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| Agenda Item 4.5 | Conference Room Document 87 English only |
second fao/who global forum of food safety regulators
Bangkok, Thailand, 12-14 October 2004
(Prepared by Thailand)
The rapid growth of world population is inseparably linked to the growth of international trade. Consequently, importation and exportation of food and agricultural products has been expanding. At the same time, food safety becomes the important public health issue. Hence the government realized their role in controlling food production. Thailand declared 2004 to be the year of food safety. Through this campaign, the country has thus established guideline of its food safety policy which includes among others a particular reference that the country shall implement standard control system as well as plant and animal quarantine that are in conformity with the international level, covering from farm to table.
The Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems has provided Principles for Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification which Thailand has applied for use in the inspection and certification guideline for import/export food and agricultural products.
The importation of food and agricultural products of Thailand are primarily for both domestic consumption and processing for exportation. The control of imported products encompassed the inspection of raw materials including animal feeds; inspection of foods and processed foods, disease and agricultural pest on both live and processed products. The importation of food and agricultural products is under the control of several legislations, rules, and regulations including Plants Quarantine Act (1964),i Fisheries Act (1947),ii Animal Outbreak Act (1956),iii Food Act (1979).iv
Food safety control of imported food and agricultural products includes the thorough process of inspection and certification, from the port of entry to the pre-and-post marketing. It is required that the importer shall apply for importation permits as well as other specific permits or registration related to the imported product, for example the food recipe registration and food label permit. The monitoring and control of food distributing in marketplace is done by the collection and laboratory examination of the food samples. In addition, the Thai government has applied food import control measures compliant with international standards to the monitoring of food and agricultural product importation, which will help lessen the disputes among importers and exporters. These measures at the port of entry involve:
• Inspection of importation permits and type of products
This is to investigate the document and to verify the process; the officials will determine whether the type of products corresponds to what is specified in the document. In case of minor document errors, the product will be determined as a detention product and the correction of the minor mistake, for example mis-labelling, has to be conducted. The importation will be prohibited while the product importation is illegal under the Notification of Ministry of Public Health or the product has no importation permits.
• Quality inspection of imported products
Product samples will be collected and examined in the laboratory. In general, domestic laws and regulations will be used as criteria for evaluating quality of imported products. When domestic laws do not exist for such products, international standards may be applicable. The inspections involve physical inspection, appearance, container condition, Test Kit and Laboratory inspection. Test-kit includes pesticide residues, bleaching agent, while laboratory inspection, includes antibiotics, food borne disease pathogen, preservatives, pesticide residues, bleaching agent, mycotoxin, heavy metal, 3-MCPD and acrylamide.
• Quarantine of unqualified food or agricultural products
The product will be detained and the distribution of the next importation will be permitted when the result of analysis demonstrates and ensures safety and quality of the product. The product under detention measure will be placed to the normal inspection system when they have no quality problem for 3 consecutive times.
• Crisis management for imported products
In the case of the emergency situation, for example outbreak of Mad Cow Disease (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) or dioxin contamination situation. Thailand has applied cooperative mechanism among relevant authorities to analyze and evaluate the situation in order to establish an appropriate risk management policy. For instance, the notification of importing prohibition for meat and meat products from export country with Mad Cow Disease outbreak situation. In addition, other activities have been collaboratory conducted, for example, product detention by quarantine office, product recall as well as investigation of production.
The condition and hygienic practices in the production of food have a tremendous impact on safety. Therefore, it needs to provide assurance that a good effective food control system is put in place covering primary production at the farm level, the primary food processing and the secondary food processing through exportation. In this regard, certification for exported food and agricultural product throughout the entire food agricultural has been implemented. These programs are described and follow:
Farm production: This is an essential stage for food safety control. Farm registration and certification have also been used as means to achieve safety control at the primary level of production. Such programs include the certification of Good Agricultural Practice (GAP), Code of Conduct (CoC) and certification for animal feeds.
Primary food processing: The control of exported food productions at this level focuses on quality control of pre-preparation of agricultural produce at the peeling shed or packing house etc. Certification programs on Good Hygienic Practice that is in line with Codex guideline have also been used to ensure product quality and safety.
