By Mr. Hans, BurmeisterTNC partners Europe

Food safety means that whenfood is consumed, it does notcontain contaminants at levelswhich cause harm. Ail persons,whether they produce, manu-facture, distribute, prepare orconsume food, are part of thefood chain. As such, the assu-rance of food safety is ashared responsibility whichrequires a multi-sectoral effortby governments, food indus-tries and consumers.

l11e

environmental riskfactor:

As the environment remains an intrinsic

factor of food production today and in

the future, any change of conditions

becomes a potential risk factor for food

safety and food security, and sustainabi-

lity of production is a key element of

global food trade.

Man's influence on natural environ ment

stalted the moment he appeared in thebiosphere,

but during the period of

local hunting and fishing this did not

seriously disturb the balance of nature.

Disturoance of the natural balance

started as the result of global food

production, processing and trade.

Geographical discoveries, which coin-

cided with the development of

methods and means of production,

resulted in a detrimental effect on

ecosystems. rue transition from small

industries, to large-scale machine

industJY also brought about drastic

changes in the raw materials used in

industJY. rue vast growth of industrial

and agricultural production intensified

the beginning stages of air, soil and

water contamination.

The ethical risk factor:

Consume~ increasingly want to buy

products produced under conditions

where minimum standards of human

rights for worke~ in global supply

chains are achieved. Consume~ are

confused about what products are

more ethical than othe~ and in what

ways. companies are not clear how best

to move 'ethical consumerism' from ils

current negative focus to one that

embraces 'positive choice'. civil institu-

tions are reluctant to endorse products

and companies without being absolu-

teiy sure that agreed standards are being

met Govemments and international

institutions are unsure as to what inter-

ventions are feasible let atone effective.

Fisheries and seafood b-ades have b-adi-

tionally been frngmented and regional

industries, operating in exclusive

markets without real unde~tanding or

co-operation with orner produce~

However, these industries have become

increasingly b-ans-national.

mis has resulted in supply chains having

to suppiy more diverse fish products

and these distribution networks beco-

ming more complex. species that tradi-

tionally were not normally species for

trans-national trade have appeared on

the market And populations that tradi-

tionally were not seafood consuming

regions have become established on

the seafood-trading map.

l11ese phenomena have reached their

summit on a woridwide scale in the

20th centuty. l11is period has been

mali

for Fair 1)-ade marked products differ

between products but cover issues such

as guaranteed prices, pre-payment and

direct payment to growers or their co-

operatives.

Magnitude of foodbome illness:

Foodbome diseases are a widespread

and growing public health problem,

bath in developed and developing

countries.

contaminated clams, atfected some

300,000 individuals in China.

Health risks are relates to consumer

safety and cover a wide range of

hazards, Hygiene, GM, Additives or

contamination.The global incidence of foodbome

disease is difficult to estimate, but it

has been reported that in 2000 alone

2.1 million people died from diar-

rhoeal diseases. A great proportion of

these cases can be attributed to

contamination of food and drinking

water. Additionally, diarrhoea is a

major cause of malnutrition in infants

and young children.

80th, Ethic and Environment strongly

request social responsibility of the seller

and awareness of the consumer, gene-

rated by a specific labelRisk categories:

One can distinguish between three cate-

gories of hazards:l11e fi~t social labels within consumer

society as we now know it were asso-

ciated with the trndes union and the co-

operative movements. One of the fi~t

'ethical brands' was the co-op brand

linked with the co-operative movement

spearheaded by the 'Rochdale Pionee~'

in the UK in the 19th Century. l11is is

continued today in the CWS 'co-op'

brand. ln the USA, the National

Consume~ League developed and

ove~w the use of the white Label on

women and children's underwear

1. Production and Processinghazards:

mis is cleany linked to international

legislation and standards like HACCP or

the codex Alimentarius .me European

Governments have positioned them-

selves and established an number of

transparent consistent and legally

secure legislations with regard to feed

and food, for example the EFSA

(European and National Food Authorities

July, 2002)

ln industrialized countries, the percen-

tage of people suffering from food-

home diseases each year has been

reported to be up to 30%. ln the

united states of America (usA), for

example, around 76 million

cases of food borne diseases,

resulting in 325,000 hospitaliza-

tions and 5,000 deaths, are esti-

'" mated to occur each year.

létes-~

~2.

crirninal hazards:

~

,..-Soàll liIJels

"

/ WHO stated in 2002 :1hreats from terro-rists, criminals and other anti-social

groups who target the safety of the

food suppiy are already a reality.

Concems about the possibility that

chemical and biolo~cal agents and

radionuclear materials might delibera-

tely be used to harm civilian popula-

tions still exists.

(

\

Environne1~L~s

---;~~'~

)

while Jess weil documented,

developing countries bear the

brunt of the problem due to

the presence of a wide range

of foodbome diseases, inclu-

ding those caused by parasites.

l11e high prevalence of diar-

rhoeal diseases in many developing

countries suggests major underlying

food safety problems.

lifrojde

~UIT1XkT1

""

/

--""~~

~

which guaranteed that they were made

in factories that obeyed ail factorylaws,

made ail goods on the premises,

required no overtime woli

prepared to pay for quality!Elements and methods of risk

management:

level of consumer protection.

.Implementation of the risk manage-

ment d~ion will usually involve

regulatory food safety measures,

which may include the use of HACCP.

