Food safety and aquatic animals

1
Food safety and aquatic animals

• Lahsen Ababouch
• Chief, Fish Products, Trade and Marketing
• Fisheries and Aquaculture Department
• Food and Agriculture Organization
• Rome, Italy
• OIE Global Conference on Aquatic Animal Health
  Programmes Their benefits for Global Food
  Security
• Panama City, 28 30 June 2011

2
World Fish Trade 2007 (by value)
3
Fisheries and Aquaculture Value Chain (Estimated
at US 818 billion)
Capture fisheries US 100 billion
Primary processing US 90 billion
Secondary processing US 180 billion
Distribution US 350 billion
Aquaculture US 98 billion
4
Historical background

• Attempts to codify food well known by early
  civilizations and during the middle age
• Scientific developments of nineteenth century
• More recent milestones
• 1963 Creation of the Codex Alimentarius
• 1985, the UNGA adopted resolution 39/248 on
  guidelines for consumer protection
• 1995 Creation of the WTO and signing of two
  agreements on The SPS measures and on TBT

5
Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement (TBT)

• Revised Agreement from Tokyo Round (1973 - 79)
• Purpose of Agreement
• To encourage the development and use of
  international standards and conformity
  assessment systems
• to prevent the use of technical requirements as
  unjustifiable trade barriers
• To prevent deceptive trade practices
• Product (1979) vs. product, process and
  production methods (1995)
• SPS measures for agriculture and foods dealt with
  separately under SPS

6
Scope of SPS and TBT is different!
technical regulations, standards, conformity
assessment proceduresCentral Governments,
regional Governments, Non Government Organizations
7
SPS/TBT, harmonization and equivalence
World Trade Organisation
Guidelines Standards Codes of Practice of CODEX,
OIE, IPPC or other international Organizations
National Regulations
8
Objectives of the Codex alimentarius

• To protect the health of consumers
• To ensure fair trade practices in food production
  and distribution
• To coordinate the development of food standards
  and facilitate international trade in food

9
Management Organs of the Codex Alimentarius

• The Executive Committee
• The Regional Co-coordinating Committees
• The Secretariat of the Commission

10
Technical Organs of the Codex Alimentarius

• 9 General Subject (horizontal) Committees
• 12 Commodity (vertical) Committees
• 4 Ad Hoc Inter-Governmental Task Forces (JECFA,
  JEMRA,...)

11
General Subject Committees

1. General Principles (France)
2. Import/Export Inspection and Certification
   Systems (Australia)
3. Food Labeling (Canada)
4. Methods of Analysis Sampling (Hungary)
5. Food Hygiene (USA)
6. Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Food (USA)
7. Pesticide Residues (Netherlands)
8. Food Additives and Contaminants (Netherlands)
9. Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses
   (Germany)

12
Active Commodity Committees

1. Fats and Oils (Malaysia)
2. Fish and Fishery Products (Norway)
3. Milk and Milk Products (New Zealand)
4. Fresh Fruits and Vegetables (Mexico)
5. Cocoa Products Chocolate (Switzerland)
6. Natural Mineral Waters (Switzerland)

13
UNIFORM PROCEDURE
14
(No Transcript)
15
(No Transcript)
16
Codex Outputs relevant to Fisheries and
aquaculture

• Code of practice for food hygiene (GHP, HACCP,
  Risk assessment, microbiological criteria)
• Standards for fish and fishery products (Volume
  9A 16 standards on frozen, canned, salted and
  dried fish, 2 guidelines for sensory evaluation)
• Code of practice for Fish and Fishery products
  (GHP, GAP, HACCP)
• Several international risk assessments (Vibrios
  in seafood, biotoxins, antimicrobial resistance)
• Several principles and guidelines for food import
  and export inspection and certification
• MRL for veterinary drugs relevant to FFP
• MRL for contaminants relevant to FFP
• Work in progress (EC Viruses, Risk/benefits of
  MeHg or active chlorine, antimicrobial
  resistance, fish sauce, sturgeon caviar)

17
The food chain approach (FAO)

• Prevention at Source
• Risk Analysis
• Harmonization
• Equivalence
• Traceability

18
Prevention at source

• Producers and processors are responsible for
  fish safety and quality along the food chain
  using preventive systems (GAP, GHP, HACCP and
  GMP)
• Competent authorities enact food laws and
  regulations, verify that producers and processors
  apply properly preventive systems (through
  inspection, audit and verification)

19
The Risk Analysis Process

• Risk
• Assessment
• scientific
• hazards
• exposure
• dose-response
• synthesis
• uncertainty

