PRODUCE STANDARDS HARMONIZATION-NEED OF THE HOUR

World trade on fresh produce has been facing some problems as standards and specifications adopted by different countries were in conflict many times creating trade logjams upsetting the business system as a whole. It is always the case that buyer is supreme and the supplier has the responsibility to meet the contractual obligations entered into before striking a deal. Disputes, differences and misinterpretations invariably mar such trade deals and fresh produce being highly perishable cannot afford to be delayed during shipment. The Harmonized standards acceptable to all countries will go a long way to avoid such unnecessary disputes causing trade disruptions. Also of significance is the cost of auditing and the burden it poses to small producers and exporters and it is here that the inspection needs to be simplified, streamlined and made cost effective. Here is a take on this important issue which is the focus of attention in some countries in the forefront of fresh produce marketing. 

"Experience has shown that more and more produce customers are requiring audits of their suppliers, including small and local suppliers, and that customers are realizing the costs of redundant audits are adding to their own costs, regardless of who pays for the actual audit. The broad acceptance of the Harmonized Standards by major produce buyers seems to show a road forward to meeting the industry's objective of reducing the audit burden without sacrificing safe produce growing and handling practices. Even while some buyers have restrictions on who can do the audits, having one checklist for all audits has to reduce the audit burden of differing standards. Further, the expectation is that buyers, seeing the same audit results from different audit organizations, will eventually accept an operation's existing audit results without requiring another, thereby further reducing the audit burden. When they see different audit results for the same operation, using the same standards, from different audit organizations, questions will come back to where they rightfully belong—the audit process—and the marketplace will begin to weed out the poor performers".

The dilemma of the buyers of fresh produce is understandable in the light of a series of food poisoning episodes involving such simple commodities like spinach, water melon, tomato etc and with the traceability burden becoming too heavy and uncertain buyers must be on alert regarding import of tainted commodities. Harmonized Standards, therefore will go a long way to address this intractable problem and world bodies like FAO and WTO must intervene to make them universally acceptable and practiced. There is a need to set up a trade dispute resolving mechanism that can settle differences quickly with least delay. Auditors need to be accredited after careful evaluation of their credentials and the cost of auditing must be brought down to affordable levels. Will this happen in the foreseeable future? Probably the world seems to be moving in this direction and a cooperative regime involving industry, governments and international bodies can make the world much more safer vis-a-vis the consumers.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

POULTRY PROCESSING-HAZARDS REMAIN IN SPITE OF NEW INSPECTION REGIME

The much touted new safety regulations supposed to ensure better protection to American consumers does not seem to be of much significance if those experienced inspectors with hands-on experience in policing the industry are to be believed. On the contrary the situation is likely to become worse because lot of trust is being placed on the industry for self inspection and self regulation. On one hand the inspection regime does not have adequate technical personnel to man the fast moving processing lines to do justice the spirit of safety inspection due to paucity of funds. On the other hand the industry is being allowed to to speed up production lines up to three birds a second to oblige their insatiable thirst for higher productivity and profitability. Here is a take on this emerging scenario in the US poultry industry which does not bode well for the future.

USDA's proposed rule to "modernize" the poultry inspection system would allow plants to speed the inspection line up to 175 birds per minute — that gives inspectors about a third of a second per bird to check for feces, tumors, defects, disease or other factors that could make consumers sick. (Read more on the rule and see what an animated version of one carcass per third of a second actually looks like here). Conventionally, plants could run poultry lines as fast as 140 carcasses per minute, but there were at least four FSIS inspectors on the line responsible for 35 birds each. Painter says that at the plant he's currently stationed at, which is participating in HIMP, the line was averaging up to 181 birds a minute with two plant-employed sorters and Painter at the end of the line. He says: "There's no humanly way possible two people can look inside 90 birds a minute." After the proposed modernization rule was published, USDA told the plant to cut its speed down to 175 birds per minute, Painter reports. Not that that makes much of a difference. "It's totally hands-off inspection," he told me. "Actually, it's not inspection, it's visualization. If you can't touch them, how can you inspect them? You can't even see inside the carcass." So, how can a plant meet basic food safety standards with less inspection? One way is dousing the poultry in chemicals. In fact, Painter told me that USDA encourages the use of chemicals. One chemical is called per acetic acid, an antimicrobial agent used to reduce the risk of food-borne pathogens salmonella and campylobacter. The problem is that after the carcasses are sprayed down with per acetic acid and then put in the chiller, depending on the chlorine concentration of the chiller, "it can be like having a bucket of bleach under your nose," Painter said. He said that it's not unusual to hear from poultry plant workers who say they're becoming ill after exposure to the chemical combination. "These chemicals keep getting pumped into the plant, but they don't increase ventilation," he said. Painter predicts that if current line speeds stay in place, he thinks plants will increase their reliance on chemicals to make up for inspection gaps. Painter said he'd "bet my last nickel on it." Tony Corbo, senior lobbyist for the food program at Food & Water Watch, said he and his colleagues suspect that poultry plants manipulate the levels of chemicals depending on when FSIS conducts salmonella testing. Testing kits are sent directly to the plant, not to the inspector, Corbo told me, so the plant gets a convenient heads-up. So, while USDA says that the new "modernized" inspection system is leading to reduced rates of salmonella, Corbo said plants can easily manipulate their systems to prepare for FSIS testing. He also noted that while industry says the chemical residue left on the poultry is fairly small, "I don't think anyone's doing any long-term testing to see if that's the case." In 2011, Corbo filed a Freedom of Information Act request to view data coming out of the HIMP plants. He found that plant-employed inspectors, as opposed to FSIS inspectors, where not upholding food safety standards. According to a Food & Water Watch news release, "the records show that bile, sores, scabs, feathers, and digestive tract tissue are often not being properly removed from chicken carcasses." Corbo said that the overwhelming majority of noncompliance reports coming from HIMP plants and filed by FSIS inspectors are for fecal contamination in the cavity of the bird. But if the FSIS inspector can only truly inspect a small fraction of the carcasses that speed by on the line each day, "we don't really know how many of those carcasses actually got into commerce," he said. "Essentially, the attitude of the industry is that chicken isn't something people eat raw…it has to be properly cooked," Corbo said. "They're saying it's really the responsibility of the consumer, which we think is ridiculous. The industry has a responsibility here too. …(With this proposed rule), we're essentially leaving it up to one (FSIS) inspector at the end of the line and chemicals to prevent food-borne illness from entering the food supply." Painter, who himself is struggling with health problems he believes stems from food tainted with salmonella or campylobacter, says he's not optimistic that there's enough opposition to stop the proposed modernization rule. His advice? "Wash it, clean it, cook it thoroughly." "I've worked for poultry prior to working for (USDA)," he said. "I'm not anti-industry…but we can't expect a plant to regulate itself when a dollar value is involved."

