A bulletin for the Australian Food Industry June 1997
Contents: Food poisoning and the regulatory response | Cutting boards - is plastic better than wood? | Hygiene monitoring by ATP luminometry | AQIS Director defends food inspection system | Cheese from unpasteurised milk banned | Oysters and Hepatitis A | Farmers seek compensation over chemical residue in meat | Australian Smallgoods Food Safety Guidelines
AQIS Director defends food inspection system
Australian Quarantine Inspection Service (AQIS) Executive Director, Paul Hickey, writing in the April 1997 issue of the AQIS Bulletin states that a number of misconceptions have been promoted as part of the debate on food safety following recent Salmonella outbreaks in processed food products.'It is wrong,' says Mr. Hickey, 'to assume that traditional inspection will address such problems. Traditional inspection is based on sight, touch and smell - and the many thousands of types of Salmonella and similar food poisoning organisms simply cannot be seen by the human eye.'
Mr. Hickey writes that Australia's meat industry is progressively implementing a Food Safety Strategy, developed jointly by government and industry, that recognises the individual food safety responsibilities of all parties in the meat supply chain from the farm gate to the consumer's plate. Australia's meat processing industry is implementing the internationally recognised HACCP based quality assurance systems. Many other food sectors and other countries already apply similar HACCP systems with great success.
This view was supported by Dr. Michael Eyles, Chief of CSIRO Division of Food Science and Technology.
Dr. Eyles said it had been incorrectly claimed changes in the meat inspection systems in Victoria contributed to the recent smallgoods-related Salmonella outbreaks.
'Traditional meat inspection, in which carcasses are examined visually by inspectors, cannot control the major contemporary hazards to food safety adequately. The threats to food safety and international market access for Australian foods today are almost exclusively due to agents that cannot be seen by the naked eye, particularly microbial contaminants such as Salmonella,' he said.
'In contrast, the HACCP food safety system is the most effective method for controlling contamination of foods by hazardous microorganisms. It involves the scientific identification of critical areas of risk in production processes and the development of procedures that ensure that these areas are controlled to prevent problems. The HACCP food safety system is supported very strongly by the scientific community, the food industry, and major government agencies world-wide,' said Dr. Eyles.
Dr. Eyles also rejected claims that a CSIRO study funded by the Meat Research Corporation showed that meat produced by domestic abattoirs is not as safe as meat derived from export abattoirs. Dr. Eyles said, 'The CSIRO study demonstrated that meat produced by both domestic and export abattoirs in Australia is of a high standard. The study did not reveal differences in the incidence of Salmonella or in overall levels of product safety between domestic and export works.'
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