FAO’s Food Safety Program
Strengthening controls of food safety, plant and animal pests and diseases for agricultural
productivity and trade in Southern Africa.
The Governments of New Zealand and South Africa workshop on “Food safety systems for export”
2 -3 September 2014 at OR Tambo Building Multi-Purpose Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.
NAME OF PRESENTER
Dr Tobias Takavarasha, FAO Representative for South Africa
Presentation Layout
• Background on FAO Food Safety Program
• Some highlights of relevant work programs
• Conclusions
FAO’s work in food safety is embedded in the
organization mandate: achieving food security for
all, and sustainable food production
Introduction to the FAO Food Safety Programme
Core Functions
• provide independent scientific advice on food safety which serves as
the basis for international food standards
• develop institutional and individual capacities for food control and food
safety management in many countries, including the management of
food safety emergencies
• support processes for the development of food safety policy frameworks
• assurance and supporting countries’ effective participation in the work
of Codex;
• facilitate global access to information and encourages and supports the
development of food safety/ quality networks.
Technical Capacity Development
Our approach
Active in a wide range of food safety and quality
capacity development activities at National and
Regional Levels with key partners
FAO’s 4 Pillars for Food Safety
The FAO Global Food Safety Strategy is based on:
1.Achieving measurable improvements in national
systems of food control through action at
national, regional and global levels
2.Global participation in the setting of agreed
international food standards, codes of practice
and guidelines that are science-based.
3.Enabling implementation of good food safety
management practices at all stages of the food
chain
4.Identification, communication and evaluation of
emerging, re-emerging and recurrent food safety
issues.
Achieving measurable improvements in national
systems of food control through action at
national, regional and global levels
Global participation in the setting of agreed
international food standards, codes of practice
and guidelines that are science-based.
Enabling implementation of good food safety
management practices at all stages of the food
chain
Identification, communication and evaluation of
emerging, re-emerging and recurrent food safety
issues
FAO linkages with partners and
development priorities
Projects and work are linked with key development priorities
both within and outside of FAO including:
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FAO Strategic Objectives
FAO Regional Initiatives in Africa
Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Program
(CAADP): Food safety interventions generally associated with
Market Access, Food Supply and Hunger and Land and Water
Management Pillars.
Directly in support of the Codex Strategic Plan 2008-2013
Contributing to the Strategic Plan for CC-Africa
In collaboration with key institutions including WFP, WB, WHO,
OIE among others.
Joint FAO-WHO initiatives
1. FAO/WHO work on foodborne contamination and
antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
2. Pilot in Kenya with Kenya Medical Research Institute and
EAC
3. FAO/WHO work on food safety emergencies:
A) Respond to food crises (Japan)
B) Capacity building: EMPRES
4. INFOSAN
FAO’s work on risk-based food inspection,
including control of food imports
Challenges for countries to “transition” to risk-based food
inspection systems.
“Risk-based food inspection manual” was published in 2008,
and used in training and in-country activities.
Continuous engagement with member countries has
identified specific need for additional guidance on control
and inspection of imported foods.
“Imported Food Control Manual”
• Consistent with the CCFICS texts is in its finalization stage.
• The manual aims to assist official authorities in the
assessment, review and development of national
imported food control programmes
• Aims to help bridge the gap between principles and
implementation.
• Preliminary field testing in the Pacific region, in the Near
East and in Africa ( Gabon )has been implemented.
FAO’s work on strengthening the adoption of
safe food practices by food chain operators
Achieving safe food production is reliant on the adoption of
safe food practices by those producing,
handling and preparing foods
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Farmers
Processors
Transporters
Retailers and Distributors
Food handlers in restaurants, hotels,
and the final consumer.
1) a national workshop in Tanzania to train government
officials, small industry development organizations,
research institutes, universities and private industry in the
production of tomato, maize, meat and cashew nut
2) a sub-regional workshop in Rwanda for government
officials, food processors and members of academia and
research on strengthening milk, passion fruits, rice and
maize production from Burundi, Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Uganda.
FAO’s work linking food safety and legal
policy-making
FAO Legal services Department
Work closely with the appropriate Technical Unit ( Food safety
and IPPC Secretariat) to provide support to countries
Development of a regulatory framework with coherence
between national law and regulations – regional laws and
international laws and regulations
Critically important to keep them engaged !