• Risk Management
• policy
• social
• cultural
• economic

Risk Communication (interactive
exchange of information and ideas)
Process Initiation
20
How do experts and consumers rate risks?
21
Food safety hazards from aquatic animal products

• Microbiological contaminants
• Bacteria (Vibrio spp., Salmonella, Shigella,
  E.coli,...)
• viruses (hepatitis A, Norwalk)
• Parasites (nematodes, cestodes, trematodes)
• Chemical contaminants pesticides, heavy metals,
  dioxins, PCBs,...
• Residues of
• veterinary drugs (chloramphenicol, nitrofurans,
  green malachite,...)
• additives (e.g. metabisulfites)
• Biotoxins PSP, DSP, ASP, NSP

22
EU Rapid Alert System-by causes for Aquaculture
    2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
CAUSE   total  50  101  247  103  137 (01-04) 46
  total Chloramphenicol 0 0 44(43) 44 188(76) 102 73(71) 13 48(35) 8 26(57) 0
chemical nitrofurans 0 0 85 50 26 12
  malachite green 0 0 1 10 14 14
  total Vibrio (parahaemolyticus/cholerae) 46(92) 36 (16/20) 57(56) 38 (25/13) 58(23) 37 (27/10) 29(28) 15 (13/2) 87(64) 26 (22/4) 19(41) 2 (2/0)
  salmonella 6 12 17 2 13 4
biological mesophiles 3 6 4 2 6 4
  listeria 0 0 0 10 34 7
  e.coli 1 1 0 0 8 2
others total Labeling 4(8) 4  0 1(1) 1 1(1)  0 2(1) 2 1(2) 0 
  temp.control 0  0  0  1 0  1
684 100
379 55
296 43
9 2
23
Sources of food safety hazards in aquaculture

• Farm and its surroundings
• Water
• Source of fry and fingerlings
• Feed
• Grow-out (practices, workers, animals)
• Harvesting and transportation
• Biosecurity vs GAP/GHP

24
Harmonization and equivalence

• Codex standards, Codes of practice and guidelines
• European Union Farm to Fork Food Hygiene
  Package (2002 2005)
• FDA 1997 (21CFR 1230) GHP, GMP, Guidance for
  hazards in fish and fishery products, Seafood
  HACCP Alliance training program
• Mutual recognition agreements

25
(No Transcript)
26
(No Transcript)
27
(No Transcript)
28
(No Transcript)
29
Economics (US per ha)
Gross Revenue increased by 14
Profit Doubled over the year
30
Progress 2007-2009
2007 2008 2009 2010
Villages 11 34 84 93
Farmers 47 260 1100 2656
Ha 22 184 1027 2442
31
Development of private standards

• Globalization of production, processing and trade
• Vertical integration and Consolidation
• Supermarketization, including in developing
  countries
• Increasing role of retailers as the last link
  between suppliers and consumers.
• The use of B2B standards to protect reputations
• Emergence of coalitions (GFSI, BRC)

• Food scares Mad cow disease, Dioxin, Avian flu,
  SARS,...
• Loss of confidence in public control authorities
• Concern over the sustainability of natural
  resources, the marine fauna (dolphins, whales,
  turtles,...) and environment
• Increasing influence of civil society and
  consumer advocacy groups

32
Corporate social responsibility - Legality
(IUU)- Sustainability- Certification -
Eco-labelling- Tracability and chain of
custody- Social and Environmental aspects

33
Market Response
Individual logos are the property of the owner
and used for illustration purposes only
34
Implications

• Competing standards and labels can be confusing
  as to the value of the process
• Definition of boundaries between private and
  public sectors. Who is responsible for what?
• Duplication or complementarity
• Compliance with WTO rules
• Who bears the cost of certification
• Specific needs of small scale businesses and
  developing countries

35
Market driven phase
B2B Focus
B2B Focus
B2C Focus

• Governments
• Policymakers
• Fisheries Bodies
• National Fisheries

• Fishing
• Farming
• Sector

• Processors

• Retailers

36
Guidelines for aquaculture certification

• Background
• Scope
• Terms and Definitions
• Users
• Application
• Principles (OIE)
• Minimum Substantive Criteria
• 7.1 Animal Health and Welfare (OIE)
• 7.2 Food Safety and Quality
• 7.3 Environmental Integrity
• 7.4 Social Responsibility
• 8. INSTITUTIONAL AND PROCEDURAL REQUIREMENTS
• 8.1 Governance
• 8.2 Standards Setting
• 8.3 Accreditation
• 8.4 Certification
• 9. Implementation
• http//www.fao.org/fishery/about/cofi/aquaculture
  /en

37

! ????? ??! Thank you! Merci! Gracias! ??????? Lah
sen.Ababouch_at_fao.org