It is understandable that industry has to increase productivity very significantly to meet with the ever increasing demand of the consumers for chicken meat and products derived from it. But compromising the safety of these products, whatever be the excuse, cannot be condoned under any circumstances. Increased use of chemicals like per acetic acid and high levels of chlorine can be counter productive, besides being dangerous for the consumer as ell as the personnel working in the plant. Frustration experienced by the inspecting personnel is reflected in their advice to the consumers that they should not trust the industry and in stead take appropriate measures for cleaning and cooking the material at their home! The danger is magnified when it is realized that feces-contaminated poultry meat stored in kitchen refrigerators can pollute other food materials like fruits, vegetables, milk etc causing much more damage eventually.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

FOOD TESTING-NEPAL'S NEW INITIATIVE

The problem of food adulteration is assuming serious proportions in many countries including many economically wealthy ones and it is becoming more and more acute in most of the third world countries including India. The root cause of such a disturbing situation is under developed infrastructure for monitoring, inadequate testing personnel and poor analytic facilities. Bureaucratic and legal delays in processing the food adulteration cases further compound the problem. Against such a background it is pleasing to hear from Nepal that the government there, in spite of the current political instability, is taking progressive steps to tackle food safety problems. Here is a take on this new development which must be applauded.

"The Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC) has decided to put its mobile inspection van on the road by the end of this week. The vehicle is equipped with advanced equipment enabling department inspectors to test the quality of a food sample instantly on the spot. The DFTQC will use the van to test for adulteration like inedible colours and unwanted micro-organisms in food sold in the market. "We will be using the van to check the quality of food items being sold in the market," said Pramod Koirala, spokesperson for the DFTQC. "It will help food inspectors to test the food on the spot and take immediate action," he said. The DFTQC has rolled out its lab on wheels amid growing cases of adulteration of food stuff. Last year, the department found 20.83 percent the food items it checked to be adulterated or substandard. According to the DFTQC, bottled water, milk and milk products, ghee and edible oil and sweets products are among the substandard products found in the market. Currently, the department needs to send the food specimens collected from the market to its laboratory situated at the DFTQC's central office for tests. This has delayed identifying impurities in the food items and punitive action against the wrong doers. This has also made its food quality control ineffective. "Thevan will allow us to file a case or recommend action against offenders immediately," said Koirala. According to him, there will be two food testing officers in the van . Although the DFTQC plans to test 1,000 food samples every year, its inspection effort has been ineffective due to lack of manpower and other resources. Currently, the department has been conducting inspections only once a week. With the use of the labvan , the DFTQC has planned to increase the frequency of market inspection. "As the using the van is cost effective for the purpose, we will also increase the number of food samples for cross checking," said Koirala.
The department acquired the van , which has a price tag of Rs 10 million".

With almost one fifth of the food products made in Nepal being found adulterated, one outdoor van for on-the-spot testing may be too few to cope up with the situation. It is possible the government may expand this type of facilities by investing more money in acquiring such modern mobile outdoor labs in the coming years after gaining experience with the first one currently launched. Unless the manufacturers and traders involved in food related activities are sure about severe consequences of playing around with the lives of consumers through unsafe products, the ever increasing number of food related health episodes cannot be checked satisfactorily. Nepal is setting a fine example to other countries to follow with such new initiatives.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com