Thumbnail Image

Assuring Food Safety and Quality. Guidelines for Strengthening National Food Control Systems

Food and Nutrition Paper 76

Year of publication 2003

Pages 80 p.

Author Nutrition Division

Product type Book (stand-alone)

Series title FAO Food and Nutrition Paper

Series number 0254-4725|1014-2908

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) Effective national food control systems are essential to protect the health and safety of domestic consumers. They are also critical in enabling countries to assure the safety and quality of their foods entering international trade and to ensure that imported foods conform to national requirements. The new global environment for food trade places considerable obligations on both importing and exporting countries to strengthen their food control systems and to implement and enforce risk-based foo d control strategies. Consumers are taking unprecedented interest in the way food is produced, processed and marketed, and are increasingly calling for their Governments to accept greater responsibility for food safety and consumer protection. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have a strong interest in promoting national food control systems that are based upon scientific principles and guidelines, and which address all sect ors of the food chain. This is particularly important for developing countries as they seek to achieve improved food safety, quality and nutrition, but will require a high level of political and policy commitment. In many countries, effective food control is undermined by the existence of fragmented legislation, multiple jurisdictions, and weaknesses in surveillance, monitoring and enforcement. These guidelines seek to provide advice to national authorities on strategies to strengthen food contr ol systems to protect public health, prevent fraud and deception, avoid food adulteration and facilitate trade. They will enable authorities to choose the most suitable options for their food control systems in terms of legislation, infrastructure and enforcement mechanisms. The document delineates the overarching principles of food control systems, and provides examples of possible infrastructures and approaches for national systems. The target users of these Guidelines are national authorities concerned with ensuring food safety and quality in the interests of public health and consumer protection. The Guidelines will also be of assistance to a range of other stakeholders including consumer groups, industry and trade organizations, farmer groups and any other groups or associations that influence national policy in this area.

Language English

Also available in:

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Thumbnail Image
    Meeting
    National food control systems assuring food safety
    Conference Room Document proposed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
    2002
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    The term "food safety" is understood by reference to those hazards that may make food injurious to the health of a consumer. There is universal agreement on the need for safe food. "Food Quality" refers to all the attributes that influence the value of a product to the consumer. Quality includes positive attributes such as origin, colour, texture, processing method for food, etc., as well as negative attributes such as adulteration, fraud, spoilage or contamination Conceptually, food safety is a sub-part and a sine-qua-non element of food quality. However, in practice, food safety and the other aspects of food quality are often considered separately. The distinction between safety and quality has implications for public policy and influences the nature and content of the food control system best suited to meet predetermined objectives. This paper discusses food safety issues only and considers appropriate infrastructures that are necessary to better assist in dealing with these problem s at national level, while giving due consideration to international developments in this field. This paper is based on the content of the FAO/WHO publication "Assuring Food Safety and Quality: Guidelines for Strengthening National Food Control Systems" as recently revised following a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Book (series)
    Food control system assessment tool: Dimension B – Control functions 2019
    Also available in:
    The main objective of the Food control system assessment tool is to propose a harmonized, objective and consensual basis to analyse the performance of a national food control system. It is intended to be used by countries as a supporting basis for self-assessment to identify priority areas of improvement and plan sequential and coordinated activities to reach expected outcomes, and by repeating the assessment on a regular basis, countries can monitor their progresses. The Tool is based on Codex principles and Guidelines for National Food Control Systems as well as other relevant Codex guidance for food control systems, which are referenced throughout the document. Its scope is given by the dual objectives quoted in Codex guidance for these systems: protect health of consumers and ensure fair practices in the food trade. Dimension B is part of the Food control system assessment tool and focuses on the processes and the outputs of the control activities inherent to a national food control system. It reviews the control functions exercised by CAs over Food Business Operators (FBOs), be it at domestic, import or export level, to guarantee food safety and quality for national consumers along the food chain and fair trade practices. It also maps the control functions and mechanisms at the overall food supply level, necessary to identify, monitor, predict and handle food safety hazards and emerging risks and to deal with food emergencies. The main mechanisms that should be in place include data collection programmes on food products (also referred to as monitoring programmes), data collection programmes on food-borne diseases (also referred to as surveillance programmes), as well as programmes aiming at managing food safety emergencies.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Book (series)
    Food control system assessment tool: Dimension A – Inputs and resources 2019
    Also available in:
    The main objective of the Food control system assessment tool is to propose a harmonized, objective and consensual basis to analyse the performance of a national food control system. It is intended to be used by countries as a supporting basis for self-assessment to identify priority areas of improvement and plan sequential and coordinated activities to reach expected outcomes, and by repeating the assessment on a regular basis, countries can monitor their progresses. The Tool is based on Codex principles and Guidelines for National Food Control Systems as well as other relevant Codex guidance for food control systems, which are referenced throughout the document. Its scope is given by the dual objectives quoted in Codex guidance for these systems: protect health of consumers and ensure fair practices in the food trade. DIMENSION A is part of the Food control system assessment tool and aims at mapping the fundamental elements necessary for the system to operate. These range from the policy and legal foundation of the food control system, to the fundamental inputs that should feed into the system to make it work properly: the financial resources to sustain the system; the infrastructure to enable the food control activities to take place; and the analytical resources to support official controls over food. It also analyses the issues related to food control personnel and the importance of their qualifications, professional development and motivation to contribute towards the achievement of the food control policy outcomes. While working through the dimension, the assessment process will evaluate the logical relationship between strategic planning to reach policy objectives and to implement legal requirements, and the available resources. This relationship, which can result in a feedback loop (adjusting strategies and considering policy choices to reflect resource constraints), is the underlying thread of Dimension A.
Show more

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

No results found.