APEC FSCF PTIN
Food Safety Cooperation Forum Partnership Training Institute Network
Concerns about food safety in the Asia Pacific region have risen sharply, and spurred a high level, collective mandate from APEC Leaders to improve food safety standards and practices. In 2007, after the establishment of the APEC Food Safety Cooperation Forum (FSCF), APEC Leaders agreed on the need to develop a more robust approach to strengthening food safety standards and practices in the region, using scientific risk based approaches and without creating unnecessary impediments to trade. To this end, they called for increased capacity building to improve technical competence and understanding of food safety management among stakeholders in the supply chain, which include regulators, growers, packers, handlers, storage providers, processors, manufacturers, retailers and food service providers.
The Food Safety Cooperation Forum's Partnership Training Institute Network (FSCF PTIN) was created specifically to address the need to engage the food industry and academic food safety experts with the regulators, to strengthen capacity building in food safety.
HIGHLIGHTED EVENTS
Upcoming Events
PTIN Export Certificate Workshop
Date: April 24-25, 2012
The PTIN Export Certificate Working Group has been rescheduled to April 24-25 in the Washington, DC area. Registration for this workshop is now open. This working group will build on outcomes from an FSCF PTIN Export Certification Roundtable held in February 2010 in Australia on the margins of Codex CCFICS meetings where best practices for the appropriate use of export certificates were identified. The expected outcomes will be to encourage more engagement and participation by APEC economies in CODEX CCFICS meetings. The Working Group will develop criteria for determining when a food or agricultural certificate should be required. This criterion could result in development of a guidance document for submission to CCFICS which may include a proposal for new work on export certificate attestations. There will also be a commitment to using existing international guidance on export certificates as well as use of electronic certificates.
Follow on Laboratory Capacity Building Workshops
Date: TBD 2012
An Expert Working Group prioritized and sequenced the needs identified through the assessment and FY11 regional workshop resulting in the following three year plan:
- FY12: Analytical Methods/Validation/Fitness for Purpose
- FY13: Sampling
- FY14: Quality Assurance/Proficiency
Three sub-regional in-laboratory train-the-trainer events will be held to address Analytical Methods/Validation/Fitness for Purpose in APEC pesticide residue laboratories in the following regions within the next year:
- Chile, Peru, Mexico
- Vietnam, Philippines, PNG, and Indonesia
- Malaysia, Thailand, Russia, and China
These trainings will be in-laboratory hands-on efforts, including a lecture element, and based on a train-the-trainer curriculum. Depending upon individual host economy conditions, the location of the 3 sub-regional trainings will be either national laboratories or universities.
Upon completion of the sub-regional trainings, participants will be linked with PTIN experts who will be on hand to address any issues or problems that arise as the participants train their colleagues/implement the information discussed during the trainings.
A regional PTIN workshop will be held as a follow-up to the sub-regional trainings to discuss issues, problems, and solutions identified.
For more information contact Kelly McCormick at Kelly.McCormick@fas.usda.gov or (202) 720 - 1347
Recent Events
Launch of Innovative Public-Private Partnership to Create the World's First Fund for Global Food Safety
Date: November 12, 2011
Time: 3:20 pm - 3:50 pm
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
On the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings held in Honolulu, Hawaii, on November 12, an announcement was made on the creation of an innovative public private partnership that has pledged $1 million for the creation of the world’s first Global Food Safety Fund for capacity building. To be managed by the World Bank, the proposed fund will leverage the tripartite approach pioneered in APEC that enlists a wide range of stakeholders in training programs designed to enhance food safety and to facilitate trade. These programs will enable more growers, more producers, and more food safety officials to understand and utilize preventive controls – resulting in safer food for consumers, and fewer safety incidents in food trade.
This innovative public-private partnership has secured generous seed money from Mars Incorporated and Waters Corporation, as well as from United States Agency for International Development. The initial pledges announced on November 12 in Honolulu meet the threshold amount required to establish the fund and will provide the platform for new private and public sector contributions. The fund’s goal is to raise $15-20 million over the next 10 years. This public-private partnership is built on the recognition that food supplies are global and food safety systems are under-resourced. Strengthening food safety systems is critical in order to safeguard public health, and promote food security, global food trade and economic development. Food and waterborne diseases are leading causes of illness and death in developing countries, with a mortality rate of some 2.2 million each year, mostly children.
Background Fact Sheet
Download
Download Mars press release
Download Waters press release
Download USAID press release
Download USTR press release
Download U.S. State Department press release
Download GMA press release
Download Remarks from GMA president Pam Bailey
Download Remarks from State Department
Download Remarks from USTR
Download Remarks from World Bank
Download
Global Food Safety Forum
Date: September 16, 2011
A Global Food Safety Forum was held on September 16, 2011, in Washington, DC. Co-hosted by Waters Corporation and the U.S. Department of Commerce, the forum was a global dialogue on food safety issues that transcend borders. Speakers stressed the importance of increasing collaboration among global food safety leaders, including encouraging partnerships between industry, government, and academia to provide capacity building and encourage dialogue on use of science based international standards and best practices.
Public Information Meeting on Establishing Global Food Safety Multi Donor Trust Fund
Date: September 7, 2011
Addressing capacity building on food safety is now recognized as an essential component of efforts to achieve greater food security. It is in this context that the World Bank recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Food Safety Capacity Building with the APEC Food Safety Cooperation Forum (FSCF) and its Partnership Training Institute Network (PTIN), that provides an innovative and sustainable platform on which to improve food safety capacity. Looking to the future, a Global Food Safety Multi Donor trust fund will be established to build on the measured successes gained in the APEC region, which is ethnically and economically diverse, to inform food safety capacity building programs globally.
APEC FSCF PTIN Workshop on Laboratory Capacity Building
Date: August 25-26, 2011
This two-day APEC FSCF PTIN endorsed laboratory capacity building workshop sponsored by the United States and held in Thailand focused on the prioritization of laboratory capacity building needs and highlighted the Global Context of Food Safety stressing the importance of laboratory capacity to industry, international trade, and public health. An APEC PTIN laboratory capacity assessment was discussed, and three training modules covering APEC laboratory capacity building priority areas will be presented.