Fish Safety and Quality Standards

Standards

Broadly the most well known methods to manage quality and/or safety in fisheries are listed below.

• Good Hygienic Practices (GHP) / Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) or Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOP) or prerequisite programmes
• Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP)
• Quality Control (QC)
• Quality Assurance (QA) / Quality Management (QM) - ISO standards
• Quality Systems
• Total Quality Management (TQM).

Good Hygienic Practices (GHP)/ Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP)

The terms GHP and GMP basically refer to measures and requirements which any establishment should meet to produce safe food. These requirements are prerequisites to other and more specific approaches such as HACCP, and are often now called prerequisite programmes. In recent years the term Standard Sanitary Operating Procedures (SSOP) has also been used in the US to encompass basically the same issues, i.e. best practices.

HACCP

Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) is a system used by the food industry to ensure that all food consumed is safe to eat. HACCP is a systematic approach to hazard identification, assessment of risk and control. It is a structured approach for the control of food safety from the farm to the fork. The concept of HACCP was first introduced during the mid 1960s when a reliable method for manufacturing pathogen free food was required by the US space programme.

Until the introduction of HACCP, end product testing was used as a means of assessing food safety, i.e. a percentage of samples was taken for testing to find out if the product met with the customer's acceptance criteria. Tests used included microbiological testing, chemical and biochemical analyses, measurements of physical properties and sensory evaluations. However, a number of limitations to this approach have been recognised. For example, sampling plans are based on the probabilty of a fault being identified from a representative number of samples being tested, to check that the end product conforms to the standard. In reality, if a process is not working properly and sub-standard product is being manufactured, the cause of the problem may not be identified until several days after the fault has occurred. Many of the microbiological tests used to demonstrate that a food is safe to eat require 3 to 5 days incubation before results are available to prevent hazards occurring. This has resulted in financial lossess to the food industry when product has to be recalled or, for the the worst scenario, a consumer has contracted food poisoning as a result of eating unsafe product.

The HACCP approach for food safety moves away from testing of the final product, and instead emphasises raw material and process control. Control is taken out of the laboratory and into the processing environment. HACCP provides a structured and systematic approach to the control of identified hazards, which may be biological (microbiological), chemical, physical or a combination of the three. A Critical Control Point (CCP) is a raw material, stage, practice or operation within the process where a hazard has been recognised and steps are in place to eliminate, prevent or reduce the possibility of the hazard occuring.

There are seven principles incorporated into the HACCP system (Codex 1997):

1. Conduct a hazard analysis: Identification and description of the product and its' intended use. Assessment of hazards and assessment of risks associated with all stages and practices of product handling and processing.
2. Determine the critical control points (CCPs) that will eliminate or minimise the risk.
3. Establish critical limits.
4. Establish a monitoring system to demonstrate that the CCP is under control.
5. Establish a procedure for corrective action when the CCP is seen to be moving out of control.
6. Introduce verification procedures to confirm the effectiveness of the HACCP plan.
7. Establish documentation and records to demonstrate that the HACCP system is working effectively.

Quality Control

Can be defined as the operational techniques and activities that are used to fulfil quality requirements. It is an important subset of any quality assurance system and is an active process that monitors and, if necessary, modifies the production system so as to consistently achieve the required quality.

Quality Assurance / Quality Management

This can be defined as all the activities and functions concerned with the attainment of quality in a company. In a total system, this would include the technical, managerial and environmental aspects as alluded to above. The best known of the quality assurance standards is ISO 9000 and for environmental management, ISO 14000.

ISO Standards

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in Geneva is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies from more than 140 countries to promote the development of standardization and related activities in the world with a view to facilitating the international exchange of goods and services, and to developing cooperation in the spheres of intellectual, scientific, technological and economic activity.

Historically, the ISO 9000 series of standards of relevance to the seafood industry included:

• ISO 9001 Quality systems - Model for quality assurance in design/ development, production, installation and servicing
• ISO 9002 Quality systems - Model for quality assurance in production and installation.

