English only
|
|
| Agenda Item 6.1 | Conference Room Document 54 English only |
second fao/who global forum of food safety regulators
Bangkok, Thailand, 12-14 October 2004
(Paper prepared by Thailand)
With the rapid developments in global science and technology, traditional approaches to food safety system may no longer be sufficient to manage new emerging hazards. Apart from the suffering caused by unsafe food, the economic consequences in a number of countries are enormous. The public is increasingly aware of the risks of unsafe food, thus food safety is becoming a first priority for consumers. Thailand is regarded world-wide as a high ranking producer of food and agricultural products, and therefore Thailand has recognized the crucial role of food safety in producing safe and high quality foods for the international marketplace. Large quantities of processed food and agricultural products are exported from Thailand every year to supply the dietary needs of the world's population. In this light, the Thai government has strengthened the implementation of food safety control services to enhance food safety in Thailand, make Thai products more competitive in a global market and to build the confidence and trust of trading partners. The Thai government's resolve to achieve these goals is realized through the government bureaucratic reform in the year 2002, the improvement of the food safety control system, and the declaration of the year 2004 to be the "Food Safety Year."
Thailand has long enforced laws and regulations on food safety. The responsibility for food control is shared between different agencies and ministries under the following laws and regulations:
International trade in food and agricultural products has recently been affected by the liberalization of trade. Several importing countries have turned to "non tariff barriers," and use this approach as a measure to control the importation of food and agricultural products. Consequently, the non tariff barrier has become a major impediment for Thailand's international trading of food and agricultural products. Therefore, during the government bureaucratic reform in the October 2002, the Thai government has also reformed the food safety control systems to minimize the suffering from duplication of regulatory activity and lack of coordination between the different bodies involved in food policy, monitoring, and control of food safety. Government initiatives to manage food safety throughout the food chain —"a farm to table approach" – equivalent to international standards has also been announced.
Under the comprehensive government food safety reform, a new governmental unit, the National Bureau of Agricultural Commodity and Food Standard (ACFS), was established in the Ministry of Agricultural and Cooperatives (MOAC), and the "Agricultural Commodity Standard Act" has been drafted in order to bridge the gap and reduce the repetition of work in the food safety control system.
ACFS is responsible to coordinate collaborative operations on agricultural commodity and food standards. ACFS functions include the following:
Additional responsibilities of ACFS include being the "focal point" of CODEX (the Joint FAO/WHO CODEX Alimentarius Commission); the Office International des Epizooties (OIE); the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC); and the Agreement of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS). ACFS has coordinated, encouraged and supported all stakeholders in Thailand to actively participate in the works of these organizations. These roles of ACFS have proven to strengthen standardization in Thailand and facilitate harmonization of national standards and regulations with international standards. The utilization of scientific information from these international organizations is also valuable in improving the risk-based decision making process on food safety control in Thailand.
Because the promulgation of a new Act such as the Agricultural Commodity Standards Act is a time consuming process, Thailand implemented food safety control system according to the government single policy based on the cabinet resolution, before the Act was promulgated, as follows:
3.1 According to the cabinet resolution dated March 4th of the year 2004, the "Road Map of Food Safety" has been approved to be used as a framework for the operation and control of food and agricultural products. The Road Map of Food Safety framework is to be used throughout the food chain, which encompasses importation, farm level production, production sites, food processing, food businesses, products, and marketplaces. The framework also clarifies the distinctive roles and responsibilities of each food control unit in Thailand. This is to reduce the overlapping of roles among food safety control authorities. To respond promptly to the need for critical and urgent issues undermining food safety control implementation, the government has also established a special senior task force to manage these problems. Coordination of activities within this framework is expected to be an effective mechanism to help increase the level of national food safety and to support the competitiveness of Thai food and agricultural products in the global marketplace under the supervision of World Trade Organization (WTO).
The primary principles for the implementation of the Road Map of Food Safety include:
3.2 Procedures for the food safety control system are categorized into five areas. Detailed description of the governmental units assigned to supervise each system is provided in the Road Map of Food Safety (Appendix 1). The control procedures underscore the implementation of the quality assurance system, which is based on HACCP principles, as a proactive approach to control food safety across the entire food chain.
