The importance of recognizing and assessing the impact of the safety and quality of animal feed for the safety and quality of foods of animal origin is well known in the international and the national setting. Organizations such as FAO, WHO, the Codex Alimentarius Commission and OIE have been addressing the multitude of issues related to feed safety since a long time. Many activities have been and are being implemented, including reviewing current state of knowledge, risk assessments, development of international standards and other forms of risk management advice, capacity building activities and technical assistance. Some of these activities will be highlighted in the presentation.
The food-chain approach to food safety has now been adopted world-wide and provides a further reason to collaborate closely between organizations covering all the steps in food production and consumption, including the food industry, to control hazards to human health that may be introduced at different steps in the food-chain and by different means.
The number of recent events and the rapid dissemination of information on world-wide on outbreaks of trans-boundary animal diseases, plant pests and diseases, zoonoses and feed and food safety emergencies, has raised public awareness of the possible impact on human health as well as on livelihoods and food security and global markets and trade. FAO and WHO have recognized the need for support to countries in developing emergency preparedness and response to such threats to the food chain. FAO has consolidated its work in this area into a Food Chain Crisis Management Framework (FCC) that is addressing in an interactive way risk assessment, risk management and risk communication requirements in the areas of agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture, forestry and in the near future also specifically in food safety and consumer protection. The activities focus on emergency prevention and early warning, but designed programs for response and assistance to countries to adequately handle substantial emergencies in the food-chain are also provided. WHO has created a world-wide network, INFOSAN, of national information and action contact points for food safety alerts, regardless of the origin of the source (food, feed or water). Both organizations are involved in the analysis of alerts and follow-up activities and in development of relevant advice, and the links and collaboration maintained with other international, regional and national bodies are most important to address all these issues.
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A. Wennberg
FAO, Nutrition and Consumer Protection, Italy
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