HACCP is a systematic and preventive method to realize food safety standards. It was originally produced in the United States to ensure the food safety of astronauts in space. As a scientific, systematic and effective method to strengthen food safety, HACCP is being adopted by countries all over the world. It has been recognized internationally that the application of HACCP system in food production and processing has obvious benefits, and also has the potential to strengthen food safety and prevent many food-borne exports.
HACCP has become an international standard to ensure food safety. Food control departments in many countries require food processing industries to implement HACCP to ensure operational hygiene and product safety. Many countries in the world have adopted this system. In some countries, this is mandatory. These requirements apply to many sectors of the food supply chain, including domestic, import and export of food. The EU and Japan adopt HACCP for some specific products. In addition, many multinational food distribution chains now require the use of HACCP plan as a necessary condition for accepting suppliers.
Many government departments in charge of food safety control are shifting their focus from inspection to prevention by encouraging the use of HACCP. More and more food management departments also implement HACCP-based management plans accordingly.
The key to the success of HACCP in food industry is that the government makes plans to strengthen the application of HACCP in small food processing enterprises, domestic and export markets. In addition, in many countries, industrial departments take the lead in formulating HACCP plans in their own enterprises and hiring and training high-quality preventive quality control personnel.
HACCP can be applied to all departments of food processing industry, and can also be customized for any single product or processing line. The advantage of using HACCP system is that food safety is always controlled in the process from receiving raw materials to sending out final products. HACCP has been applied to dairy products, fresh fruits, sterilized juices and vegetables, as well as meat, poultry and seafood.
In many cases, the introduction of HACCP system is the work of industrial departments themselves. Its enthusiasm may come from the enterprise itself to strengthen food safety or quality for market reasons, and its decision is to apply HACCP. Food industry departments with experience in food safety management system know more about the necessity of switching to HACCP. They usually realize the importance of HACCP in entering domestic and international markets, protecting their reputation and meeting customer requirements.
2. The role of the government in implementing HACCP
Governments in most countries play a vital role in the popularization and application of HACCP, which is achieved through successful cooperation in the food processing chain, including industrial associations, academic departments, processing and production departments, raw material supply departments and various stakeholders of importers and exporters.
Government departments can not only play a strategic role in implementing HACCP, but also play an operational role in organizing effective and uninterrupted HACCP system evaluation in the food industry. A key role of government departments is to play a leading role in promoting and strengthening the implementation of HACCP. Other documents of FAO and WHO [9, 10] explain the types of activities that government departments need to consider. These are summarized as follows:
2. 1 commitment
The government's efforts to develop and implement a successful HACCP system may be the most important factor. In this regard, one of the most important tasks of the government is to let the industry know the benefits and necessity of using HACCP to produce safe food. In order to popularize HACCP and make the participating departments fulfill their commitments, the government needs to draw the attention of the food sector to the following points: (1) the benefits of rationalizing food safety management; Risks existing in certain foods or production processes; Expenses, including compensation expenses caused by production failure; And the value of HACCP in protecting corporate image in any epidemic and product recall.
2.2 plan requirements
In order to promote and facilitate the implementation of HACCP, the government may need to consider taking compulsory measures at an appropriate time. Countries that have established a mandatory HACCP system for specific products include Australia, Canada, Japan, the United States and the European Union. In some countries, the management authorities have established a voluntary system and then sought the participation of companies. For example, the Thai Fisheries Bureau uses the voluntary HACCP plan to strengthen food safety operations, standards and processing to approve the export of fishery products. Whether the plan is compulsory or voluntary, clear guidance should be provided to ensure the unity of application and scientific integrity.
2.3 Training
Good training is very important to overcome the human resources obstacles of the government and industrial departments. The government needs to play a leading role in training programs. The support of academic institutions and trade associations is also important. Training should include industrial employees and law enforcement officials at all levels.
