CAP/REP 1 FAO/WHO Regional Conference on Food Safety for Asia and the Pacific 24-27 May 2004 Seremban, Malaysia “Practical Actions to Promote Food Safety” FINAL REPORT For further information on the activities of the FAO/WHO Regional Conference on Food Safety for Asia and the Pacific, please contact: The Joint Secretariat of the Regional Conference on Food Safety for Asia and the Pacific c/o Food Quality and Standards Service Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Viale delle Terme di Caracalla 00100 Rome - Italy Fax. No.: + 39 06 57054593 E-mail Address: [email protected] or The Joint Secretariat of the Regional Conference on Food Safety for Asia and the Pacific c/o Food Safety Department World Health Organization 20, Avenue Appia CH-1211 Geneva 27 - Switzerland Fax. No.: + 41 22 7914807 E-mail Address: [email protected] Web site: www.foodsafetyforum.org/asian Issued by the Secretariat of the FAO/WHO Regional Conference on Food Safety for Asia and the Pacific, FAO, Rome CAP/REP 1 FAO/WHO Regional Conference on Food Safety for Asia and the Pacific 24-27 May 2004, Seremban, Malaysia “Practical Actions to Promote Food Safety” FINAL REPORT FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome, 2004 The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. All rights reserved. Reproduction and dissemination of material in this information product for education or other non-commercial purposes are authorized without any prior written permission from the copyright holders provided the source is fully acknowledged. Reproduction of material in this information product for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without written permission of the copyright holders. Applications for such permission should be addressed to the Chief, Publishing Management Service, Information Division, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy or by e-mail to [email protected]. © FAO 2004 FAO/WHO Regional Conference on Food Safety for Asia and the Pacific 1 FOREWORD Ensuring safe and healthy food is essential for improving human life in all countries, whether developed or developing. The World Food Summit, organized by FAO in 1996, recognized that access to safe food is in itself an element of food security. Rather than being a luxury of the rich, all people should have the right to an adequate supply of safe, nutritious food. The importance of safe food, whether domestically produced and consumed or that is imported or exported, is well known by the countries of Asia and the Pacific. However, the danger of food contamination and food related disease outbreaks is particularly acute in the region because of the proximity in which animals and people live and the way in which food is produced and distributed. The countries of the region recognize the importance of developing practical actions and recommendations for capacity building to promote food safety in the region. Accordingly, at the request of the 13th Session of the Regional Codex Coordinating Committee for Asia (Kuala Lumpur, 17 to 20 September 2002), following the guidance of the FAO/WHO governing bodies, in line with the suggestions made by the participants at the first Joint FAO/WHO Global Forum of Food Safety Regulators in Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2002, and at the kind invitation of the Government of Malaysia, FAO and WHO jointly convened a Regional Conference on Food Safety for Asia and the Pacific in Seremban, Malaysia from 24 to 27 May 2004. The Conference was held as part of a series of regional meetings that FAO and WHO are jointly organizing to meet the needs of member countries for policy guidance and capacity building in food safety, the first of which was held in Budapest in February 2002 for the European region. Over 230 delegates from 35 member countries and territories of the Asian and Pacific Region and observers from 10 international governmental and non-governmental organizations participated in this Conference, under the general theme of “Practical Actions to Promote Food Safety”. The participants at the Conference affirmed that the countries of the region recognize the enormous gap between the scale and cost of food borne illnesses and their capacity to address them. Within this context, the Conference made numerous recommendations of practical actions to bridge this gap. It was generally recognized by the participants that although the convening of the Conference itself was successful, its true success can only be measured by the degree of implementation of the recommendations of the Conference and the improved safety of foods produced and consumed in the region. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Joint Secretariat of the FAO/WHO Regional Conference on Food Safety for Asia and the Pacific wishes to express its sincere thanks to all those that contributed towards the success of this Conference, in particular to the Malaysian authorities for their most efficient organization of the Conference and their warm hospitality; to the Government of the Netherlands and the International Life Sciences Institute for their financial assistance which facilitated the participation of many developing countries that would not have otherwise been able to participate in the Conference, and to all those member countries and international organizations that gave technical support during the preparatory stages. The Joint Secretariat also expresses its gratitude to the Chair, Vice-Chairs, and other members of the Conference Bureau for their dedicated hard work and the exceptional manner in which they conducted the meeting; to those who prepared and presented discussion papers for their outstanding presentations and interventions during the debates of the Conference; to those who organized and facilitated the excellent side events of the Conference; to all those who prepared Conference Room Documents and made interventions during the Conference; and last, but not least, to the members of the press for their excellent coverage of the event. FAO/WHO Regional Conference on Food Safety for Asia and the Pacific 3 CONTENTS I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................ 4 II. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................ 5 III. OPENING CEREMONY (AGENDA ITEM 1).................................................................... 5 IV. DESIGNATION OF CONFERENCE CHAIRS AND RAPPORTEUR (AGENDA ITEM 2)....... 6 V. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA (AGENDA ITEM 3).......................................................... 6 VI. KEYNOTE ADDRESSES (AGENDA ITEM 4)................................................................... 7 VII. FOOD SAFETY LEGISLATION - SCIENCE AND RISK-BASED APPROACHES TO HARMONIZATION (AGENDA ITEM 5) .......................................................................... 7 VIII. THE APPLICATION OF RISK ANALYSIS IN FOOD CONTROL - CHALLENGES AND BENEFITS (AGENDA ITEM 6) ....................................................................................... 8 IX. PRIORITIZATION AND COORDINATION OF CAPACITY BUILDING ACTIVITIES (AGENDA ITEM 7) ........................................................................................................ 8 X. COMMUNICATION, INFORMATION EXCHANGE AND EDUCATION RELATED TO FOOD SAFETY (AGENDA ITEM 8)................................................................................ 9 XI. FOOD BORNE DISEASE MONITORING AND SURVEILLANCE SYSTEMS (AGENDA ITEM 9) ...................................................................................................... 10 XII. PROCEEDINGS OF THE WORKING GROUPS............................................................... 11 XIII. RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE CONFERENCE............................................................. 12 XIV. ADOPTION OF THE REPORT....................................................................................... 15 XV. CLOSING OF THE CONFERENCE ................................................................................ 15 ANNEX 1 - LIST OF PARTICIPANTS......................................................................................... 16 ANNEX 2 - REPORTS OF PREPARATORY MEETINGS............................................................... 41 ANNEX 3 - PROVISIONAL AGENDA FOR THE CONFERENCE ................................................... 49 ANNEX 4 – OPENING REMARKS BY DR ABD RAHIM BIN MOHAMAD ....................................... 50 ANNEX 5 - OPENING REMARKS BY MR H. DE HAEN, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR-GENERAL, FAO. 52 ANNEX 6 - OPENING REMARKS BY DR HAN TIERU, WHO REPRESENTATIVE FOR MALAYSIA, SINGAPORE AND BRUNEI................................................................... 56 ANNEX 7 - OPENING REMARKS BY THE HONOURABLE DATUK DR ABDUL LATIFF AHMAD, DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH, MALAYSIA.......................................................... 58 ANNEX 8 - KEYNOTE SPEECH BY MR SUPACHAI KUNARATANAPRUK (THAILAND)................ 60 ANNEX 9 - KEYNOTE SPEECH BY MR NEIL MCLEOD (NEW ZEALAND) ................................... 63 ANNEX 10 - CONFERENCE DISCUSSION PAPERS........................................................................ 66 ANNEX 11 - CONFERENCE ROOM DOCUMENTS