FAO FISHERIES TECHNICAL PAPER 444

Assessment and Management of Seafood Safety and Quality

    by
    H.H. Huss
    Danish Institute for Fisheries Research
    Department of Seafood Research
    Denmark
    L. Ababouch
    FAO Fisheries Department
    Fish Utilization and Marketing Service
    and
    L. Gram
    Danish Institute for Fisheries Research
    Department of Seafood Research
    Denmark

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
Rome, 2003


Table of Contents



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ISBN 92-5-104954-8

ISSN 0429-9345


© FAO 2003


Table of Contents


PREPARATION OF THIS DOCUMENT

ABSTRACT

1 INTRODUCTION (Hans Henrik Huss)

2 WORLD SEAFOOD PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION (Lone Gram)

2.1 Fish utilization

3 DEVELOPMENTS IN FOOD SAFETY AND QUALITY SYSTEMS

3.1 Traditional quality control (Hans Henrik Huss/John Ryder)

3.1.1 Principles of sampling
3.1.2 The concept of probability

3.2 Modern safety and quality assurance methods and systems (Hans Henrik Huss/John Ryder)

3.2.1 Methods to manage quality and safety

3.3 Risk analysis, food safety objectives (Lone Gram)

Part I: Aspects of Seafood Risk Assessment

4 IDENTIFICATION OF HAZARDS IN SEAFOOD

4.1 Statistics on seafood-borne diseases (Lone Gram)
4.2 Detentions and rejections of seafood in international trade (Lone Gram/Lahsen Ababouch)

5 CHARACTERIZATION OF HAZARDS IN SEAFOOD

5.1 Biological hazards
5.1.1 Pathogenic bacteria (Hans Henrik Huss/Lone Gram)
5.1.2 Production of biogenic amines (Lahsen Ababouch/Lone Gram)
5.1.3 Viruses (Lone Gram)
5.1.4 Parasites (Hans Henrik Huss/Peter Karim Ben Embarek)
5.1.5 Aquatic biotoxins (Hans Henrik Huss)
5.2 Chemical hazards

5.2.1 Industrial and environmental contaminants (Hans Henrik Huss)
5.2.2 Veterinary drugs (Allan Reilly)

5.3 Physical Hazards (Hans Henrik Huss)

Part II: Risk Management Tools

6 INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY FRAMEWORK FOR FISH SAFETY AND QUALITY (Lahsen Ababouch)

6.1 The World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement

6.1.1 The agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS)
6.1.2 The agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)

6.2 The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

6.2.1 Codex Alimentarius
6.2.2 The FAO Code of conduct for responsible fisheries

6.3 Conclusion

7 PREREQUISITES TO HACCP (Hans Henrik Huss/John Ryder)

7.1 The processing plant

7.1.1 Plant location, physical environment and infrastructure
7.1.2 Buildings, construction and layout
7.1.3 Facilities
7.1.4 Utensils and equipment

7.2 Operational conditions including GHP

7.2.1 Safety of water and ice
7.2.2 Cleanliness of food contact surfaces
7.2.3 Prevention of cross-contamination
7.2.4 Maintenance of facilities for personal hygiene
7.2.5 Protection of food from adulterants
7.2.6 Proper labelling, safe storage and use of toxic compounds
7.2.7 Control of employee health conditions
7.2.8 Pest control
7.2.9 Waste management
7.2.10 Storage and transportation
7.2.11 Traceability and recall procedures
7.2.12 Training

8 THE HACCP SYSTEM

8.1 Development and adoption of the HACCP principles (Hans Henrik Huss)
8.2 The basic seven principles of HACCP (Hans Henrik Huss)
8.3 Application of the HACCP principles (Hans Henrik Huss)
8.4 HACCP implementation in the fish industry (Hans Henrik Huss)
8.5 HACCP audit (Lahsen Ababouch)

8.5.1 Planning and conducting an HACCP audit
8.5.2 Frequency of audit
8.5.3 Qualifications of HACCP auditors
8.5.4 Qualifications of HACCP auditors

9 CONSIDERATIONS IN THE APPLICATION OF THE HACCP PRINCIPLES TO SEAFOOD PRODUCTION (Hans Henrik Huss)

9.1 Hazard analysis of raw material
9.2 Molluscan shellfish
9.3 Raw fish - to be consumed raw
9.4 Fresh/frozen fish and crustaceans - to be fully cooked before consumption
9.5 Lightly-preserved fish products
9.6 Fermented fish
9.7 Semi-preserved fish
9.8 Mildly heat-processed fish products
9.9 Heat-sterilized fish products packed in sealed containers (canned fish)
9.10 Dried, smoke-dried, heavily-salted fish
9.11 Seafood risk categories

10 APPLICATION OF HACCP PRINCIPLES IN THE MANAGEMENT OF OTHER QUALITY ASPECTS (Lone Gram)

10.1 Microbiological aspects
10.2 Chemical aspects
10.3 Physical aspects
10.4 Example

11 MONITORING PROGRAMMES (Hans Henrik Huss)

11.1 Toxic algae
11.2 Pathogenic bacteria and viruses
11.3 Chemical contaminants

12 EXAMPLES OF FSOs FOR BACTERIA OR TOXINS IN SEAFOOD PRODUCTS (Lone Gram)

12.1 Listeria monocytogenes in RTE seafoods
12.2 Staphyloccocal enterotoxin in cooked crustaceans

13 USE OF CRITERIA (Hans Henrik Huss)

13.1 Microbiological criteria (MC) and testing

13.1.1 Definitions and components of MC
13.1.2 Purpose and application of MC
13.1.3 Principles for establishing MC
13.1.4 Sampling and microbiological testing
13.1.5 MC applied by the EU and others
13.1.6 Concluding remarks

13.2 Performance and process criteria

14 PREDICTIVE MICROBIOLOGY (Paw Dalgaard)

14.1 Development and validation of predictive models
14.2 Practical use of models and application software

15 TRACEABILITY (Marco Frederiksen/Lone Gram)

15.1 Internal versus external (chain) traceability
15.2 Traceability systems
15.3 Labelling products
15.4 Fresh fish quality traceability
15.5 EU legislation on traceability of fish and fish products

APPENDIX 1 ASSESSMENT OF FOOD SAFETY PROGRAMMES (Hans Henrik Huss)

APPENDIX 2 HAZARD ANALYSIS WORKSHEET (based on National Seafood HACCP Alliance, 1997)

APPENDIX 3 HACCP PLAN FORM (based on National Seafood HACCP Alliance, 1997)

APPENDIX 4 GENERIC HACCP PLAN FOR THE PRODUCTION AND PROCESSING OF OYSTERS

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