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
FSCF PTIN Aquaculture Modules Now Available
FSCF PTIN Aquaculture training modules are now available in English and Bhahasa. The aquaculture modules were piloted in Indonesia in June 2013 under the Global Food Safety Partnership in partnership with the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia Pacific (NACA). Training was implemented by a team of five experts and consisted of theory and practical sessions as well as plant visits. A total of 40 trainees participated and successfully completed the training program. About 20 came from seafood processing plants in Indonesia representing middle to senior level technical people with responsibility for food safety and HACCP implementation. Five came from aquaculture production sectors while another five came from government and academic sectors.
The freely available training course modules, developed by Michigan State University, originally for the APEC FSCF PTIN include:
Food Safety Practices for Aquaculture
Module 1: Introduction - Food Safety Issues in Aquaculture
Download: English Version | Bahasa Version
Module 2: Food Safety Hazards
Download: English Version | Bahasa Version
Module 3: Food Safety Practices for Aquaculture Production
Download: English Version | Bahasa Version
Module 4: Ensuring Food Safety during Post Harvest Handling and Processing
Download: English Version | Bahasa Version
Module 5: Food Safety Management Systems
Download: English Version | Bahasa Version
Upcoming Events
Ongoing Work on FSCF Roadmaps for Regulatory Cooperation in Export Certificates and Pesticide Maximum Residue Limits Draft Roadmaps Endorsed in September 2013
Date: Ongoing
Location: Virtual
In Surabaya in April 2013, the FSCF endorsed moving forward with a Regulatory Cooperation Plan to develop roadmaps to identify ways to move forward with regulatory cooperation in two areas: Export Certificates and Pesticide Maximum Residue Limits. Working groups were formed to identify draft roadmaps for FSCF endorsement. The export certificate work will be led by Australia and the United States with working group members from Peru, Thailand, Mexico, Brunei, Canada, Papua New Guinea, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, and the Wine Regulators Forum. The pesticide MRL work will be led by Australia and China with working group members from United States, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, and the Wine Regulators Forum. The FSCF endorsed the following roadmaps in September to guide future work. Work will be undertaken virtually and concrete outcomes and deliverables will be reported out at a special meeting of the FSCF in Beijing in September.
APEC FSCF PTIN Proficiency Testing of Veterinary Drug Residues in Food
Date: September 10-11, 2014
Location: Beijing, China
China is leading work on Proficiency Testing of Veterinary Drug Residues in Food. The focus is on inter-laboratory proficiency testing (PT) program to determine veterinary drug multi-residues in animal origin products, which is important to develop laboratory capabilities within APEC economies, to improve the acceptability of test results that is able to provide solid evidence to facilitate animal origin products trade among these economies. Work is being conducted in four stages over a nine month period that will consist of in-laboratory activities combined with two face-to-face events.
2014 Technical Meeting of the APEC Wine Regulatory Forum (WRF)
Date: September 11-12, 2014
Location: Beijing, China
APEC funds the WRF under a five-year project entitled Wine Regulatory Forum: Good Regulatory Practices Action Plan (M CTI 01 2013A (SCSC)) to reduce barriers to trade in wine among APEC economies. The project, led by the United States (U.S.) and 12 co-sponsor economies (Australia, Canada, Chile, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Russia, Vietnam), builds on significant WRF work on wine in 2011 (U.S.) and 2012 (New Zealand).
APEC High Level Public Private Dialogue on Food Safety followed by FSCF Special Session
Date: September 12-13, 2014
Location: Beijing, China
The dialogue will identify emerging and future food safety challenges and opportunities in which public-private cooperation can address them. Recommendations from the dialogue may be taken up in future work of the Food Safety Cooperation Forum. Nominations are due through APEC economies by July 18.
FSCF Special Session
Date: September 13, 2014
Location: Beijing China
This is a Special Session of the Food Safety Cooperation Forum which will work to advance FSCF endorsed Roadmaps for Regulatory Cooperation in Export Certificates and Pesticide Maximum Residue Limits. At the September meeting, the FSCF will endorse deliverables for Regulatory Cooperation in these areas and identify further work including consideration of additional regulatory cooperation areas.
APEC Agriculture and Food Ministerial
Date: September 18-19, 2014
Location: Beijing, China
Proposed APEC FSCF PTIN Export Certificate Meeting
Date: October 16, 2014
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Food Safety Cooperation Forum and PTIN Steering Group meeting
Date: 2015
Location: Philippines
The next meeting of the Food Safety Cooperation Forum and Partnership Training Institute Network Steering Group will be held in 2015 in the Philippines.
Recent Events
APEC FSCF PTIN Workshop on Improved Food Inspection Capacity Building Based on Risk Analysis
Date: May 21-23, 2014
Location: Seoul, Korea
This project led by Korea continued work on educating APEC economies about the use of risk-based inspection against potential risks to consumers’ health with the goal of improving food safety management of traded food and minimizing food safety incidents. This work continued further rollout of the FSCF PTIN’s core food safety elements modules to economies in the region. Economy training targeted a broad range of involved actors which included food inspectors, public officers in charge of food safety, staff members at food sanitation inspection organizations and other relevant officers. Workshop summary and materials will be posted soon.