Management of actual risks:

One has ta distinguish between actual

and perceived risks.

what infonnation is of interest for the

beneficiary of any business, the

consumer?

Biologïcal and processing details?

Environmental aspects?

Ethical aspects?.MOnitoring and review is the gathering

and analyzing of data so as to give an

overview of food safety and

consumer health. Monitoring of

contaminants in food and foodbome

disease surveillance should identify

new food safety problems as they

emerge.

Consumers are confused

European consume~ settle for safe

food / fish, but safe is not restricted on

health hazards.

.~ communication is an interactive

process of exchange of infonnation

and opinion on risk among risk asses-

sors, risk managers, and other inter-

ested parties.

Actual risks are danger for the

consumer health and lead to food-

borne iIIness. Risk assessment is there-

fore a scientific evaluation process of

known or potential adverse health

elfects resulting from human exposure

to foodbome hazards. l11e manage-

ment process consists therefore of the

following steps:

.Hazard identification: l11e identification

of known or potential health elfects

associated with a particular agent

.Hazard charncterizalion: l11e qualitative

and/or quantitative evaluation of the

nature of the adverse elfects asso-

ciated with biologïcal, chemical, and

physical agents which may be present

in food.

-actual risks are danger for the

consumer

Management of perceived risks:

Perceived risks are danger for the seller

and directed to consumer trust It take

years to built trust but only days to

disturb it!

Risk Analysis Framework

'7"'~:::::::--~~:::::::::~ "-.,~ Risk ""'1",1"" Risk """'" "'"

Assessmeat "-1t8geme.".$Çi@'iC~ ~ .~k:Y ~

~ RistComm..atio.."'.""'W..a ,.ofmrc-- -~..-~

\

1

.ExpoSUTe ~ment: l11e qualitative

and/or quantitative evaluation of the

degree of intake likely to occur.

.Risk œarnderization: Integration of

hazard identification, hazard characte-

rization and exposure assessment into

an estimation of the adverse effects

likely to occur in a given population,

including attendant uncertainties.

.PreIirninaJY mk management activiûes.It includes the establishment of a risk

profile to facilitate consideration of the

issue within a palticular context and

provides as much information as

possible to guide further action.

/

ln 2003, David Byme, the fomler

European Commissioner for Health and

consumer protection stated:

On the contrary, health safety of fish is

simply expected.

Due to a questioning of lNC paltners inthree European countries on fish buyingpreferences of

consumers, sustainability can be consi-dered fully understood by the consu-mers, as a concept and as an expres-sion. However, there seems to be atrend to equate sustainability and

organic production.

Furthermore, the questioning indicatethat Fair rrade and Ethical Correctnessare indeed less weil understood than issustainability/organic Production. l11eyseem to be known as expressions orcatch phrases rather than as concepts.

Consumers said cIeariy, that they wantto understand the history of the productand to know which additives went intothe production of a fish productAdditives was, together with Origin, thedata that most interviewees want toknow when they by a fish product

.Evaluation of risk management

options is the weigning of available

options for managing a food safety

issue in lignt of scientific information on

risks and other factors, and may include

reaching a decision on an appropriate

Food safety is an intrinsic part of food

quality. European consumers will settle for

no less than safe food -and they are right"

But are these consumers aware and

?q

INFOSAMAK International

me Problem

Distribution of infonllation in the buyingand selling of fish is not totally sharedbetween the seller and the buyer, sincethe seller wants to exploit this know-ledge to his advantage, or the buyer isnot experienced enough to use theinfonllation me result would be amarket trend, tenlled «adverse selec-tion«, that would create a market inwhich even high quality products aremore likely to be sold for low prices,which is particular due for the opensea fishery today.

ln order to overcome this viciouscircle one has to define quality of fishin a more sophisticated way andcommunicate this understandable tothe consumers.

andIAssessment, ManagementCommunication of nsks)

Food safety and Traceability:

Questions on Food securitycontent:

Questions on Food safety content:

Perceived risk direct to marketability.How can we improve our image withour consumers?

communication is 2 -way. Are we

listeningt

Production is market driven. what doour consumers want?

products need to be consumer sensi-tive. HOw do our consumers perce iveus?

Environmental sustainabilty and

sensitivity

Ethical production which considersanimal welfare and managementsensitivity to the workers and workingconditions.

praducts must be safe. Can weanswer the cansumers cancems?Actual

risk direct ta iIIness and dead.

Have we set up the right framewark?

conclusion

Traceability is a complex, but mecha-

nical process documenting ail the

stages of production and distribution

that food products go through.

Auditing and Certification are state-

ment ensuring that certain specifica-

tions, for example harvesting. proces-

sing and/or handling. have been

undertaken in compliance with

defined environmental, social or food

safety and quality standards.

Traceability and certification are by no

means synonymous, but demanding

each other in order to overcome the

adverse perception of consumers

today and increase their preparedness

to pay for a documented and und ers-

tandable food quality.

-='>

L~"\1 1

~ ') (~~~~~~) (:1If~i}:( L LcpI ~ CoIdcntM.toting

-

~

J] -.~1 DoIa W~~':j~' l (~~.::::.J~.

ADAIy.;. s-.biDgQ. AIIdit TrooiD&

?

"L

\rConununication

By Mr Hans J Burmeister

TNC partners Europe

Germany

E.mail : BURMEISTERBur@aol.com

~

30 INFOSAMAK International