The ripple effect of food legislation
being felt around the world. For example, the Filipino government
this week urged food processors in the country to upgrade their
manufacturing systems if they wish to continue exporting goods to
the United States and the European Union. The announcement follows
the implementation of stricter product standards in the west.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer reports the department of agriculture as saying that US and the EU were expected to require all food exporters to secure Hazard Analysis Control Point (HACCP) certification. This requirement will commence in the new year. The purpose of HACCP is to minimise and control biological and chemical hazards in food by identifying potential sources of risk in food production, from the sourcing of raw materials to the production process itself.
The HACCP system is currently the most highly acclaimed sanitation control system for food processing plants. Interest in HACCP is extremely high in Europe, with major industrial customers regarding certification as a prerequisite. HACCP certification covers food manufacturing, food catering and food packing materials among other things. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have already adopted HACCP as the basic sanitary standard for food.
Among the risks that threaten food safety are the presence of bacteria, viruses, yeast and mould, parasites, pests and insects. Other risks include the cross contamination of raw and cooked foods during transport, storage, preparation and cooking; inadequate cleaning of equipment; poor standards of personal hygiene and insufficient cooking.
The US and the EU are key export markets for many agricultural products from the Philippines and elsewhere in Asia. The Daily Inquirer says that sectors that might be affected by the new product certification requirement include fresh bananas, coconut oil, pineapple and desiccated coconut.
The situation in the Philippines illustrates the problems tighter legislation in the west is having on producers in developing countries. The Filipino department of agricultural department has estimated that it would cost local food processing firms at least thousands of euros annually to secure the appropriate certification. One consequence might be that small and medium-sized food processors in the developing world will be forced out of business.
There are problems of implementation in Europe as well. According to Dagmar Engel, HACCP trainer and consultant from Germany, poor reference to practical experience is still a major problem in HACCP training. Avoiding the use of real-life examples only serves to communicate to the student that HACCP is an academic model designed to make their jobs more difficult, she claimed.
Dagmar's experience of modern-day HACCP is that trainers do not understand the in-depth philosophy behind the subject and students suffer as a result of poor application once in the workplace scenario. She has found that in many cases HACCP is not working because the system is too theoretical and it has been over-complicated by sophisticated terminology from a management level.
