The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) recently co-sponsored, along with the CIES Food Business Forum, the fourth annual food safety conference of the China Chain Store and Franchise Association (CCFA) held at the Purple Mountain Hotel in Shanghai between 24 -26 April.
The CCFA represents the retailing and franchise industry in China with 950 members operating around 160,000 outlets with a total turnover of around $160billion. Many of its members are western retailers and catering franchises. The CCFA and both European conference partners are deeply committed to developing food safety in the supply chain in China.
The theme of the conference centred around the way that government initiatives and those of private and non-government organisations contribute to consumer safety and confidence in the Chinese food chain. The conference brought together all the major western retailers operating in China – Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Metro, and Tesco who explained how they are co-operating to improve traceability and auditing of food as it moves through the food chain through the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) which they have all signed up to.
The GFSI’s technical manager explained to delegates that the GFSI is based on national standards (for example, the British Retail Consortium’s five Standards) which are already familiar to each of the major retailers. Its aim is to establish one global auditing framework so that each element of the food chain is efficiently and effectively monitored to deliver safe food of the quality demanded.
An official from the Chinese government’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China (AQSIC) described how Chinese food regulatory policy has developed, and that tests show the safety of food products has been steadily improving in the last ten years. This is largely due to investment in improved plant and management at the primary level – for example, abattoirs, meat cutting plant, and chilled distribution – supported by rationalisation of the primary producers themselves into larger and better managed units.
David Denton, the CIEH Business Development Director, explained how accredited food safety training contributes to improved trade and consumer confidence through independent third party scrutiny of food handler training. Ensuring that food handlers’ knowledge of safety-critical information is understood and independently tested is key to confidence and reliability in the supply chain. Delegates heard that recent academic research supports the view that good quality food safety training significantly improves the hygiene behaviour of managers and employees in food service businesses.
The CIEH and the CCFA are collaborating on a programme to encourage CCFA members to take up CIEH food safety qualifications at both manager and worker level. The aim is to establish CIEH qualifications as an essential element of the Chinese retail and catering industries, providing consumers and business operators alike with confidence in their food handling operations.
Kris Murali, Managing Director of the CIEH’s trading arm, commented “We are delighted to be playing an important role in improving food safety in China. We have been working positively in the past 18 months to establish our certification courses and already we have trained over 160 managers from 50 organisations.”
