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Europe, Middle East & North Africa
New IFC Toolkit Enhances Food Safety
Food safety represents a key operational risk for the food sector and accounts
for major economic damages and fatalities in both developing and developed
countries. The recent Escherichia coli outbreak in Western Europe caused more
than 37 causalities, sickened more than 2,400, and caused German farms alone to
lose an estimated 50 million euro in profits. This June, more than 85 people
checked into a hospital in Sarajevo after eating at the popular kebab
place.“I’ve been eating at this kebab shop all my life. I never thought of food safety but my son ended up in a hospital with salmonella poisoning, it’s terrible” says Sarajevo resident Lada.
To address the issue, IFC Sustainable Business Advisory line, through its Western Balkans International Standards and Technical Regulations Program, created the Food Safety Toolkit, which provides templates laying out for business managers their duties and responsibilities in producing food that is safe to eat. The Toolkit also addresses the role of state inspection agencies in ensuring food safety.
The Toolkit presents how food businesses can establish, develop and maintain a comprehensive food safety management system based on HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) and the European Union food hygiene legislation. It’s ideal for businesses that have not yet developed their own system or wish to improve the existing one. Specifically:
- Companies can develop systemic and scientific based approach to food safety management system
- Companies are able to benchmark their own food safety system towards the best international food safety practices
- Toolkit can be used as self-service tool and can be replicated to all production lines within the same company as many times as necessary
- Companies are able to tailor the templates in accordance with their needs
- Toolkit can be applied in any food processing company irrespective of its size, location and-or food safety sophistication
Frosina Meskova, General Executive Director, Swisslion, FYR Macedonia, said, “It is for sure a new and innovative approach concerning food safety, something that we haven’t done before. Even though this approach requires a very skilled and very experienced person to do it, the end result is very easily understandable. The variety of standards that we had in our company was just complicating the documentation and accessibility of the right document.”
The Food Safety Toolkit was launched in Sarajevo on June 16 in front of a wide audience from Western Balkan countries, including representatives from business and government. The audience received the Toolkit very well, especially as its practicality had already been tested and proven in three companies in the region.
“The Food Safety Toolkit is practical and has great potential for a global roll-out, for it can be used by food processing companies, consultants and governments worldwide,” said Monika Weber-Fahr, Global Business Line Leader, Sustainable Business Advisory. “The Toolkit can be of immediate use to all IFC Agribusiness clients and help them to assess their food safety standards, as well as standards of their suppliers and distributors.”
Substandard food safety regulations and practices are a key hindrance to increasing the competitiveness of food producers across the ECA region. In addition to Western Balkans, IFC is also working with food producers and governments in Belarus, Georgia, and Ukraine to implement HACCP and increase agricultural exports. Addressing food safety in a systemic and sustainable way at sector level will contribute toward reducing risks, enhancing market reach, improving overall reputation in the market, and increasing profits. Food safety is critical all over the developing world, where systems are not in place. IFC will introduce the Toolkit to these markets in future.
To see the Introduction and Overview of the Food Safety Toolkit (Module 1) click here.
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