International activities and engagement | Food Standards Australia New Zealand

Promoting International Harmonisation of Food Standards

FSANZ's International Activities and Engagement

2^nd Edition - December 2014

1. Introduction

Collaborating with international agencies responsible for food safety is a high priority for FSANZ, and is becoming increasingly important as globalisation of the food supply continues. We have been engaged in international activities related to food safety for many years and continue to identify and participate in new initiatives. While food-related risks around the world may vary, sharing data and information on methodologies, best practices, and analysis of emerging scientific issues can promote consistent approaches to assessing and managing these risks, and to harmonising food standards internationally.

Our participation in international activities provides opportunities for FSANZ staff to retain and continually update scientific skills and experience, allows us to access the work of other food regulatory agencies and international bodies around the world and increases our scientific profile.

FSANZ collaborates internationally through:

the codex Alimentarius Commission
the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)and the World Health Organization (WHO)
the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA)
the Joint Expert Committee on Pesticide Residues (JMPR)
the Joint Expert Consultations of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
international engagement with food safety regulators
formalised agreements for information exchange
networks such as the International Food Chemical Safety Liaison Group (IFCSLG), the International Microbiological Food Safety Liaison Group (IMFSLG), the International Social science Liaison Group and the Food Safety Regulatory Economics Working Group, the WHO Collaborating Centre for Food Contamination Monitoring (WHOCC), Global Coalition on Regulatory science Research (GCRSR)
its roles as Co-Chief Editor of the International Food Risk Analysis Journal (IFRAJ).

2. Framework for international engagement

The work that FSANZ undertakes internationally relates directly to statutory requirements in the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Act 1991. These requirements are:

Part 1 - 2A Object of Act:

(d) the establishment of common rules for both countries [Australia and New Zealand] and the promotion of consistency between domestic and international food regulatory measures without reducing the safeguards applying to public health and consumer protection

Part 2 - 7 Functions (1) The functions of the Authority are:

(d) to promote consistency between standards in Australia and New Zealand with those used internationally based on the best available scientific evidence

(n) to participate in international, regional and bilateral negotiations on matters that may be included in standards

Part 2 - 10 Objectives of the Authority in developing or reviewing food regulatory measures and variations of food regulatory measures:

(2) In developing or reviewing food regulatory measures and variations of food regulatory measures, the Authority must also have regard to the following:

(b) the promotion of consistency between domestic and international food standards

(c) the desirability of an efficient and internationally competitive food industry

The FSANZ science Strategy 2010-15 highlights the increasing importance of FSANZ's International work through two strategic areas:

Building our Collaboration and International Linkages (Strategic area 3)
Continuing to Provide Leadership in Developing Food Regulatory science Capacity (Strategic area 6).

International engagement is critical to all our work as it allows us to work effectively in the field of food regulatory science with our international connections.

The FSANZ science Strategy Implementation Plans, which in the past, have usually been compiled annually, focus on enhancing communications with our national and international regulatory partners, better predicting emerging issues, and food safety capacity building in the Asia-Pacific region with our trading partners.

The ANAO Performance Audit, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (2010) recognised the value of FSANZ participation in groups such as the Quadrilateral Group (QUADS) and membership of international forums such as the codex Alimentarius Commission (codex) to promote regulatory consistency; positively influence outcomes; share information and scientific expertise with countries that are similar to Australia; remain current with emerging food science technology and issues; and work towards international harmonisation of its standards setting.

3. FSANZ international activities

3.1 codex Alimentarius Commission

The codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) is the joint Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) international food standards setting body of the United Nations. Its role is to establish a broad range of international food safety and quality standards, codes of practice, and guidelines for use by its member countries, which are either taken up in national legislation or referred to in setting national food laws to ensure the safety of the world's food supply and to promote trade in food.

Approximately 180 countries are members of codex. The Australian Government coordinates a whole-of-government position at the various codex Commodity and Horizontal Committees through consultation between the Department of Agriculture (Agriculture), Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Department of Health (Health), the Department of industry, non-government organisations, consumers and the food industry.

codex standards are referenced in the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements. The focus of codex standards is the protection of consumer health and the facilitation of trade. Adoption of codex standards, and working within the WTO Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) agreements, may result in harmonisation of domestic food standards with international food standards leading to less food-related trade barriers.

