FAO/WHO Global Forum of Food Safety Regulators Marrakesh, Morocco, 28 - 30 January 2002 Improving Efficiency and Transparency in Food Safety Systems Sharing Experiences Appendix V Introductory Remarks by Mr Hartwig de Haen Assistant Director-General Economic and Social Department Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Introduction Food safety is a serious matter for all countries and for all people Our food safety control systems need to be adapted Balance food quality and diversity with safety Capacity building International cooperation in emergencies Communication and participation Conclusion Your Excellencies, honoured guests and Forum participants, ladies and gentlemen ! Welcome to this first-ever Global Forum of Food Safety Regulators. This is an opportunity for food safety regulators from every region of the world to sit together and share experiences on what has worked and what has not to improve food safety throughout the food chain. INTRODUCTION Ensuring the quality and safety of the food we eat is vitally important. Food safety is everyone's responsibility - those involved in production, processing, marketing, handling, cooking and eating. But, the legal responsibility for food safety rests with governments. The key people in any national program to control food quality and safety are those gathered here today - the national food safety regulators. I would like to emphasize a few concepts that are fundamental to the issues that you will be discussing over the next few days. First, food safety is a serious matter for all countries and all people. Second, food safety control systems need to be adapted to national needs. Thirdly, we must strive to find the right balance between food safety and other important aspects of food quality. Finally, I want to highlight the importance of three global issues -capacity building, the need for international cooperation and, communication and participation. FOOD SAFETY IS A SERIOUS MATTER FOR ALL COUNTRIES AND FOR ALL PEOPLE In many parts of the world, food safety systems desperately need improving. Safer food has many benefits: less human suffering from food borne diseases, lower cost of public health, fewer barriers to world trade, lower loss of labour productivity and better overall food security. Food safety could indeed be considered one of the most important concerns of our time. Today we know better than ever how to control the safety and quality of foods. We know how to harvest and process foods safely. We have advanced food inspection and analysis technology and we also have sophisticated procedures of risk analysis. I dare say that, at least in developed countries, most of the food we eat has never been safer than it is today. So why are we gathered here to discuss food safety and why is it so important? The answer is simple but sad: because several million suffer from food-borne diseases every year, sometimes even dying from them. This is unacceptable because most of these illnesses are preventable. The threat to public health from food-borne microbial pathogens occurs in both developed and developing countries, with the greatest impact on children, pregnant women, the poor and the elderly. Chemical hazards are another significant source of food-borne illness. Public concern has been heightened by recent episodes of new microbiological and chemical contamination of foodstuffs. Threats such as salmonella, mycotoxins, BSE, dioxin and residues from antibiotics affect more than one country and in some cases more than one continent. In developed countries, consumers are constantly raising their expectations with regard to food safety. In developing countries the main problem remains hunger and malnutrition. Almost 800 million people suffer from insufficient dietary intake, but unsafe food is of increasing concern to them as well. Although developed countries have had some widely publicised cases of food contamination recently, the level of food safety is generally much lower in developing countries, with negative implications not only for the well-being of their people, the poor in particular, but also for their access to export markets. This disparity needs to be remedied. Food safety can no longer be the luxury of the rich; it must become a universal right for all. OUR FOOD SAFETY CONTROL SYSTEMS NEED TO BE ADAPTED Our food safety control systems need to be better adapted to the needs of the countries and to the state of the art. The gap between our knowledge and the practical reality is too wide. For example, the traditional way to control the safety of foods has been to examine the finished food product. However, concentrating on just the last link in the chain has sometimes been rather costly when food was found to be contaminated and had to be rejected or disposed of. The less costly options are often those that prevent contamination at the source and apply production and processing technologies that bear less risk of contamination. One more appropriate approach is to consider how to enhance the safety of food throughout the entire food chain. The monitoring and control of food safety is a continuum from the original production of the food, through harvest, processing, storage and transport, until its final destination in the hands of the consumer. In this approach, sometimes referred to as "farm to table", the food producers, processors and handlers are all partners with consumers and the national food control agencies. It promises to be more cost-effective than approaches that concentrate mainly on the sector of food transformation. The most recent food threats have highlighted the vital role of agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries in ensuring food safety. This is why we call on all regulators to work with farmers and other primary producers in building food safety, in developing as well as developed countries. We in FAO observe that most of the traditional food control systems have had a sectorial or fragmented structure, with