Session 1: The food chain approach from an international perspective
Abstract
The dairy industry can ensure product safety to a significant extent with quality management systems which incorporate the ”General Principles of Food Hygiene” and the HACCP system of Codex Alimentarius as well as the legal or Codex product hygiene standards. Some hazards however cannot be controlled by the dairy plant. This is especially the case for the contamination with foreign materials (contaminants, residues and toxins), which may be transferred to the milk or milkproducts from the preceding links of the supply chain. This contamination may occur in industries further back in the supply chain and the hazards involved do often not pose a risk for the part of the chain in which these industries operate. In the presentation it is explained that the control of these hazards can only be achieved by a system of chain management in the area of food safety. The necessary tools and conditions for an effective chain management are discussed. It is stressed that initiatives and leadership in this field should be expected from the dairy industry. Reaching full chain integration, with common management and recognition systems in the relevant sectors in the chain, can be a long and complicated process. This however should not keep the dairy industry from taking initiatives in this field. Experience has shown that also small steps made on this road, like improving the communication between the to chain partners, can be big steps in reducing risks.
PRINCIPLES OF FOOD SAFETY CONTROL
The topic of food safety is entirely related to the control of the hazards of contamination and infection during production and treatment of a food product. This is achieved first of all by creating basic conditions that limit the risk of contamination or infection to as great an extent as possible. These basic conditions are described in the standard ”General Principles of Food Hygiene” of the Codex Alimentarius and the hygiene codes for various product groups linked to this standard. In addition it is important that producers
and merchants examine whether in their production and handling systems specific conditions exist in which could pose a hazard of contamination or infection of the product. Should this be the case and the condition involves an essential threat to the food safety, additional measures must be taken. How this supplementary hazard analysis must take place and in which way the control measures must be determined, are described in one of the supplements of the above-mentioned Codex standards (‘HACCP system and guidelines for its application’’).
THE EXTENT TO WHICH FOOD SAFETY CAN BE CONTROLLED IN DAIRY PLANTS
A dairy company will ensure product safety to a significant extent if it has a quality management system which incorporates the above-mentioned hygiene principles of the Codex as well as the legal and/or Codex product standards for pathogenic micro-organisms and for contaminants and residues. In that case, infection and contamination which may occur during processing the milk in the plant will be adequately controlled. Microbial infection that may occur during production at the farm and during transport of the raw milk will, under normal conditions, also sufficiently be reduced. However contamination that may occur before the processing of the milk can not be controlled in the dairy plant, or if so, only to a limited extent. Especially residues, contaminants and toxins that are transferred via the cow to the milk are significant in this context. These foreign (non product related) materials may originate from the farm or from the production chains that supply the farm and the dairy industry. Dairy companies can partially prevent this contamination by analysing the milk before it is processed. Apart from this, the concentration of these substances will often be reduced during processing due to mixing with milk of other producers. Nevertheless, a dairy company should not rely on this. The possible forms of contamination that could occur in this way are of such a variety that they can not possibly all be detected by means of analysing the milk. Moreover, there is often no time to wait for the results of these analyses since the milk must be processed shortly after delivery. “Mixing away” contamination in the milk is not a sustainable solution and carries with it some risks. Eventually it proves hazardous to the quality and reputation of the product. Experience shows that buyer and consumer confidence can be severely undermined when foreign materials are found in milk products, no matter how low the concentrations and health risks of this contamination may be.
CONTROL MEASURES NECESSARY IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN OF DAIRY INDUSTRY
From the sections above we may conclude that the risk of contamination of dairy products by foreign materials must be controlled to a large extent in the preceding links of the chain. This control must take place at the point where the contamination occurs. This may sound self-evident, but in practice it is not. The control measures that must be taken by the immediate suppliers of the dairy companies can relatively easily be assured by means of the of the delivery conditions or contracts. For example, dairy companies can make agreements with the dairy farmers about the use of antibiotics, antiparasitics and pesticides at the dairy farm, so that the residual limits are not exceeded in the milk supplied. However, when the industries in the supply chain are further removed from dairy processing and they only supply products to other preceding links in the chain, the more complicated it becomes to control the hazards. This is especially he case when hazards are involved that do not pose a risk to the part of the chain in which these industries operate. For example, when in the beginning of the chain raw materials for animal feed are dried, techniques and fuels may be used that pose no risk to the quality of the feed and the health of the animals. However at the end of the chain these drying methods may lead to an unacceptable contamination of the milk with foreign materials.
