28. Safe Food International message on Global Forum 3
-----Original Message-----
From: VanDerWal, Londa (ESNS)
Sent: 25 May 2005 08:43
To: GF3-L@mailserv.fao.org
Subject: Message from Vanuatu (GF3-L message #26)
Message from Mrs Emily Tumukon, Vanuatu
___________________________________________________________
Dear GF3 e-forum participants,
We see the importance in the initiative to open an electronic forum for exchanging views and suggestions for GF-3 as this is the latest communication technology and is very efficient. We support the idea proposed by many other countries and organizations to focus on main key themes. Being a small island country in the Pacific, we would put more emphasis on theme 2. Food Safety - doing more with less. As we have very limited resources, we have to be clear and know how to use available funds to provide efficient and effective services. It is best that we know what we are doing and what we want to do or achieve to address food safety issues in our country. Such forum gives us a big picture of things but at the same time we can learn and apply experiences at a smaller scale.
I have read a lot of the comments from the other countries and organizations with interest and am very much happy to have been a part of the forum. Last but not least I would like to thank WHO and FAO for making this forum happen and especially to being able to provide funding assistance for me to attend the past 2 forum meetings.
Best regards
Mrs Emily Tumukon (Vanuatu's Codex Contact Point and Secretariat) Senior Food Technologist, Food Technology Development Centre (FTDC)
C/- Department of Trade and Industry
PMB 030
Port Vila
VANUATU
-----Original Message-----
From: VanDerWal, Londa (ESNS)
Sent: 25 May 2005 16:46
To: GF3-L@mailserv.fao.org
Subject: Comments from Finland (GF3-L message #27)
Message from Hielm Sebastian, Finland
___________________________________________________________
Dear GF3 e-forum participants,
We share the view expressed by many others, that this e-forum has been a successful venture into a "new" area of international communication. That the number of comments has been rather limited is due to the list's relative novelty, and should not discourage the moderator and WHO/FAO to continue along an e-approach to discussion. As for me, I feel these mails sure beats circular snail-mail!
I was the head (and only member) of the Finnish delegation to GF2. While I felt that the social value of the meeting was of uttermost importance, I'd say that the actual presentations given at the forum were often too long, too prescriptive, too official and too lecture-like. I sensed that the audience, from both developed and developing countries would have wanted more of an open discussion on many themes. I realize that I'm being overly general in this view, as there was a fair amount of good presentations as well, but alas, these are my recollections after 7 months. But I'd like to underline that I personally found meeting environmental health officials fram all over the world very stimulating, both intelllectually and professionally. The sense of being there "for the good of mankind" was much more tangible at GF2 than what I've experienced at CCFH meetings, for instance.
Obviously, we will all benefit from a GF3. Preferably held in between the major Codex meetings (spring or early fall 2006) in an interested host country, gladly somewhere off the beaten track. The interval between GF-meetings should be two years, and hopefully they will continue to GF4, and further...
Echoing the views of my Dutch colleague, Niek Schelling, I'm most comfortable with themes 2 (food safety - doing more with less) and 5 (the food chain approach to promote food safety) at the GF3. Especially theme 2, as this is a universal situation that we are all faced with. In my view the diminishing food control budgets need not be an entirely bad thing, as it will hopefully also lead to a greater efficiency in what we do. I feel it is high time for food control authorities to stop "baby-sitting" food premises (the visual-classical-snapshot approach) and instead focus on establishing that the companies are in control of their operations through audits of their verification activities. Realising that this kind of "mutual trust" food control is still far away for many of us, I think that it would be fruitful to discuss various ways for us to let go, at least in our minds, of the "detailed inspections" -approach at the upcoming forum. What we have in many countries right now is a doubly-taxing (for both authorities and operators) combination of both classical and HACCP-inspired food control. Along the same note, I also favour the food chain approach towards food safety, as this will put the responsiblity for food safety where it belongs. Authorities could and should promote good practices among food operators, but they should not be the ultimate guard-post for food safety before food reaches the consumer. We are taking away the responsibility from the operators by some unneccesary intervening in the actual food chain, which effectively means that the risk management systems of the operators will never stand on their own, as they are never truly put to the test.
Kind regards, Dr. Sebastian Hielm
Senior Health Officer, Docent in Food Hygiene
Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, FINLAND
* *
S e b a s t i a n H i e l m
ELT, Ylitarkastaja, elintarvikehygienian dosentti
Sosiaali- ja terveysministeriö, terveysosasto
PL 33 (Meritullinkatu 8)
00023 Valtioneuvosto
S e b a s t i a n H i e l m
VMD, Överinspektör, docent i livsmedelshygien
Social- och hälsovårdsministeriet, hälsoavdelningen
PB 33 (Sjötullsgatan 8)
00023 Regeringen
S e b a s t i a n H i e l m
DVM, PhD, Senior Health Officer, Docent in Food Hygiene Ministry of Social Affairs and Health P.O. Box 33 (Meritullinkatu 8) FIN-00023 Government
Tel: +358-9-1607 4121
Mobile: +358-50 524 5761
Fax: +358-9-1607 4120
sebastian.hielm@stm.fi
-----Original Message-----
From: VanDerWal, Londa (ESNS)
Sent: 25 May 2005 18:04
To: GF3-L@mailserv.fao.org
Subject: Safe Food International message on Global Forum 3 (GF3-L message #28)
Message from Caroline Smith DeWaal, Center for Science in the Public Interest ___________________________________________________________
Dear colleagues:
I am Caroline Smith DeWaal, a Global Forum 2 participant on behalf of the Safe Food International project of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. CSPI represents over 900,000 consumers in both the U.S. and Canada. Our Safe Food International project is working with WHO and FAO to convene a June meeting of consumer NGOs from every region to discuss how consumer groups can more effectively advocate for strong national food safety
programs.* Therefore, I especially appreciated the extension of the
deadline for the e-forum.
First, I would like to thank the convenors of GF2 for including groups like Safe Food International. The forum was very beneficial as it increased our understanding of the challenges facing food safety regulators in many regions of the world, as well as the efforts like INFOSAN that will improve communication between governments. It also provided an opportunity to meet and learn from many regulators personally.
During the course of the e-forum, there has been strong support for Theme 2
-- Doing more with less. I think it is important to consider the role of consumer stakeholders in increasing resources and political support for food safety at the national level and hope that could be included in this topic.
I support also inclusion of a discussion of Theme 3 -- Emerging and forgotten food risks. For example, the incidence of mycotoxins and emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains of common microbial hazards both pose increasing challenges to food safety regulators both for domestic and imported foods. I think this discussion could be very useful for regulators in many different regions.
Theme 5 -- on a Food chain approach -- has also received alot of support. I recommend that you include issues of traceability in this topic. Europe has increased traceability requirements for foods consumed in the EU and this is a positive trend that can increase consumer confidence. Other countries, including the U.S., are just developing systems for tracing food products. Therefore, I hope that some discussion of this topic could occur.
I hope these comments are useful to the e-forum. I look forward to hearing for other participants.
Caroline Smith DeWaal
Food Safety Director
Center for Science in the Public Interest
1875 Connecticut Ave, NW
Suite 300
Washington, DC 20009
phone (202) 777-8366
fax (202) 265-4954
e-mail cdewaal@cspinet.org
On the internet:
* See www.safefoodinternational.org for more details on this conference. We are happy to share the conference report and other documents from this meeting with interested national governments at the conclusion of the conference. Please e-mail us at sfi@cspinet.org to request a copy of this material.
