervision and enforcement work, making the measure easier to implement;
3) the implementation of a unified national food chain management measures throughout the country.
4) independent risk assessment and risk management functions, implementation of consumer protection measures, gaining the trust of domestic consumers, and building international credit relationships;
5) good implementation facilities to facilitate participation in international food safety issues, such as participation in the Codex Alimentarius Commission, or in the successor to the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Sanitary Agreements, the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, etc.
6) the implementation of the measure was made easier by the fact that it did not disrupt the investigations and supervision of the existing institutions.
6. Increased transparency in decision-making and accountability in the implementation process;
7. Increased efficiency in the use of financial and other inputs.
Some countries are in the process of establishing mechanisms for policy development and cooperation at the national level. Placing the management of the food supply chain chain in the hands of a competent and autonomous agency has the potential to change the pathway of food management. The role of such a body is to establish a food safety management objective from a national perspective and, by exerting influence, to make these strategies and technical measures a guarantee that the national food safety management objective will be achieved.