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Feature
Farm-to-fork approach needed to fight food scares
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Friday, 13 March, 2009, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Food scares need to be combated with a comprehensive 'farm-to-fork approach' by manufacturers and vendors to ensure total quality management across the entire supply chain, according to a paper prepared on Food Safety by TÜV SÜD. Following is extracts from the paper.
Food scares have become a rampant reality and the immediate fallout of globalisation. With rise in outsourcing, food and food products are being sourced from all across the world, especially the developing countries. This makes the supply chain a lot more complex, which further get worsened when conflicting interests of various stakeholders across the value-chain come into play.
Outsourcing provides cost savings to the manufacturer in the developed world as they outsource their requirements of processed and unprocessed foods to other nations. Also people are able to enjoy certain (seasonal) fruits and vegetables throughout the year.
There have been several food scams in the last one year - including some high-profile recalls emanating from contamination of ingredients, seafood, fresh vegetables, beef and even consumer items like.
Food scares can lead to illnesses and deaths, like E.Coli, can lead to kidney failures, while others - like Salmonella - can lead to bloody diarrhoea, fever, nausea and abdominal pain, while others, like melamine (an industrial chemical, found in the recent milk scam) can even cause death.
Food recalls can cost manufacturers and exporters millions of dollars. For instance, the Salmonella-infected tomato scare that broke out in the US in May and June 2008 is estimated to have caused a loss of nearly $500 million to the tomato industry. Similarly, the E.Coli-tainted spinach scare (September 2006) in the US reportedly caused a loss of nearly $100 million a month to the spinach producers.
With manufacturers in the developed world turning to fast-growing Asian economies - that are large agricultural, aquaculture and milk producers - for more cost-effective foodstuff, it's these Asian economies that are being invariably held responsible for food scares. Therefore, these countries require a far greater focus on food safety.
The tortuous global supply chain
Globalisation has only added to the existing complexities of the domestic food chains.
In an increasingly specialised market, food processors often don't produce the necessary semi-finished products themselves. For instance, a frozen pizza needs several ingredients - such as meat products (ham, salami), dairy products (cheese), and very few of these ingredients are produced by the pizza manufacturer. "While the pizza manufacturer is responsible for the safety of its products, it has less and less knowledge about the origin of the raw materials it uses," says Dr Andreas Daxenberger, Head of the Certification Body Food and Feed, TÜV SÜD Management Service.
Food science with its modern detection and investigation methods can identify risks that would have gone unnoticed only a few years back. "Modern cell culture and gene expression tests used in toxicology can show effects that were hardly recognizable using classic animal tests," says Daxenberger.
There are several other issues that complicate food safety matters. For instance, testing seafood can be quite tedious, especially in a globalised supply chain. The ASEAN region produces vast amounts of seafood for global markets. The United States, for instance, imports 80 per cent of its seafood requirement. Each shipment of frozen seafood requires evaluation for microbial contaminants, chemical contaminants and antibiotic residues. And when the supplier is situated on the other side of the globe, guaranteeing food safety to the end-consumer can be tough.
The use of drugs on animals also poses challenges. Globally, there is concern that the use of anti-microbials in animals can contribute to anti-microbial resistance problems in human infections.
"Veterinary drug residues in products of animal origin is one of the important areas of our concern," says Simon Yue, Senior QA Engineer, METRO Group Buying (MGB), Hong Kong.
MGB is sourcing seafood products from Vietnam. "Many farms in Vietnam are family-run businesses that are not implementing or even aware of Good Aquaculture Practice (GAP)," says Yue. "In the EU, people are very sensitive to this (veterinary drugs in food) issue and there are strict regulations that seek to curb it," he adds.
Contamination can also take place at the storage stage. For instance, Japan imports 770,000 tonnes of rice every year from the US, Thailand, Vietnam, China, and Australia. Since the Japanese appetite for rice has shrunk over the years, much of that rice is kept in storage. Some of this rice gets moldy or rots. In 2006, about 2,795 tonnes of rice in storage was found to be contaminated with excess levels of the methamidophos pesticide.
Regulations in some countries do take care of some issues pertaining to the supply chain. For instance, in the US, there are regulations that require ingredients to be traced one step forward and one step backward in the supply chain. But when ingredients are being sourced from across continents, even that can become challenging. Moreover, longer distances affect the freshness of food, thereby (often) necessitating the addition of chemical preservatives and dyes.
There are various stakeholders along the 'global' supply chain who can hamper food safety - starting from the farmer to the distributor, manufacturer and even the retailer. "More often than not, food scams take place due to the presence of unscrupulous vendors who bother only about their self-interest," says Nelken, referring to the recent melamine-tainted milk scam. Chong, however, is of the view that the weak link can be found anywhere along the supply chain.
The 'farm-to-fork approach'
Most companies across the world tend to react after the onset of a food scare. When supply chain issues occur, the response is to tighten the specifications or increase inspections.
However, inspecting and sorting do not comprise an effective long-term strategy, since they do not mitigate the root cause of the problem.
What is needed is a comprehensive, 'farm-to-dining table' approach to food safety. Says Daxenberger: "Food processors should consider making food safety and quality a strategic issue rather than managing by crisis. Managing strategically creates the correct culture for the food processor."
As a response to the Chinese melamine, the Chinese government has now enforced a new regulation to raise standards and improve supervision of domestic dairy products. A holistic approach to food safety begins at the farm level. At this stage, GMO testing (or testing for bioengineered crops, also known as Genetically Modified Organisms) and tests pertaining to animal feed, allergens in the produce, food ingredients toxicity and premix tests are carried out. Testing is supplemented with auditing/certification and training. Training pertains to teaching the quality assurance (QA) staff at the supplier level about auditing techniques, how to implement quality and safety standards, hygiene procedures in food processing and other such training that maybe customized to the client's needs.
GMO testing has become a necessity in the light of legislation imposed in the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and in an increasing number of other countries. They have established labelling laws for approved bioengineered crops, while
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