About
Food Safety Cooperation Forum Partnership Training Institute Network
Concerns about food safety in the Asia Pacific region 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 in 2008 specifically to address the need to engage the food industry and academics with the regulators, to strengthen capacity building in food safety. The FSCF PTIN initiative was endorsed specifically by APEC Leaders in 2008 and work began in July 2009 to provide capacity building in five core areas: risk management, regulatory systems, incident management, laboratory capacity building, and supply chain management.
FSCF PTIN Strategic Goal
To facilitate trade and protect public health by building the capacity of stakeholders in the supply chain in the use of international best standards and practices in food safety management from production to consumption. In doing so, the PTIN helps APEC Member Economies anticipate, prevent and manage incidents, and thus better assure the safety of the food supply chain in the Asia Pacific region.
The FSCF PTIN accomplishes its strategic goal by:
- Creating a network of food safety institutes, trainers and practitioners in the APEC region that communicates and exchanges scientific and technical information related to food safety and strengthens and expands food safety management curricula through developing a set of curricula and training tools that support the use and understanding of international standards and best practices
- Supporting the development and implementation of additional training sessions, seminars, and workshops on food safety, such as those developed by Codex, OIE and IPPC, in a manner consistent with the obligations of the WTO SPS Agreement
- Utilizing the unique expertise provided by regulators, industry, and academia to fulfill the critical capacity building needs and goals identified by APEC Member Economies
Outcomes
FSCF PTIN activities have helped build an APEC-wide network which works more rapidly to manage urgent food safety issues and help prevent food safety incidents. APEC Member Economies benefit from supporting and working with the FSCF PTIN, as FSCF PTIN programs will assist Members in their efforts to improve their domestic food safety regimes. Member participation in the PTIN also sends a strong signal to domestic consumers and international customers that improving food safety is of high priority to their governments.
Background Documents and Reports
APEC FSCF (June 2018)
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Briefing Note on the Linkages Between Food Safety and Food Security
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APEC-World Bank MOU
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Independent Review of APEC FSCF PTIN Food Safety Capacity Building Report
The FSCF PTIN Steering Group commissioned two evaluations to examine the impact of capacity building efforts, and solicit recommendations on possible metrics to more rigorously monitor and evaluate future work. The evaluations were conducted by US- APEC Technical Assistance to Advance Regional Integration (US-ATAARI). The evaluation's conclusions recognized the FSCF PTIN's ability to provide unique benefits to its members through the bringing together of a large range of economies and stakeholders. The report also identifies that trainings are being applied by the large majority of participants, resulting in improved practices and concrete policy changes by APEC economies. Relevancy, effectiveness, and value in terms of training, curricula development and networking are distinguished within this report. The areas where programs have had the greatest impact include the introduction of science-based methods, improved cooperation in food safety incident management, harmonization of food safety regulations and the development of replicable training materials.
2018 Update to the Mid-Term Review
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2016 Independent Review of APEC FSCF PTIN Food Safety Capacity Building Initiative
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Presentation
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