More recently, the new ISO 9001:2000 certificate is the only ISO 9000 standard against whose requirements a quality system can be certified by an external agency and replaces the old ISO 9001, 9002 and 9003 with one standard. It is important to note that the ISO 9000 standards relate to quality management with customer satisfaction as the end point, and that they do not specifically refer to technical processes only. ISO 9000 gives an assurance to a customer that the company has developed procedures (and adheres to them) for all aspects of the company's business.

ISO 14000 is primarily concerned with environmental management. Introduced much later than the ISO 9000 series, there are now over 35 000 ISO 14000 certificates awarded in 112 countries or economies of the world. During 2001, nearly 14 000 certificates were awarded, around 40% of the total awarded since the introduction of the standard. In India, implementation of ISO 9000 quality management systems or ISO 14000 environmental systems are mandatory.

Quality Systems

This term covers organizational structure, responsibilities, procedures, processes and the resources needed to implement comprehensive quality management. They are intended to cover all quality elements. Within the framework of a quality system, the prerequisite programme and HACCP provides the approach to food safety.

Total Quality Management (TQM)

TQM is an organization's management approach, centred on quality and based on the participation of all its members and aimed at long-term success through customer satisfaction and benefits to the members of the organization and to society. Thus TQM represents the organizations' "cultural" approach and together with the quality systems provides the philosophy, culture and discipline necessary to commit everybody in the organization to achieve all the managerial objectives related to quality.

International Regulatory Frameworks

Globalisation of the economy and the development of regional economic groupings have highlighted the need for harmonizing fish safety and quality assurance approaches, with the view to ensure fish safety and fair trade practices.

Following is a description of the international regulatory framework for fish safety and quality assurance.

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreements

Significant implications for food safety and quality under WTO framework are consolidated under two binding agreements: the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures and the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement).

The agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS)

The purpose of the SPS Agreement is to ensure that measures established by governments to protect human, animal and plant life and health, in the agricultural sector, including fisheries, are consistent i.e., WTO members base their national measures on international standards, guidelines and other recommendations adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) where they exist. This does not prevent a member country from adopting stricter measures if there is a scientific justification for doing so, or if the level of protection afforded by the Codex standards is inconsistent with the level of protection generally applied and deemed appropriate by the country concerned.

The SPS Agreement states that any measures taken that conform to international Codex standards, guidelines or recommendations are deemed to be appropriate, necessary and not discriminatory. Furthermore, the SPS Agreement calls for a programme of harmonization based on international standards. This work is guided by the WTO Committee on SPS measures, to which representatives of the CAC, the International Office of Epizootics (OIE) which deals with animal (including fish) health, and the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) which deals with plant protection are invited.

The agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)

The objective of the TBT Agreement is to prevent the use of national or regional technical requirements, or standards in general, as unjustified technical barriers to trade. It includes numerous measures designed to protect the consumer against deception and economic fraud.

The TBT Agreement basically provides that all technical standards and regulations must have a legitimate purpose and that the impact or cost of implementing the standard must be proportional to the purpose of the standard. It also states that if there are two or more ways of achieving the same objective, the least trade restrictive alternative should be followed. The agreement also places emphasis on international standards, WTO members being obliged to use international standards or parts of them except where the international standard would be ineffective or inappropriate in the national situation.

The aspects of food standards that TBT requirements cover specifically are quality provisions, nutritional requirements, labelling, packaging and product content regulations, and methods of analysis. Unlike the SPS Agreement, the TBT Agreement does not specifically name international standard setting bodies, whose standards are to be used as benchmarks for judging compliance with the provisions of the Agreement.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Codex Alimentarius

The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) since its inception in 1962 has been responsible for implementing the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme with an aim to protect health of consumers, assure fair practices in food trade and the coordination of the work on food standards. The CAC is an intergovernmental body with a membership of 165 Member governments.

