Food Standards Australia New Zealand

                          

 

APEC Food Safety Cooperation Forum (FSCF)

Overview

The APEC Food Safety Cooperation Forum (FSCF) was formally established under the APEC Sub-Committee for Standards and Conformance (SCSC) in the Hunter Valley, Australia, April 2007. APEC member economies agreed to work together to build robust food safety systems to accelerate progress on harmonising food standards with international standards to improve public health and facilitate trade. APEC member economies also agreed to work together to strengthen capacity building activities and information sharing by signing the Hunter Valley Statement

The FSCF is a forum of food safety regulators which seeks to build robust food safety systems in the region that are consistent with the Agreements on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) of the World Trade Organization. It is co-chaired by Australia (Food Standards Australia New Zealand) and China (General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People’s Republic of China, AQSIQ). As Co-Chairs, Australia and China are responsible for providing leadership to the FSCF and the FSCF Partnership Training Institute Network (PTIN) providing the FSCF Secretariat; organising FSCF meetings and associated activities; reviewing the work and future direction of the FSCF; and reporting on the work of the FSCF to APEC through the SCSC.

 

FSCF Strategic Goals

At the FSCF meeting in 2007 it was agreed that the FSCF goals were to assist APEC member economies to achieve:

1.  Transparent information-sharing and communication networks that provide accurate and timely information to consumers and producers on food safety.

2. Food safety regulatory systems within economies, including food inspection/assurance and certification systems that:


       2.1.   are consistent with members’rights and obligations under the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
               (SPS) and the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreements of the World Trade Organisation; and
       2.2.   are harmonized, to the extent possible, with international standards (such as Codex, OIE, IPPC).


3.  Enhanced skills and human resource capacities to enable the development of national food safety regulatory frameworks that are harmonised to the extent possible, with international standards.

One of the key roles undertaken by the FSCF has been prioritising food safety capacity building needs by APEC member economies. This process identified a broad range of areas where capacity needed development, both in technical areas, but also in areas of organisational management and legislative systems. The extensive list of capacity building priorities have been grouped into four broad areas and these include:

  • food safety regulatory systems
  • food inspection and certification systems
  • technical skills and human resource capacity
  • information and communication networks.

The Food Safety Cooperation Forum's Partnership Training Institute Network (FSCF PTIN) was created to address the need to engage the food industry and academics with the regulators, to strengthen capacity building in food safety. The FSCF PTIN initiative was endorsed by APEC Leaders in 2008.

The FSCF met in Singapore, July 2009 for the first time. This meeting included attendees from 18 member economies. Members welcomed progress made since the establishment of the FSCF, on improving information sharing and the coordination of efforts in food safety capacity building. During this time it was considered that the FSCF has raised the profile of food safety in the region with greater leverage of resources for food safety incidents, improved communication and information sharing between economies, and has involved over 550 participants from 19 APEC member economies at meetings or capacity building activities held in cities across the region. Delegates discussed and endorsed the Review of Progress, including the successes and challenges experienced in advancing the FSCF’s goals and objectives, and from that, set key forward directions.

In addition, delegates confirmed:    

 

2011 APEC FSCF Activities

The APEC FSCF held activities in May 2011 at Big Sky, Montana, United States, in the margins of the Senior Officials Meeting. The FSCF 2011 meeting involved senior food regulatory officials, from all APEC member economies, as well as regional and international organisations with a key interest in advancing food safety.  

The FSCF and FSCF PTIN suite of events proceeded as follows:

All 21 economies were invited and encouraged to attend the 2011 APEC FSCF events.  

Outcome documents from APEC FSCF Meeting, May 2011

  • The Big Sky Statement  [ pdf  103 k]
  • the revised FSCF Operating Principles  [ word  63k | pdf  122k]
  • FSCF Food Safety Capacity Building Priorities  [ word  59k | pdf  126k]
  • Review of Progress Made Since the Establishment of the APEC Food Safety Cooperation Forum, with Proposed Key Directions and Recommendations for the Future  [ word 189k | pdf  188 kb]
  • Outcome Report of the Food Safety Incident Management Workshop  [ word  40k | pdf 72k]
  • A Conceptual Framework and Strategy for Improving Food Safety in APEC  [word  77k | pdf  172k]
  • Revised  FSCF Record of Activities and Implementation Plan 2007-2013  [word 151k | pdf 248k]
  • FSCF Partnership Training Institute Network (PTIN) Progress Report  [word 130k | pdf  188k]
  • Report of the FSCF PTIN Laboratory Capacity Building Project to be held in 2011-13  [ word 40k | pdf  k]
  • Revised  FSCF PTIN Terms of Reference  [ word  191k | pdf  121k]
  • World Bank Discussion Paper -  Taking Food Safety Capacity Building for the Asia Pacific Region to the Next Level  [ word 76k | pdf  88k] 
  • Case Study on the Progress of APEC Member Economies in Responding to the Goals of the FSCF/Annex 1  [ word 41k | pdf  215k] Annex [ word 448k | pdf  188k]
  • Discussion Paper on Recognition of Maximum Residue Limits in the APEC region  [ word 59k | pdf 120k]
  • Report on the  APEC FSCF Export Certificate Project  [ word  28k | pdf  14k]