According to the cabinet resolution, the year 2004 has been declared "Food Safety Year." Numerous governmental authorities have been designated, and granted a special budget by the government, to collaborate and prepare the food safety control strategy for 2004-2005. These governmental units include the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), Ministry of Agricultural and Cooperatives (MOAC), Ministry of Commerce (MOC), and other involved parties.
The following sections describe the conceptual framework and related activities resulting from the restructured food safety administration in Thailand.
4.1 Strengthen the food safety control system in a more effective direction, i.e. more focus on the principle of prevention throughout the food chain rather than only inspection and rejection at the final stage. Comprehensive programs have been launched to encourage producers to build safety and quality into food products through good agricultural practices (GAP), good manufacturing practices (GMP), good hygienic practices (GHP), and the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system.
4.2 Improve the food control risk management process to be based on science and transparency. Efforts have been made to separate the food safety enforcement agencies from the standard and regulation development agencies to avoid conflicts of interest between the food safety control and other responsibilities of the agency, which may be detrimental to the operation of food safety program, and in turn, harmful to consumers.
4.3 Improve capacity building on the food safety control system along the food chain through safety assurance schemes, conformance with international standards, and facilitation of mutual recognition agreements on conformity assessment with trading parties. To date there are a significant number of crop and livestock farms, fisheries, and processing plants that have been certified. The advantage of implementing food safety assurance systems is that it is possible to systematically trace back to the sources of the problems. Certification systems for every stage along the food chain results in the enhancement of Thailand's good reputation as a producer and exporter of high quality and safe food and agricultural products.
4.4 Optimize the performance of all available resources involved in food safety through the management of the strategies and operational activities under a single national policy. ACFS, the new established governmental agency, has pooled human resources in various disciplines from agencies involved in food safety. Decentralization of the control of food safety to the local authorities has also been emphasized, among others strategies, to manage the limited human resources.
4.5 Establish more national voluntary standards and codes of practices to facilitate the certification system, particularly for primary products and market places, and promote their implementation. A Thai Agricultural Commodity and Food Standard concerning GAP for fresh produce and codes of practice for the production of meat and poultry, including fish, have been promulgated and implemented on a voluntary basis.
4.6 Increase the efficiency of inspection services, especially for conducting risk-based audits under safety assurance programs to support the proactive food safety system. Comprehensive programs have been provided by the government to train and upgrade the expertise and skills of food inspectors, such as in certification and accreditation for GAP, GMP, and HACCP programs.
4.7 Improve laboratory performance and the coverage of the hazards involved in food safety. The government has funded several programs to improve the performance of laboratories, including laboratory accreditation schemes, as well as to increase the number of basic food inspection laboratories to make sample analysis more accessible to more areas, particularly at importation and exportation ports. In addition, a central laboratory equipped with high performance instruments has also been established.
4.8 Improve communication and encourage more involvement and responsibility of consumers, manufacturers and other stakeholders in food safety. Campaigns teaching consumers how to select proper and safe food for themselves and their families have been carried out through several forms of media and through education programs.
5.1 The implementation of a "single agency" system is considered an effective means to integrate the entire food safety control system throughout the food chain. The transformation toward the single agency system is nevertheless not an easy process; it is time consuming, requires clear national policy and commitments from high ranking governmental executives, political support and substantial preparation. The preparations should cover the following aspects:
5.2 The "integrated system," which refers to the issuing of a single policy by the government, could be another option for countries that decide not to implement a 'single agency' system, or could be employed during the transformation period. The implementation of this strategy will lessen the conflicts and the overlapping work responsibilities among governmental units as well as help increase the performance of the food safety control system.
5.3 Thailand's food safety control structure is in a transitional period. Although there is support from the food industry for the 'single agency' system, the food safety system in Thailand is still a distance from a 'single agency' system. Although the structural reorganization took place in the recent past, the results of this reorganization have already proven to effectively impart control on the food production system throughout the entire food production process. The results also demonstrate that integration of the food safety control system, even at a minimal level, enhances transparency while reducing the overlap of roles and responsibilities between authorities involved in food safety enforcement which is important for country that have limited resources such as Thailand.
APPENDIX 1 - Road Map of Food Safety - (PDF file)