Secondary food processing: The certification focuses on product quality and safety in accordance with the importing country's requirements. The inspection of the certification based on Codex standard includes; Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP); Hazard Analysis and Critical Control point (HACCP). Export inspection and certification is conducted by the Department of Fisheries (DOF), the Department of Livestock Development (DLD) and the Department of Agriculture (DOA). Additionally, Laboratory Center for Food and Agricultural Products Co., Ltd : LCFA is dedicated to examining food and agricultural products, especially for private sector to support an efficient export system.
Code of Conduct (CoC) certification for shrimp farms:
To elevate the quality of shrimp products to meet international standards in order to gain more acceptable and competitiveness in the global market, the Code of Conduct (CoC) standards has been developed for controlling the quality and safety of shrimp production at the farm level. In this regard, the developing of CoC is based on related international standards such as environmental management standards (ISO 14001), CODEX and Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO): Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. To be more specific, CoC addresses the food safety standards on the operation of shrimp hatcheries and farm; production materials suppliers such as feeds, medication, and other chemical products; shrimp distributors and exporters.
CoC standard require three characteristics: which are standard compliance, environmental friendly and safe for consumption. The implementation of CoC unsurprisingly resulting higher market price, since the aquaculture implementing CoC provides high standard production and also free from prohibited chemical substances. As a result, the products have become more acceptable and much in demand from both domestic and international consumption. Consequently, the gross income for the entire chain of shrimp business has also been significantly increased. The certification of shrimp farm in line with CoC is implemented.
Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA)
Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) is the international agreement on the standards and performance equivalent among the trading countries. The main purpose of MRA is to verify and recognize the credibility of technical competence of the certification bodies and the conformity assessment procedures of the exporting countries. It also facilitates trade by reducing the strictness and frequency of check control at points of entry and minimizing other technical barriers to trade for example MRA on the equivalence of fish and fishery products inspection and control systems between Thailand and Canada.
The framework of MRA in ASEAN is also initiated. The 21st ASEAN Consultative on Standard and Quality (ACCSQ) Meeting held in Brunei Darussalam in March 2003 considered the outcome of the seminar and approved the recommendation of the MRA WG to form an ACCSQ Product Working Group (PWG) on Prepared Foodstuff to explore the possibility of sectoral MRAs, The working group set up its work program which is classified into 4 activities lead by assigned countries as follows:
1) Database network for the inspection and certification of food and agricultural products
As we are all aware, the effectiveness of food safety control programs also depends on the availability of up-to-date information and references on international as well as the trading parties' code and regulation of imported foods. The establishment of a database network is essential to the success of a of food safety control program. As such, the Thai government has designated that the National Bureau of Agricultural Commodity and Food Standards (ACFS), Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC) as the center for collecting, compiling, and distributing information related to inspection of food and agricultural products. ACFS also keeps the information and operates as a collaborative center between authorized certification authorities such as the Department of Livestock Development (DLD), the Department of Fisheries (DOF), the Department of Agriculture (DOA) Thai Customs and the EU inspection unit. As such, ACFS have increased the effectiveness of food and agricultural products certification system. The database network also provides a trace-back system for investigation of product certification records. ACFS's central website is http://www.thaicertlist.net
At present, linking of information by electronic means in the system for certification of food and agricultural products by DLD, DOF and DOA has been done in the normal way while feeding of information will be done through website but sending information to the Customs Department is done through e-mail only. In the future, electronic certification will be applied so that issuance of certificate will be done electronically since the point where the certificate is issued and will link with the system of Customs Department and EU by online system.
2) ASEAN Consultative Network
In relation to the ACCSQ Product Working Group on Prepared Foodstuff work program on the transparency of prepared foodstuffs regulatory regimes among member countries. ASEAN Consultative Network has been established, in accordance with Thailand's proposals, through ASEAN Food Safety Network Website. The information will be posted on the website which includes:
ASEAN Food Safety Network Website has been on-line at URL… http://www.aseanfoodsafetynetwork.net.
i 2507 B.E.
ii 2490 B.E.
iii 2499 B.E.
iv 2522 B.E.