FSANZ participation at codex

FSANZ staff lead the Australian Delegation and/or participate in several of the larger, technically-based, horizontal committees. They also participate in the general, overarching annual codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) meeting, thus contributing to the harmonisation of domestic with international food standards.

FSANZ senior staff lead the Australian Delegation for four of the large technical-based, horizontal committees:

codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH)-the CCFH focuses on food microbiological matters, prevention of foodborne disease, development of guidelines and codes of hygienic practice. Recently completed work includes guidelines for the control of specific parasites in meat (Trichinella spp. in meat of Suidae and Taenia saginata in meat of domestic cattle); a code of hygienic practice for spices and dried aromatic herbs and revision of the principles for establishing and applying microbiological criteria for foods. These principles provide a comprehensive framework for FSANZ's current review of microbiological limits (Standard 1.6.1). New initiatives include the development of guidelines for the control of non - typhoidal Salmonella spp. in beef and pork meat, and for applying general principles of food hygiene to the control of foodborne parasites.
codex Committee on Food Additives (CCFA)-the CCFA's current focus includes completing the codex General Standard for Food Additives (GFSA) as the primary reference for all food additives in codex, harmonising food additive provisions for the commodity standards with the GFSA, providing advice to the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) on the priority list for the safety assessment of food additives, allocating International Numbering for food additives (INS numbers), and providing specifications for food additives.
codex Committee for Contaminants in Food (CCCF)-the CCCF is currently focussing on elaborating maximum levels for various food contaminants, including work on heavy metals such as lead, mercury and arsenic. The CCCF develops codes of Practice for preventing and reducing various contaminants such as mycotoxins in grains.
codex Committee for Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU)-the CCNFSDU studies specific nutritional problems assigned to it by the Commission, drafts general provisions concerning the nutritional aspects of all foods, and develops standards, guidelines and related texts for foods for special dietary uses as appropriate and in conjunction with other committees as necessary. For example, food additives provisions for infant formula and follow-up formula would be referred to CCFA by CCNFSDU. The current focus of this committee is developing Nutrition Reference Values (NRVs), reviewing the general principles for adding vitamins and minerals, and reviewing the codex Standard for Follow-up Formula. Australia leads the electronic working group for the development of NRVs.

For these codex committees, FSANZ prepares the Australian brief in consultation with codex Australia, and input from other Australian Government agencies and stakeholders. FSANZ often has additional roles such as chairing in-session physical working groups or electronic working groups that undertake specific tasks between sessions. FSANZ staff prepare the delegation reports and chair pre and post-meeting briefings with the Australian delegation members.

FSANZ is also part of the Australian Government delegation to the annual CAC meeting. The Department of Agriculture leads this delegation. FSANZ participates in the capacity of advisor to the delegation on scientific matters arising from the technical committees.

In addition, FSANZ staff have scientific and technical input as required into several other codex committees, including the codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL), which is led by the Department of Health, the codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (CCPR), led by Agriculture, and the codex Committee on General Principles (CCGP), led by the Department of Agriculture and the codex Australia Office. FSANZ also provides input to some of the commodity committees such as Fats and Oils (CCFO), Fish and Fishery Products (CCFFP), and Fresh Fruit and Vegetables (CCFFV) which are all led by Agriculture.

Overall, the participation at codex by FSANZ staff greatly facilitates the Australian Government's commitment to harmonisation of national standards with international standards.

3.2 Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO)

These two bodies work together to develop scientific opinions, codes of practice, risk assessments, health guidance values and guidance documents that can be used by codex in setting international food safety standards, and by individual countries to develop domestic food safety standards that are relevant and appropriate in their food control systems.
FSANZ participation at the FAO and WHO

FSANZ staff with relevant experience and scientific expertise are invited to participate in targeted programs for both FAO and WHO as scientific advisors and have established themselves as useful and influential members on several ongoing programs. This participation contributes to the overall process of harmonising international food safety standards.

Generally, FSANZ staff are called on to participate in two types of activities:

as temporary advisors in FAO/WHO Expert Consultations
as full or temporary advisors to international scientific bodies, such as the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants (JECFA) and the Joint Expert Committee on Pesticide Residues (JMPR).

