Guidance for new food safety rules
industry negotiate new rules on food safety that entered into force
this month.
Slotting into the European framework regulation EC/178/2002 laid down in January 2002, the new rules (Articles 14, 16, 18, 19 of the regulation) enforced this month set out general provisions for imposing tougher food codes, notably the traceability of food and feed.
While food firms have always been under the legal duty to ensure that all food in the chain is safe, the new rules now formally require that they notify the local authorities should a food or feed withdrawal from the market arise.
"This guidance should be read in conjunction with the Food Safety Act 1990 (Amendment) Regulations 2004 (No. 2990) and the General Food Regulations 2004 (No. 3279)," the UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA) said in a statement this week.
Reflecting the new traceability rules the UK's FSA said last week it had set up a rapid access channel for food and feed businesses to signal the food agency about any new product withdrawals from the market.
The number of food-linked alerts in the European Union leapt by over 40 per cent in 2003 on the previous year, with the majority sourced in the 'old' member states.
Food makers operating in today's climate have no choice but to implement rigorous food safety tools, from machinery to staff training, into their daily costs.
But putting a price on food safety is 'frankly impossible' because it is totally integrated, says Francois Perroud, a spokesperson for number one food maker Nestle.
At every level quality systems are in place to protect the firm's reputation - including the day to day finely-tuned tracking in its 500 factories, he recently told FoodNavigator.com.