INTEGRAL CHAIN MANAGEMENT FOR FOOD SAFETY
In my presentation on integral chain management during the IDF World Dairy Congress in 2002, in Paris *, I mentioned a number of food incidents that were caused by conditions in the links at the beginning of the food chain. These conditions were not recognised as being unsafe until, at the end of the chain, the food appeared to be contaminated. In a number of cases this led to extensive product recalls. These incidents fortunately had little or no consequences for the composition and safety of dairy products, but the conditions that brought about the contamination certainly also pose a risk to the dairy sector. In this same presentation I pointed out these problems can be prevented by a system of chain management in the area of food safety. Such a system must make it possible that hazards to the safety of the food products are communicated to the preceding and succeeding links of the chain. In addition, this system must guarantee that the necessary control measures will be taken at the right point in the chain, also if the hazards do not pose any direct risks for that specific part of the chain.
* Mathot P.J. “Integrated food chain management” Proceedings of World Dairy Congress, September 2002. Cidil; 42 Rue de Châteaudun, 75009 Paris, France.
TOOLS FOR CHAIN MANAGEMENT
In the presentation at hand I shall elaborate on the necessary instruments and conditions for an effective management in the dairy chain. As far as times allows, I shall take you through the following subjects, which also indicate steps in the development of chain management.
- Initiative and leadership in the chain by the dairy industry.
- The role of the dairy companies, the national dairy organisations and IDF.
- The investigation of the process flow in the chain and defining the scope of the chain management.
- The communication structure in the chain (each link of the chain takes care of communication to its preceding and subsequent link (s); steering groups of representatives of the successive sectors in the chain).
- Topics for communication in the chain (the common interest; the final products of the chain; the hazards and risks for the safety and wholesomeness of these final products, conditions in the chain that may cause these hazards, the monitoring results).
- Characteristics of the consultation with chain partners (equality and interaction ; recognition of the common interest; commitment).
- Food safety management systems (control based on hazard analyses and determination of risks; communication of hazards that must be controlled by the subsequent link and hazards that must be controlled by preceding links; management of control measures on the basis of ISO 9001-2000; comparison with draft standard ISO/CD 22000 **).
- Securing the control of food safety hazards in the chain (certification of the risk based management systems, industry audits by experts from the subsequent link(s) in the chain; recognition systems for suppliers).
** ISO/CD “Foodsafety managent systems - requirements for organizations throughout the foodchain”
A GRADUAL PROCESS
The development of an integral management of the chain in the area of food safety is not a project that can be concluded within a limited period of time. It is rather a growth process which evolves in interaction with the chain partners. First, all relevant chain partners must be made aware that they are in fact partners in producing food and that they have a common interest in the safety and undisturbed sale of the end products of their chain. By creating communication channels and consultation structures the chain partners shall better understand their own role and responsibility in assuring the food safety. Only on this basis the tools mentioned above under 6 and 7, like common management and recognition systems, can be agreed upon and implemented. All this can be a long and rather complicated process. On the other hand, experience has shown that every small step made on this road to chain integration is a big step in reducing the risks. This is especially true for the improvement of the communication in the chain. If the chain partners are only aware of the final destination of their products and of the fact that their process conditions might entail a risk for the food safety, this will already contribute a great deal to the care given to their production process.
INITIATIVE BY THE DAIRY INDUSTRY
Initiatives in the area of integrated management of food safety in the chain must be taken first of all by the dairy companies and their sector organisations, and this should also be expected from them. Being the last link in the dairy production chain they are responsible for the food safety of the dairy products, and they know what the consumer market requires. The preceding links in the chain cannot always be aware of the hazards and risks in this area and the dairy industry must take the initiative to transfer this knowledge and initiate the control measures where necessary. I hope this presentation has clarified in which way and with which tools the dairy industry may carry out this task. Zoetermeer, 04-02-2004
IDF/FAO international symposium on dairy safety and hygiene Cape Town,
2–5 March 2004,
South Africa |
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