Food Standards Agency
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This research project aims to determine where and why breakdowns in food safety occur and enable prioritisation of areas for attention, which it is hoped will make a significant impact on the reduction of foodborne illness.
Study Duration : October 2002 to September 2004
Contractor : CCFRA Technology Limited
The project will determine where and why breakdowns in food safety occur and enable a prioritisation of areas for attention, which it is hoped will make a significant impact on the reduction of foodborne illness.
This project will provide important knowledge to address weak points for safety in the food chain. This is essential if the Food Standards Agency is effectively to address persistent problem areas, set realistic policy objectives and achieve the target reduction in foodborne illness.
A comprehensive and definitive database will be established for all known causes of food safety breakdowns that have occurred during the past 10 years. This will be achieved using an extensive range of national, industrial and ad-hoc information and data sets on microbiological, chemical/toxicological and physical breakdowns in food safety which have occurred in the UK.
The causes of breakdowns will then be critically appraised to identify whether (i) no existing control measures were in place that could have addressed the failure, (ii) existing control measures are inherently weak and therefore inadequate to control the issue, or (iii) appropriate and technically sound controls were in place but failure resulted from ineffective management and implementation of the control procedures. This will examine the nature and robustness of current food safety management controls.
To understand vulnerable points in the food chain and develop policies to prevent re-occurrence, it is necessary to know the nature and extent of breakdowns in food safety that have occurred in the past. A demonstration project has been undertaken and a database has been constructed, including data on microbiological, chemical and physical hazards involved in food safety incidents.
A generic approach was taken to the food chain to characterise the five stages of primary raw material production, commodity processing, manufacturing, presentation to the consumer and consumer handling. Nine key operational steps were defined and then a further 27 unit operations were described, e.g. packing, storage, waste disposal, cooking etc. Also, 21 different types of breakdown were identified.
In this way, information entered into the database relating to the 7650 incidents covered was recorded according to a standard format. The database contains a library of 44 key questions that can be asked of the data, such as 'what is the causative agent most frequently associated with breakdowns?', or 'what type of breakdown is most prevalent and at which stage or operation?'
The Agency is considering potential uses of this database.
The final report is available from the Agency's Information Centre.
To obtain a copy, please contact the Enquiry Desk, Information Services, Food Standards Agency (tel: 020 7276 8181/8182 or email: infocentre@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk )
Contact
: For any enquiries concerning this research project, please contact the relevant programme contact or email:
science@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk
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