The work of the Codex Alimentarius is divided between two basic types of committees:

• Nine general subject matter(s) Committees that deal with general principles, hygiene, veterinary drugs, pesticides, food additives, labelling, methods of analysis, nutrition and import/export inspection and certification systems and
• 12 Commodity Committees which deal with a specific type of food class or group, such as dairy and dairy products, fats and oils, or fish and fish products.

The work of the Committees on hygiene, fish and fishery products, veterinary drugs and import/export inspection and certification systems are of paramount interest to the safety and quality of internationally traded fish and fishery products. The Codex standards are meant to be voluntary and adopted by consensus. But under the new SPS/TBT agreements, the Codex standards can not be called voluntary, nor are they fully mandatory, falling in an area in between which looks like voluntarism under duress. This is changing the Codex deliberations into a highly charged political exercise, because countries know that the standards they are debating might subsequently be the subject of WTO dispute settlement, and act therefore accordingly.

Codex Standards for Fishery products

1. Code of Hygienic Practice for Crabs

2. Code of Hygienic Practice for Molluscan Shellfish

3. Code of Hygienic Practice for Smoked Fish

4. Code of Practice for the Processing and Handling of Quick Frozen Foods

5. Codex for breaded fishery products

6. Codex for canned crab meat

7. Codex for canned finfish

8. Codex for canned shrimps or prawns

9. Codex for crackers of freshwater and marine fish

10. Codex for fish and fishery products

11. Codex for quick frozen blocks for fish fillets

12. Codex for quick frozen finfish

13. Codex for quick frozen fish stick

14. Codex for quick frozen lobsters

15. Codex for quick frozen raw squid

16. Codex for quick frozen shrimps or prawns

17. Codex for sardine or sardine-type products

18. Codex for Salted Fish and Dried Salted Fish

FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries

The FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI) at its Nineteenth Session in March 1991 called for the development of new concepts which would lead to responsible, sustained fisheries. Subsequently, the International Conference on Responsible Fishing, held in 1992 in Cancûn (Mexico) further requested FAO to prepare an international Code of Conduct to address these concerns. The outcome of this Conference, particularly the Declaration of Cancûn, was an important contribution to the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), in particular its Agenda 21.

Noting these and other important developments in world fisheries, the FAO Governing Bodies recommended the formulation of a global Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries which would be consistent with these instruments and, in a non-mandatory manner, establish principles and standards applicable to the conservation, management and development of all fisheries. Article 6 (General principles, provisions 6.7 and 6.140) and article 11 (Post-harvest practices and trade) are of particular relevance to fish trade, safety and quality. Provisions 11.1.2, 11.1.3 and 11.1.4 encourage States to establish and maintain effective national safety and quality assurance systems, to promote the implementation of the CAC standards and codes of practice and cooperate to achieve harmonization or mutual recognition, or both, of national sanitary measures and certification programmes.

Following are the characters that the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries directs countries to follow:

• State and users of living aquatic resources should conserve aquatic ecosystem. The right to fish should be done in a responsible manner so as to ensure effective conservation and management of trading aquatic resources.
• State should prevent over-fishing and excess fishing capacity and rehabilitate population as far as possible.
• Selective and environmentally safe fishing gear and practice should be developed and applied so as to conserve biodiversity.
• All initial fish habitats in marine and freshwater ecosystems should be protected and rehabilitated as far as possible.
• While taking into account multiple uses of the coastal zones, state should ensure fisheries, interest including need of the conservation of resources.
• Harvesting, handling, processing and distribution of fish and fishery products should be carried out in a manner, which will maintain nutritional value, quality and safety of the products and reduce work and minimize negative impacts on environment.
• International trade in fish and fishery products should be conducted in accordance with the principles, rights and obligations established in the World Trade Organization (WTO).
• State should consider aquaculture including culture-based fisheries as the means to promote diversification of income and diet. In doing so, it should be ensured that resources are used responsibly and adverse impacts on the environment and on local communities are minimized.
• State should promote awareness of responsible fisheries through education and training and ensure that fishermen are involved in policy formulation and implementation process.

Last updated: 16-1-2007