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Technical gaps in the Food Safety Regulatory System in the Pacific countries

Policy Brief No. 3









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    Meeting
    Addressing Food Safety Challenges of the Asia-Pacific Region 2018
    In the Asia and the Pacific region, food safety is important from the dual perspectives of improving public health and nutrition and enhancing trade in food commodities. Concerns of consumers on the fitness for consumption of food produced and traded across borders needs to be allayed through effective risk-based systems that assure safety and quality throughout the food chain. The paper discusses the key challenges being faced, some solutions, and potential partnerships (private sector, civil society, South-South triangular cooperation, development partners) that can be used to enhance food safety systems in the region. It describes FAO’s contribution to the strengthening of technical capacity to implement risk-based approaches in critical areas such as food inspection, monitoring, and surveillance; laboratory analysis; import control and strengthening the evidence base required for the framing of rules, regulations and procedures. It explains, with examples, how improved food-control measures and codes of practice can be implemented at every step of the chain, enabling smallholders to produce safer food and gain access to markets. It underscores the importance of implementing FAO’s action plan for tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR) through technical capacity development, evidence generation, governance and dissemination of good practices. The paper dwells on FAO's One Health Regional Initiative, currently being rolled out, as an expanded multidisciplinary opportunity to demonstrate benefits to agriculture, food systems and the environment in the region. It argues that the adoption of voluntary and international food standards, especially from Codex, can lead to multiple wins for the consumer, for the private sector and the government in the form of safer and more nutritious food, increased innovation and trade and better public health. Ministers are invited to advise FAO on areas of focus in the development of national capacities in core technical areas of food safety and cohesive actions to harmonize food safety standards in the Asia-Pacific region to safeguard public health and promote trade.
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    Meeting proceedings: Regional consultation on food safety indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2018
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    Developing a set of regional food safety indicators with the overall goal of strengthening national food control systems has been a key topic at various regional food safety meetings in Asia and the Pacific, and Members of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in the region often request FAO to initiate dialogues on the topic. In order to address the need, FAO held a regional consultation on food safety indicators from 6 to 8 December 2017 in Singapore, with the primary objective for national food safety competent authorities to review various existing food safety indicators in the context of their national situations, particularly in developing countries. The consultation welcomed 84 participants, including senior officials working in the area of food safety (from 18 Asian and 6 Pacific Island countries), speakers, observers and meeting secretariat members. Participants were provided with an FAO technical working paper that described the preliminary review process and identified existing indicators prior to the meeting. The paper was used as the basis for all discussions during the consultation. Through various presentations, panel discussions and working group sessions, all participants confirmed the need for, and importance of, having measurable and actionable food safety indicators, and critically reviewed all existing food safety indicators summarized in the technical working paper. Using a set of criteria, participants developed a draft set of regional food safety indicators that national food safety competent authorities could use to develop their own national food safety indicators. Participants also engaged in active discussions on useful applications of national food safety indicators. Participants suggested that FAO develop a technical tool that can be used as a guide for competent authorities to define their own national food safety indicators. The tool is planned to be piloted in several countries in the region to verify the usefulness of the 1) guidance tool, and 2) applications that the national food safety indicators are aimed at.
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    Booklet
    Meeting report. FAO Regional meeting on food safety indicators in Asia and the Pacific – results of the pilot projects in Bhutan, China, Cook Islands and the Philippines. 2020
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    Food safety can have a significant impact on public health and economic/trade implications and more importantly, it is a fundamental part of food security. However, the social and economic consequences of unsafe food are often invisible in many developing countries. This often leads the policy makers to consider the topic of food safety less of a priority and national budget allocation is not appropriately done. There is already a set of food security indicators to capture various aspects of food insecurity. As part of the food security indicators, a set of nutrition indicators also exist to complete the picture of food security from the efforts towards the sustainable nutrition aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Similarly, a Codex Alimentarius guideline adopted in 2017 recommends that countries establish food safety indicators for each desired outcome for the effective national food control system. Considering the global recommendations, in 2018-2019, four countries with different capacity levels, namely, Bhutan, China, Cook Islands, and the Philippines volunteered to pilot an initiative to develop food safety indicators, based on their countries’ capacities and contexts. Key indicators specifically tailored to their specific situations were piloted in each one of the four countries, and upon completion of the projects, a regional meeting was held to share the results of the pilot projects; to discuss the experiences, challenges and lessons learnt on the development of food safety indicators; and to discuss a way forward for the initiative to be scaled up to make a regional guidance tool.

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