Statement: APEC Food Safety Cooperation Forum Singapore 2009
Steve McCutcheon Food standards Australia New Zealand CEO
6 August 2009
Food Standards Australia New Zealand’s CEO, Steve McCutcheon, made the following statement about the Second APEC Food Safety Cooperation Forum that has just finished in Singapore.
‘Food safety is a shared responsibility and is no longer an issue just for individual countries. Food is also a vital component of trade and a considerable contributor to APEC member economies. It is for these reasons that the APEC member economies established the Food Safety Cooperation Forum which issued the Hunter Valley Statement at its first meeting in Australia in 2007,’Mr McCutcheon said.
‘A great deal has been achieved since the establishment of the Forum - over 440 people from 19 APEC member economies have participated in 24 different capacity building activities held in five cities across the region.’
‘At the Singapore Forum, we were pleased to announce that the APEC economies have agreed to continue their efforts in strengthening food safety capacity building activities and improving food safety information sharing across the region. We also reaffirmed our commitment to working together to build robust food safety systems so as to accelerate progress towards harmonization of food standards with international standards to improve public health and to facilitate trade.’
‘APEC economies will focus their attention on strengthening coordination of food safety capacity building activities, utilizing a broad range of government, industry and academic stakeholders through the new Partnership Training Institute Network initiative developed by the United States of America (USA). The capacity building activities will include strengthening capacity in assessing food safety capacity building needs, food safety risk analysis, developing food laws, standards and enforcement systems, microbiological risk analysis and assessment, food safety risk communication, and chemical safety risk assessment, among others.’
‘APEC economies also agreed that they will build on already established networks and processes, particularly to strengthen ability to share information in the event of food safety emergencies.’
‘We congratulate all those involved in organising this Forum ,’ Mr McCutcheon concluded.
The Forum was co-chaired by Australia (Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ)) and China (the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People’s Republic of China (AQSIQ)). Representatives from 18 APEC member economies attended, as well as key international organisations with an interest in food safety.