The benefits of involvement in these consultations include keeping abreast of current data, assessment methodologies, best practices, and analysis of emerging scientific issues. FSANZ staff attending these meetings as experts are widely recognised as global leaders in their area of expertise and have significant influence in advancing risk assessments and risk assessment methodologies.

3.3 JECFA

The JECFA is an international expert scientific committee administered jointly by the FAO and the WHO. It has been meeting since 1956, initially to evaluate the safety of food additives. Its work now also includes the evaluation of contaminants, naturally occurring toxicants and residues of veterinary drugs in food. JECFA has evaluated more than 1500 food additives, approximately 50 contaminants and naturally occurring toxicants, and residues of approximately 100 veterinary drugs.

The committee has also developed principles for the safety assessment of chemicals in food that are consistent with current thinking on risk assessment and take account of recent developments in toxicology and other relevant scientific areas such as microbiology, biotechnology, exposure assessment, food chemistry including analytical chemistry and assessment of maximum residue limits (MRLs) for veterinary drugs.

JECFA serves as an independent scientific committee that performs risk assessments and provides advice to FAO and WHO member countries. The requests for scientific advice are channelled through the CAC in their work to develop international food standards and guidelines under the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme. The advice to CAC on food additives, contaminants and naturally occurring toxicants is normally provided to the CCFA and CCCF, and advice on residues of veterinary drugs to the codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Food (CCRVDF).

JECFA normally meets twice a year with individual agendas covering either (i) food additives, contaminants and naturally occurring toxicants in food or (ii) residues of veterinary drugs in food. Both FAO and WHO invite members to attend these meeting. Members are selected based on scientific credentials and any other expertise considered essential for matters being discussed at the meeting.

FSANZ participation at JECFA

FSANZ's Principal Toxicologist was appointed as a full Member of the JECFA in 2011, after serving for several years as a WHO Temporary Advisor. This is a very prestigious appointment and indicates the high regard for FSANZ scientific staff. FSANZ has led a number of projects for JECFA, including safety assessments on contaminants such as cadmium and acrylamide, several food additives such as neotame and advantame, processing aids and enzymes. In addition, several other FSANZ staff members have been accepted into the JECFA roster of experts or served as temporary advisors.

Several countries, including Australia, use information from JECFA, such as acceptable daily intakes (ADIs) for food additives, or Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intakes (PTWIs) and Margins of Exposure (MoEs) for contaminants, in establishing national food safety control programs. In addition, CCFA, CCCF and CCRVDF develop standards based on evaluations by JECFA. Under the terms of the WTO SPS agreement, scientific, risk-based standards established by CAC should be employed in international trade of food. Therefore, governments are likely to request advice from codex committees, and consequently from JECFA and other international scientific bodies, on implementing national standards and food safety legislation.

Participation at JECFA means that FSANZ remains at the cutting edge of food safety and toxicological science, and greatly enhances our scientific reputation and acceptance as regulatory scientists internationally. Because of our direct staff involvement in these expert meetings FSANZ has timely access to outcomes.

FSANZ staff participation places Australia in a strong position to establish and support priorities for the FAO and WHO. All countries need to have access to reliable risk assessment of chemicals in food, but not all have the expertise and funds available to carry out separate risk assessments on large numbers of chemicals. JECFA performs a vital role in providing a reliable and independent source of expert advice in the international setting, thus contributing to the setting of standards and harmonisation globally for the health protection of consumers of food, and for ensuring fair practices in the trade of safe food.

3.4 FSANZ participation at JMPR

The focus of this committee is the safety assessment of pesticide residues, and setting of MRLs for agricultural and veterinary chemicals. FSANZ has been represented in the past at JMPR and FSANZ staff have acted as WHO temporary advisors. The ADI for agricultural and veterinary chemicals (pesticides, fungicides and herbicides) is used by the CCPR to establish MRLs that are often adopted by codex member countries, or used by many countries in considering national MRLs, thus facilitating international harmonisation of international food standards.

3.5 Joint expert consultations of the WHO and the FAO

The WHO and FAO regularly commission expert consultations to address a broad range of issues relating to food and agriculture, especially food safety. FSANZ staff have served in expert consultations to develop international guidance documents on genetically modified (GM) food safety and microbiological safety, and to undertake risk assessments or suggest risk management and risk communication strategies for various contaminants such as mercury in fish and Bisphenol A (BPA).