APEC FSCF PTIN Food Allergen Management Workshop
Date: May 5-8, 2013
Location: Vancouver, Canada
This workshop focused on increasing consultation, information exchange, and harmonization in the area of food allergens and analytical methods for food allergens. Workshop summary and materials will be posted soon.
APEC PTIN Regional Workshop on Laboratory Capacity Building in Food Safety: Framework for Self-Assessment of Laboratory Capacity Building Needs and Prioritization
Date: December 12-13, 2013
Location: College Park, MD (USA) near Washington, DC
The APEC FSCF PTIN hosted the Laboratory Capacity Building Regional Workshop on December 12 and 13, 2013 at the University of Maryland in the United States. The topic of this year’s workshops was: Framework for Self-Assessment of Laboratory Capacity Building Needs and Prioritization. The objective of this year’s activities was to develop a process of prioritization of laboratory building needs, which will involve a countrywide or local self-assessment and will be applicable across the region. For further information on workshop presentations and outcomes please see the PTIN training page or: ifstl.jifsan.umd.edu/catalogue/course/APECLabCapacityWorkshop
Global Food Safety Partnership Second Annual Conference
Date: December 9-13, 2013
Location: Singapore
The World Bank held the second annual conference of the Global Food Safety Partnership (GFSP) conference in Singapore from December 9-13. Building off of the APEC FSCF and PTIN public private partnership capacity building model, the Word Bank Group administered Global Food Safety Partnership seeks to create a multi-stakeholder platform that can address food safety capacity building The establishment of the GFSP was the result of considerable action over the last decade, including the good work initiated under the APEC Food Safety Cooperation Forum. In early 2012, Waters Corporation, Mars Incorporated, and USAID became the founding contributors in this unique food safety capacity building partnership. Since then, several national governments, private sector, academic and non-government organizations have demonstrated strong support for the GFSP and have become partners to the GFSP through financial or in-kind contributions. The Netherlands provided a crucial initial contribution that enabled activation of a new GFSP multi-donor trust fund managed by the World Bank. Recently, additional financial contributions have been provided by the governments of Canada, Denmark, and the United States to support GFSP implementation. Seed funding for the GFSP has also been provided from within the World Bank.
The purpose of the 2nd Annual Conference was to take stock of the first year of activity, overview plans for the coming year, and exchange views on priorities for the Partnership. The goal fo the GFSP is to work together on a more efficient model of capacity building for a better food safety global network.
For more information please see: www.gfsp.org
APEC Multi-Year Project Approved
With the APEC region accounting for 41% of world population and nearly 50% of global food production, steps are being made to ensure that food safety capacity building is a priority. The APEC Budget Management Committee has approved a multi-year project proposal that will implement food safety projects under the APEC FSCF and PTIN starting in 2013 and ending in 2015. This multi-year project will include workshops, forums, and informational toolkits that will enhance food safety capacity measures.
The timeline for the multi-year project is as follows:
- Mid-April 2013, Indonesia- Food Safety Cooperation Forum, Food Safety Incident Network Seminar, PTIN Steering Group meeting, and risk analysis discussion
- May/June 2013 Indonesia- Best Practices in Educating Food Safety Standards to SMEs
- TBD 2013- Laboratory capacity building activity/workshop
- May 2014 Korea- Workshop on Improved Food Inspection Capacity Building Based on Risk Analysis
- 2014 China- Proficiency Testing of Veterinary Drug Residues in Food
- 2015 Philippines Food Safety Cooperation Forum and PTIN Steering Group meeting
Suite of APEC FSCF and PTIN Events
Date: April 10-13, 2013
Location: Surabaya, Indonesia
From April 10-13, 2013, a suite of events were held in Surabaya, Indonesia. These included an SME workshop on food safety best practices, a meeting of the Partnership Training Institute Network Steering Group, a discussion on best approaches for risk management, a Workshop on Incident Management, and a meeting of the Food Safety Cooperation Forum which were held on the margins of the APEC second Senior Officials Meeting (SOM 2). See the following Surabaya Statement with outcomes from the meeting.
- SME Workshop on Food Safety Best Practices, April 10
- PTIN Steering Group Meeting, April 11: On the margins of every FSCF and more often as needed, representatives of the PTIN Steering Group meet to discuss capacity building priorities and activities in risk analysis, incident management, supply chain management, laboratory capacity building, and food safety regulatory systems.
- Discussion on Best Approaches for Risk Analysis, April 11
- Food Safety Incident Network Seminar, April 12: In 2011, the FSCF noted the need to share information on emerging food safety issues and communication during food safety emergencies. Australia will organize a seminar to implement a food safety incident management network for the Asia Pacific region building on the work of INFOSAN. The seminar will bring together a core group of incident management specialists to develop the scope, role, and functions of the network.
- Food Safety Cooperation Forum, April 13: Once every two years APEC food safety regulators meet to assess progress in building regional capacity in the FSCF's four identified priorities areas: 1) food safety regulatory systems; 2) food inspection and certification systems; 3) technical skills and human resource capacity; and 4) information sharing and communication networks. The FSCF is the only opportunity for the leaders of APEC's food safety regulatory agencies to meet and agree on collaborative efforts to build a robust regional food safety system.