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.
Date: May and June 2012
Location: Beijing, China
Michigan State University (MSU), in partnership with the World Bank and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum, Food Safety Cooperation Forum Partnership Training Institute Network (APEC/FSCF/PTIN) is conducting a training program on general food safety management and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) concepts in China in May and June 2012. This training program will utilize blended learning techniques and will include a one-month eLearning phase (May, 2012) followed by a six-day practical training phase to be conducted face-to-face in Beijing during the week of June 11-17, 2012.
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:
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:
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
Date: April 24-25, 2012
The PTIN Export Certification Workshop was held on April 24-25 in Greenbelt, Maryland. This workshop built 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 working group discussed Codex guidance and use of Codex model certificates, discussed criteria for determining when a food or agricultural certificate should or should not be required, discussed appropriate use of export certificate attestations and encouraged use of electronic certificates.
Date: April 4, 2012
Dr. Sri Mulyani of the World Bank spoke at the GMA Science Forum on April 4, 2012 and discussed World Bank efforts in food safety, the Partnership Training Institute Network and the Global Food Safety Partnership.
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
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