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Rural Industries Research & Development Corporation
Integrating Organic Certification with Food Safety Certification Systems – A Briefing Paper by Dr B. J. Geno
December 2001
RIRDC Publication No 01/171 RIRDC Project No: USU-2A
The primary purpose of this discussion paper on the integration of food safety management systems based on the Hazard and Critical Control Point Analysis (HACCP) with organic certification was to inform those within and outside the organic industry of recent developments in this area. It as also intended to highlight the need for the organic industry to address food safety management as part of the organic certification process. During the past two years, legislation and international demand in the marketplace for food safety management (complete with verification of the use of these systems) has led to a situation where it has become more a matter of ‘how’ than ‘if’.
The report begins with a summary of the issues of food safety risks as well as a brief overview of the history of food safety legislation. An outline of the underlying principles of quality assurance systems, HACCP programs, the mechanisms for independent audit and uptake of HACCP are reviewed in the second section.
The third section applies the principles of food safety management in the context of primary production in Australia and outlines three major programs presently underway in the agricultural industry: Approved Supplier Programs, the SQF 2000 code (now expanded internationally) and the Freshcare code of practice. The provision of the state of play in the various states demonstrates that the development of food safety systems is at different stages in different states and this will affect the reactions of the organic industry members depending on the state in which they reside.
The next section outlines the provisions already in place by some of the certifiers and explores the implications of a one-farm/one certification organic/HACCP plan. Example HACCP flow diagrams are presented for various production stages and further work needs to be undertaken to develop these for specific cropping systems to assist in uptake of these food safety systems on organic farms.
This report thus serves to provide a concise examination of the risks and benefits to the organic industry of inclusion of food safety management systems within the organic standards and certification process and makes recommendations as to the strategic direction that such incorporation will take. The report concludes with a number of recommendations concerning the future direction for further developments in integrating HACCP and organic certification and expanding the conversion process through a focus on producers with food safety training.
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