Furthermore, FSANZ staff have been asked to work as WHO temporary advisors on a range of general topics e.g. developing a five year food control plan for the Western Pacific with the WHO Western Pacific (WPRO) Office, and participating in a meeting on Strengthening the International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN) and National Food Control Systems in Asia, held in the Philippines in December 2013. This meeting was convened by the WHO Regional Offices for the Western Pacific and South-East Asia, the FAO, and INFOSAN, in collaboration with and support from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Republic of Korea. The purpose of the meeting was to review progress with participation of Asian countries in INFOSAN and help strengthen national food control systems. FSANZ was invited as a temporary advisor to WHO to provide technical expertise on food control systems and implementing the APEC Food Safety Incident Network.

The meeting recognised the importance of countries harmonising international food standards and processes as much as possible, and taking appropriate action on INFOSAN alerts including greater sharing of information on their response action. It also encouraged in-country links and communication between National International Health Regulations Focal Points, INFOSAN Emergency Contact Points and Focal Points.

FSANZ's invitation and participation at WHO/FAO Expert Consultations on a range of food safety matters is well recognised and appreciated by the international bodies. The outcomes of these consultations are used to facilitate harmonised risk assessments, risk management and risk communication that feed directly into harmonising international food standards.

3.6 Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

The OECD undertakes work to establish the technical guidelines used by most countries around the world and by bodies such as WHO/FAO, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC). These guidelines are used to manage and harmonise international approaches to technical issues including toxicological testing and food compositional analysis and to ensure a safe food supply. For example, OECD test guidelines for toxicological studies are used as the standard for gathering data that is used to support applications for chemical and food approvals.

FSANZ staff contribute to the international harmonisation of food safety standards by participating in a targeted number of OECD technical programs as invited members.

3.6.1 OECD Task Force for the Safety of Novel Foods and Feeds

This task force addresses aspects of the safety assessment of foods and feeds derived from genetically engineered crops. The work aims to ensure that the types of elements used in risk/safety assessment, as well as the methods to collect such information, are as similar as possible among countries, resulting in harmonisation of international approaches and standards. The approach is to compare transgenic crops and derived products with similar conventional ones that are already known and considered safe in their use based on recognised experience. Harmonised methods and practice, as well as sharing of data are facilitated through the task force activities.

The task force's main output is a set of consensus documents on compositional considerations of new varieties of specific crops (which can enter in the 'novel' foods and feeds production). These documents compile a common base of scientific information on the major components of crop plants: key nutrients; toxicants; anti-nutrients and allergens where relevant. Other publications deal with general aspects to facilitate harmonisation in safety assessment. These documents constitute practical tools for regulators and risk assessors dealing with new transgenic varieties, with respect to human food and animal feed safety. To date, 22 consensus documents have been published on major crops and mushrooms, animal feedstuffs, as well as the molecular characterisation of plants derived from modern biotechnology developed in common with the OECD Working Group on Harmonisation of Regulatory Oversight (WG-HROB). This 'Novel Food and Feed Safety' Series complement the
WG-HROB publications on environmental safety.

A compendium of the consensus documents on novel foods/feeds safety produced by the Task Force since its establishment is being prepared for publication in 2014.

FSANZ participation on the OECD Task Force

As a member of the Task Force, FSANZ contributes expertise as appropriate for the particular commodity. For example, FSANZ completed a consensus document on sugarcane in 2012. Consensus documents developed by the OECD Task Force are used directly in the compositional comparisons between GM foods and non-GM foods when food safety regulatory agencies around the world assess the safety of GM foods, thus contributing to international harmonisation of food standards, in this case specifically for GM foods.

FSANZ also participates on the Bureau of the Task Force (with the US, Canada, Japan, Sweden and the Netherlands) and, as part of this role, we have input into the agenda and three-year work programme.

3.7 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation

The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) aims to strengthen regional economic integration by removing impediments to trade and investment “at the border”, enhancing supply chain connectivity 'across the border' and improving the business environment 'behind the border'.

According to the FAO, APEC economies produce:

71% of the world's fish and aquaculture
64% of the world's vegetables
57% of th