different ministries or agencies being responsible for food control. Even if such a system puts emphasis on the necessary multi-disciplinary approach to food safety, it can face difficulties in co-ordination or uneven regulation. The challenge is to establish more integrated systems, which provide increased consistency in assuring food safety. Such integrated systems could go a long way toward improving the confidence of consumers and foreign buyers. FAO and WHO have just produced guidelines for strengthening national food control systems that include reference to these necessary changes. You will hear more about these Guidelines during this Forum. A word of caution should be voiced here: establishing and upgrading food safety control systems is often a costly undertaking. Low-income countries have no other choice than to proceed step-by-step and to invest first where there is a pressing need to guarantee compliance of their export products with international standards. Care should be taken, however, that this does not result in dual systems permanently. In the long run, domestic consumers should not be discriminated against having to eat food that is less safe than the food exported from their country. Food safety is the right of people everywhere. BALANCE FOOD QUALITY AND DIVERSITY WITH SAFETY Today, the diversity and richness of our global food supply is greater than at any time in the past. However, while some consumers enjoy new and exotic foods in their markets, others do not want to lose their traditional foods - foods identified with particular cultures or production areas. Keeping this in mind, we must seek to maintain a diversity of high quality foods without higher risk. An example is cheese made from unpasteurized milk. Ideally, we must find improved processing, handling and monitoring techniques so as to permit production of a safe product even with traditional methods. The connection between food safety and quality was also expressed in one of the objectives of the Plan of Action of the World Food Summit, which states the aim to "..ensure that food supplies are safe, physically and economically accessible, appropriate and adequate to meet the energy and nutrient needs of the population". CAPACITY BUILDING For many years now, FAO has worked with developing countries to establish and improve their existing food control systems. FAO is prepared to continue and even intensify this assistance in capacity building, ranging from food legislation to food inspection and risk analysis through training, provision of expert advice and purchase of necessary equipment and supplies. Many developing countries, the poorer, least developed countries in particular, still have an insufficient capability to control the safety of foods. In this regard, I am glad to recall the Joint Statement by the Heads of FAO, WHO, OIE, WTO and the World Bank at the recent Ministerial Conference of WTO in Qatar, in which they confirm their commitment to support developing countries in their capacity building efforts. Indeed, these agencies are currently working on a major initiative to establish a common framework to assist developing countries in the three dimensions of biosecurity: food safety, animal and plant health, and, therefore, better compliance with the WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN EMERGENCIES It is common to hear references to the "globalization of world trade." and in fact the number of countries trading in food on the world market has increased dramatically in recent years. For some developing countries the export of foods - notably agricultural products - is key to earn foreign exchange. Because of this, it is no longer sufficient to consider food safety to be mainly a local concern. Today, food safety is a transboundary issue. International cooperation in food safety management, including response to food safety emergencies, is more essential than ever before. FAO calls on all countries, and is itself ready, to support the establishment of a system for better, more rapid and more concerted response to food safety emergencies. This would cover early identification and rapid characterisation of problems and a system of information exchange among affected countries. Building and strengthening such an international system to respond to transboundary food safety emergencies can also effectively increase preparedness and response to international bioterrorism, which unfortunately is of particular concern today. COMMUNICATION AND PARTICIPATION It is said that rumour travels faster than fact. This can also be said of rumour about food-borne disease - it very often travels faster than the disease itself. An informed and active public and a knowledgeable industry are the cornerstones of an effective risk management system. One of the key issues to be discussed at this Forum is communication. Communication and knowledge are the only ways to deal effectively with consumer concerns and fears. Systems and procedures must be established to ensure that consumers, as well as the industry, are properly informed when a food safety emergency occurs. These procedures should involve all stakeholders in the response to such emergencies. This, of course, also applies to the more routine food safety and quality matters, especially when new regulations are issued. CONCLUSION Many circumstances and issues interconnect the nations of the world, not the least of which is global food trade and food safety considerations. The time has come for those involved in regulating food safety throughout the world to come together, learn from each other and consider what might be done to improve global food safety and quality. FAO and WHO have jointly convened this Global Forum for exactly that purpose. I want to thank you in advance for your efforts in addressing the many important issues you will face during the next three days. I wish you all the best in your deliberations and I look forward eagerly to the results of those deliberations. Thank you.