Food industry must be “more effective”
15 Jan 2014
A year on from the horsemeat scandal, there are still lessons to be learned for the food industry, say academics & MPs.
In the February issue of Process Engineering, experts from the UK food industry will discuss traceability within the food supply network and will seek to explain what more can be done to reduce the risk of food adulteration.
Last week however, while giving evidence to the House of Commons Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (EFRA) committee, Professor Chris Elliott, author of the interim food supply network report, told committee members: “One of the great failings [within the food industry] is that nobody has really looked for the potential for fraud in the supply chains, and it’s obvious that if you’re not looking for something it is very likely that it will happen.”
The FSA must have the power to be able to compel industry to carry out tests when needed
Committee chairman Anne McIntosh
EFRA committee chairman Anne McIntosh said: “Five reports and twelve months later, this is a good time to take stock of the situation”.
However, she conceded that “retailers still need to work on smaller supply chains” and that “by buying local we can more likely trace all sources of our food”.
A key element of the committee’s discussion focussed on the recommendations outlined in the interim report by Elliott, who is director of the global institute for food security at Queen’s University Belfast.
Recommendation 33 suggests that industry must acknowledge frozen blocks of meat as a risk area within food processing, and best practice should include unannounced audits and regular sampling.
However, McIntosh said that the Food Standards Agency (FSA) needed to become a more efficient and effective regulator and must be seen to be independent of the food industry.
“The FSA must have the power to be able to compel industry to carry out tests when needed. It must also be more innovative in its testing regime and vigilant in ensuring every local authority carries out regular food sampling,” McIntosh added.
Similarly, McIntosh highlighted the need for more food analysts to help reduce the risks associated with the transportation and storage of large slabs of meat.
“The more processing and the more a food material becomes a large block, the more there becomes opportunity for substitution,” Elliott told the committee.
Whereas, global food supply chain risk management firm Achilles have this week released research figures which suggests that many food manufacturers are still unaware of exactly who is in their supply chain.
Chief executive at Achilles Adrian Chamberlain said: “One year on [from the horsemeat scandal], and we believe food manufacturers may still be open to experiencing similar issues, because only a minority have overcome the complex task of mapping out their supply chains to establish exactly who supplies who.”
The difficulty, the research suggests, is in mapping out exactly who is in your food supply chain and understanding the associated risks of secondary and tertiary levels within a supply chain network.
“We believe food and drinks manufacturers should act proactively and implement a single, coordinated system to manage information about all suppliers across the world and map their supply chains – before another horse meat scandal,” Chamberlain added.
