October 29, 2007

 

US food safety conference highlights challenges faced by industry

 

 

Food safety agencies face an impossible task if they aim to ensure that all food imports would meet requirements, according to Patricia Wester, global regional manager with SGS-USTC Food Safety Services

 

Wester was speaking at a Meat Industry Research Conference in Chicago said.

 

More than 2 trillion products a year enter 300 US seaports currently, she said. In less than a decade, the amount would triple.

 

Authorities would have to trace up to 825,000 importers in the US to ensure they are conforming to the law.

 

If handling 825,000 importers is a challenge for the US, it is even more so for China, which is currently on a campaign to improve safety among its350,000 to 400,000 manufacturers.

 

Compounding the problem is the fact that China, who had a record of sending defective or contaminated products to the US, is a major exporter.

 

One of the most vulnerable item, seafood is the top US import, followed by meat and poultry, and cereal and cereal preparations, according to Wester.

 

Having assembled an inter-agency Cabinet-level panel to address growing concerns about the safety of US imports, President Bush meantime awaits a resulting action plan, which Westler said is due in early November.

 

The plan will build on a "Strategic Viewpoint" the panel released in September. Among the objectives to be achieved would be a focus on the risks; increasing accountability, enforcement and deterrents; building interoperable systems; fostering a culture of collaboration; and promoting technological innovations.

 

Wester urged meat industry members to build on their past achievements with GMP and HACCP assessments, highlighting the need to make better use of these systems by eliminating duplicate efforts and generating new data. 

 

Westler also advised meat processors to develop checkpoints between primary production and transport, processing plants and transport, distribution/ wholesale and transport, with checks ending at the retailer or foodservice establishment.

 

Instead of a single, annual audit of quality and safety systems, which she said amounts to a "snap shot," processors need to invest in procedures that provide them with a "video."

 

Westler conceded such initiatives would be expensive.

 

The fragmented nature of the supply chain and systems that relied on intervention rather than prevention would make the job more difficult.