The progress of member economies in responding to the goals of the FSCF.

A Case Study

Progress in Responding to the APEC Food Safety Cooperation Forum (FSCF) Goals

Case Study: Philippines

GILBERTO LAYESE

Director

Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Product Standards

Department of Agriculture

The Philippines has been an active member of the APEC Food Safety Cooperation Forum (FSCF) since its inception in 2007 at Hunter’s Valley, Australia. The nature of involvement of the Philippines in the activities of the APEC FSCF can be classified as follows:

  1. Project Proponent of proposals
  • Capacity Building Training on Food Safety Risk Communication for APEC Developing Economies, Manila, Philippines (23-27 June 2008) under the Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance
  • Seminar-Workshop on the Development and Strengthening of Food Recall System for APEC Member Economies conducted, Philippines (04-06 May 2010)
  1. Host Country to APEC seminar-workshops
  • Managing Microbiological Food Safety Risks and Follow-Up Workshop, Manila, Philippines (23-27 July 2007, 27-29 February 2008)
  1. Recipient of technical assistance on a specific food safety issue
  • Development of Food Laws, Regulations and Standards Seminar-Workshop (co-sponsored by FSANZ) – 01 to 03 September 2009
  1. Participant to various meetings, seminars, workshops and fora
  • 1st Meeting APEC Food Safety Cooperation Forum, Hunter Valley, Australia ( 02-04 April 2007)
  • Trainer’s Training: Capacity Building Needs of National Food Control Systems in APEC Developing Economies, Beijing, China (19-23 November 2007)
  • Training Course on the Food Developing Food Laws, Standards and Enforcement Systems (8-12 September 2008) Hanoi, Viet Nam
  • 2nd Meeting APEC Food Safety Cooperation Forum and APEC Workshop on Examination on Hot Issues on Risk Analysis, Singapore (30 July to 02 August 2009)
  • PTIN Expert Working Group Meeting on Best Practices in Food Safety Training for the Asia Pacific Region, Washington DC, United States (19-20 May 2010)
  • Developing Food Safety Plans for the Supply Chain, Beijing, China (5-7 November 2010)

The Philippines’ active involvement with APEC FSCF has led to the country’s three major initiatives aimed to progress and sustain the initial work made by the APEC FSCFnamely:

  • “Assessing the Capacity Building Needs of the Philippine Food Control System” (2008)which developed capacity building plans that became a roadmap for the Philippine food control system’s capacity building activities in the next 5 years
  • “Strengthening the Philippine Food Control System”(2009) – which implemented the capacity building action plans in relation to food legislation, food inspection and food safety and quality IEC
  • “Assessing the Capacity Building Needs of Philippine Food Legislation: Benchmarking on Brazil’s Food Legislation” (2011)– which aimed to provide recommendations on the proposed new Food Safety Act as well as the establishment of a program on contaminants and residue monitoring and control based on the best practices of Brazil’s food legislation

The Philippines made considerable progress made in the light of the goals of the FSCF which is “food safety regulatory systems within economies, including food inspection/assurance and certification systems that are consistent with members’ rights and obligations under the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures and the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreements of the World Trade Organization; and are harmonized to the extent possible, with international standards (such as Codex, OIE, IPPC).” Major progressmade through the APEC FSCF includes the following:

  1. The Philippines was able to create a platform and a coordination mechanism between the regulatory agencies of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health to address issues on compliance with international requirements consistent with SPS and TBT measures following the five components of a national food control system. Particularly, a SWOT analysis was conducted to assess needs of the Philippine food control system, a vision statement was developed for the desired Philippine food control system, capacity building needs were identified and capacity building action plans were developed. The action plans were used as a roadmap in planning for future trainings, seminars and technical assistance in relation to food control.
  1. The Philippines has strengthened the coordination and communication mechanism between Department of Health and Department of Agriculture on food safety issues by the creation of a Food Control Group.
  1. The Food Control Group was able to providegeneral and specific recommendations for a proposed Department of Agriculture Food Safety Act currently being proposed for approval of the Lower House (Congress).
  1. Regulatory personnel from the Department of Agriculture and Department of Health have increased its competence in the areas of microbiological risk assessment, food control, food legislation, risk communication, food recall, food safety trainings and food safety as a whole.

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