Key Initiatives related to Export
1. Strengthening Controls of Food Safety, Plant and Animal
Pests and Diseases for Agricultural Productivity and Trade
in Southern Africa (2014-2018)
2. Export markets – OUMAR’s project
3. South-South Cooperation Funding to Support Food Safety
in SADC Member Countries (2015-2016)
4. TCP on the Improvement of the Regulatory Framework
for Animal Health and Food of Animal Origin for CEMAC
Strengthening Controls of Food Safety, Plant and
Animal Pests and Diseases for Agricultural
Productivity and Trade in Southern Africa
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Project in process from 2014-2018
Includes Angola, Botswana, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia,
South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
• Main goal of improving food and nutrition security while
enhancing terms of trade within the SADC Region.
• Expected outcomes include:
• Reducing the occurrence of food safety related pests and
diseases
• Enhance national capacities to address these issues
• Mitigate the impact of food safety issues on crops, livestock,
fisheries and forest resources
• Improve and enhance intra-regional trade
Improving Supply of Safe and Quality Livestock
and Meat Exported from the Horn of Africa to
Middle East and Gulf Countries
• Ongoing project being implemented in 2014-2015
• Includes members of IGAD countries
• Main goal of the project is to increase the export volumes
of safe livestock and meat from Horn of Africa countries
to the Middle East and Gulf Countries
• This is done through training, infrastructure development,
and increased business development between these
regions.
South-South Cooperation Funding to Support
Food Safety in SADC Member Countries
• Project approved for implementation in 2015-2016
• Includes all SADC member countries
• Goal of developing capacity for food control systems in
SADC Member Countries
• Outcome includes improved quality of exports within
SADC member states for both regional and international
trade, stronger food control systems for both import and
export products.
TCP on the Improvement of the Regulatory
Framework for Animal Health and Food of
Animal Origin for CEMAC
• Ongoing project being implemented in 2014-2015
• Includes Cameroun, Gabon, Central African Republic,
Chad, Equatorial Guinea and Congo
• Main goal of creating new regulatory framework within
CEMAC to facilitate trade of live animals and food of
animal origin between CEMAC countries.
• Assists CEMAC countries to improve export of animal
products both within CEMAC and internationally.
Aquatic Animal Health Training
• FAO & DAFF in collaboration with OIE, Rhodes University,
NEPAD and AU-IBAR planned and hosted a training course
in Aquatic Animal Health (AAH) on the 14 – 20 July 2014.
• This AAH training forms part of the activities planned in
building the capacity of Veterinarians and Animal Health
Practitioners under the FAO/DAFF Capacity Building
Project.
• Flowing from the AAH training the FAO in partnership with
DAFF,OIE, NEPAD, SADC and AU-IBAR are planning a
regional workshop on Fish Health and Aquatic Biosecurity
– 4 – 6 November 2014 in Durban.
Relevant FAO Tools
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Risk Analysis Toolkit: to support national authorities address
food safety tasks through risk analysis principles
Tool to guide sampling plans for mycotoxin detection
Risk Management Tool for the Control of Campylobacter and
Salmonella in Chicken Meat
Tool on assessing the performance of sampling plans: A user
friendly web-based tool to assess the performance of
presence/absence sampling plans and concentration based
sampling plans for microbiological hazards
Multi-criteria Decision Analysis tool (MCDA) for risk
prioritization o food safety programmes
Collaboration with WHO –FERG project: Creating tools to
estimate the burden of disease related to food safety
hazards.
Relevant FAO Resources
1. FAO training materials on GAPs – integrated to Farmer
Field School programmes
(http://www.vegetableipmasia.org/Training%20Materi
als.html)
2. FAO tool on Good Hygiene Practices along the Food
Chain (http://www.fao.org/food/food-safetyquality/food-safety-quality/publications-tools/en/)
Proposed way forward
Establish linkages between the SA-New Zealand initiative, the
FAO regional initiative on Food Safety and South-South
Cooperation for food safety, FAO South Africa capacity
building project and food security and nutrition
coordination project. FAO is keen to work with partners in
developing and implementation this coordination project
within its recently completed Country Programming
Framework.
Thank you
THANK YOU
www.fao.org/food/food-safety-quality