Some food safety emergency situations will inevitably occur

Despite strong efforts to prevent their occurrence, it is recognized that some food safety emergency situations will inevitably occur, which must be dealt with in a timely, effective manner.

After identification of such a situation, EMPRES Food Safety works with national food safety authorities to conduct an urgent appraisal of the event and mobilize the needed experts, in full consultation with relevant members of the FCC. The input of experts in public health is also sought through WHO.

EMPRES Food Safety assumes technical leadership in the provision of emergency response, with operational support from the emergency operations and rehabilitation group (TCE) of FAO, who have the structure to rapidly mobilise human and financial resources to respond to emergencies. EMPRES Food Safety collates and provides the background information and determines the best possible emergency responses. The mission activities are conducted with the active involvement of relevant national food safety authorities, are multi-disciplinary in nature and tailored to the situation. Assistance can include problem identification, testing (sampling and analysis), validation of actions undertaken, technical and financial resource mobilization, monitoring of preparedness for future emergencies, as well as expert guidance on risk assessment, risk management and risk communication.