The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has expanded coverage of a “simpler” food safety management approach to help small retailers and food donations.
The approach uses flow diagrams to summarize the stages of production and tables to take retailers through the food safety management process from hazard identification to control measures, in line with regulations.
Under European hygiene legislation, food businesses develop and implement food safety management systems (FSMS), usually based on prerequisite program (PRP) activities and hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) principles. This can be challenging for small food retail sites, where a lack of expertise and resources may limit development and implementation of an effective FSMS.
The simplified system means retailers do not need to have detailed knowledge of specific hazards and ranking them was not required. For example, they may know there may be a biological hazard associated with raw meat without identifying it as Salmonella.
Relevant retail personnel only need to know whether or not a biological, chemical or physical hazard or allergen might occur at each stage and that a failure to undertake key control activities, such as correct chilled storage or separation of raw from ready-to-eat (RTE)/cooked products could contribute to increased risk of illness for consumers.
Four new PRPs including “shelf-life control,” “handling returned foods,” “evaluation for food donations and allocation of remaining shelf-life” and “freezing food intended for donation” were developed and the “temperature control” PRP was modified. PRPs were based on those described by the European Commission in 2016.
Food donation presents several challenges because donations may be nearing the end of shelf-life and several parties, some on a voluntary basis, are involved in the chain with limited resources, each reliant on each other to assure food safety.
In 2015, members of the European Federation of Food Banks (FEBA) distributed 532,000 tons of food to 5.7 million people, which represents only a small fraction of the estimated volume of food waste generated annually in the EU (88 million tons).
EFSA has stated that it was important that individual establishments identify the specific stages/activities used in their establishment and tailor the FSMS to control all hazards that may occur at each stage. It also recommended authorities in each member state monitor implementation of the “simplified” FSMS and give feedback to the European Commission on how the approach may work in practice.
Source: foodsafetynews.com
