The role of food safety in food security
The list of approved and recognised courses include:
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected multiple sectors across the country and has left many people jobless.
For a country like Fiji, which depends a lot on imported foods, the risk of exposure to food hazards is high.
While the trade market has opened its doors to the world, the standard of the food supplied plays an integral role in being able to sell the products.
The availability and access to food have become a major concern and it’s a fact that available food does not necessarily mean consumable food, thus the safety and suitability of food determines if it is fit for human consumption.
Food security is the availability and accessibility of wholesome, safe, nutritious and delicious food to all people at all times.
Food safety ensures that the provision of food to people is free from contamination, adulterants, and food hazards.
Food safety and food security have a primal aim of managing hunger, thus they complement each other’s role and function as a single faction.
The Gist of Food Safety
According to the World Health Organisation website, global food trends show that unsafe food causes an average of 600 million cases of foodborne diseases and around 420 000 deaths worldwide annually.
With the global trends are depicted as such, the statistics of Fiji are similarly alarming. Regulatory bodies within the country try their best to ensure that consumers get the safest food. Food safety is related to the presence of food safety hazards in food.
It also deals with economically motivated and ideologically motivated adulteration to harm the food. Therefore, satisfactory controls must be applied throughout the food chain.
Agri-processing has become a significant driver to the Fijian economy.
Large scale farming is seeming to be beneficial which has given rise to processors as such the Agro Marketing Authority of Fiji and many other producers engaged in a similar activity.
This process ensures that raw produces are converted into products with increased shelf life which can be exported or sold for local use and as a result, there is increased food availability.
However, the integrity of food safety must be maintained when adding value to agricultural produces.
The use of international food standards worldwide contributes to achieving public health objectives, as it can ensure that the food that gets traded is safe.
The General Principles of Food Hygiene is the commonly used basic food safety approach across multiple food business operations. It provides instructions and guidance on best practices for food safety and it is the base requirement for the globally recognised international food safety standards such as the ISO 22000:2018 standard for Food Safety Management System.
The agriculture sector is under immense pressure and with the changes in food production methods, the need to realise food safety is now. With the public demanding a sense of secure food supply, the need for affordable and safe food also exists.
The agriculture and food manufacturing sector needs to be mentally, physically, and intellectually prepared to address and meet these requirements of their consumers. The workforce in these sectors needs to be equipped with the right set of skills and knowledge.
How is NTPC involved?
The National Training and Productivity Centre (NTPC) of the Fiji National University (FNU) is the National Productivity Organisation (NPO) for Fiji. The Department of National Productivity and Industry Innovation within NTPC is responsible for engaging with the relevant sectors to address food safety-related concerns. The department has developed new courses to meet the growing demands of the Agri-processing industry.
NTPC has also carried out projects to implement food safety systems for organisations such as the prominent Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) food safety system and the internationally recognised ISO 22000:2018 Food Safety Management Systems.
In 2018 the International Organisation for Standardisation published a revised standard for Food Safety Management Systems (FSMS) and organisations that employed the standard has their own FSMS were given time until 2021 to completely implement the new standard before the 2015 version became obsolete. With the pandemic and reduced workforce working hours, organisations found it difficult to implement the new standard. To aid the organisations with this, the NTPC engaged in the ISO 22000:2018 transition consultancy projects. NTPC has successfully assisted two organisations with their transition to the new
standard requirement. Given this, some organisations are still trying to transition into the new standard and the food safety experts at NTPC are equipped and ready to assist.
The agriculture sector is growing and it is diversifying. Farmers are now employing modern agricultural techniques for better yields and improved quality.
Coupling food safety with agri-processing does not only ensure that food is available but also ensures that food is accessible.
Availability of food does not necessarily mean that there is a secure supply of food, however food that is suitable and safe for consumption will determine the security of food. Safe food is secure food.