2.4 technical support
Industrial departments, especially small enterprises, usually lack the technical experts needed to implement HACCP, so they may need external support. The ability of the government, industrial or trade associations and academic departments to provide adequate technical support is the key factor for the successful implementation of HACCP. The types of technical support provided by the government, academic departments or industry associations may include the following aspects:
■ Provide relevant technical training in combination with the education, culture and language level of managers and employees;
■ Assist in providing appropriate public scientific support;
■ Assist in obtaining low-cost analysis services;
■ Provide easy-to-obtain and targeted general guides for enterprise users, such as industry guides, modules and general HACCP plans; and
■ Develop and maintain a food-borne disease monitoring plan and assist in obtaining the collected epidemiological statistics.
2.5 Infrastructure
Implementing HACCP may require improving infrastructure, including communities and enterprises themselves. At this time, the government can play a role, and sometimes even have the obligation to provide the necessary infrastructure (electricity, roads, safe water supply, sewage discharge, etc.). ) and minimize environmental pollution. The main role of the government is to provide adequate infrastructure according to the requirements of food hygiene.
2.6 Purchase
The lack of communication between government and enterprises and between enterprises will affect the adoption of HACCP. Government departments are obliged to clearly introduce all relevant health and safety standards, regulations, guidelines and other requirements to the food industry. Communication strategies need to be part of any HACCP work. In order to ensure consistent understanding, it is particularly important to use uniform and accurate terms, such as those used in Codex Alimentarius documents. The use of appropriate and effective communication channels is also particularly important for communication.
2.7 Assessment
Once the HACCP plan is made, its benefits, legality (if applicable), compliance with the timetable and how to improve it should be evaluated. The government can play a key role in HACCP evaluation, and needs to ensure that the food safety objectives are achieved in the plan, and seek further development and improvement. The government can also play a role in strengthening the planning evaluation of the industry (internal audit) and making suggestions on how to improve it.
The impact of HACCP on strengthening food safety can be measured directly (such as data collected through food-borne disease monitoring and food pollution monitoring) or indirectly (such as through the audit results of industrial departments or the inspection of HACCP design and implementation).
3. Promote the successful implementation of HACCP
The government can play multiple roles in the food safety management system. This includes promotion, assistance and inspection, so that manufacturers can take appropriate control measures for potential hazards and improve their implementation. In some cases, the industrial sector plays a leading role in the application of HACCP, especially those large companies and food export enterprises.
It is essential that the competent government departments should be able to complete the necessary tasks, especially when the industrial departments rely entirely on the judgment of the management departments. Therefore, the government must reorganize relevant activities and teams to support the industrial sector, especially in the following areas:
Organizational management: in order to improve the ability of employees, human resource management should be considered first. This may include increasing staff and improving their quality to complete the assigned tasks. Auditors who are familiar with traditional GMP inspection but cannot switch to HACCP-based assessment may limit their tasks to GMP-related activities. Many organizations solve this problem by recruiting and training new employees. When we can't recruit people, we should pay special attention to human resource management.
Knowledge and skills: The food management department should ensure that auditors fully understand HACCP and related processing technologies. It is necessary to control possible food safety hazards. Auditors should have enough knowledge and experience to determine the hazards of raw materials and processing technology. It is also important to be able to determine whether the control measures taken according to HACCP requirements are appropriate.
Training can provide knowledge and experience, which is very important for auditors. But we should also pay attention to the content and teaching skills of the training course, especially when there are freshmen. The focus of training is not only to gain theoretical understanding, but also to pay attention to practical skills and auditing skills, such as the ability to obtain evidence and evaluate clues. Proper training helps to ensure the auditor's stable work efficiency.
The training of auditors should at least include the following aspects:
–Principles and applications of -HACCP;
–food safety hazards and control measures;
–prerequisites for -HACCP;
–-HACCP assessment;
–Related processing technologies;
–National/international HACCP requirements.
When government departments train their employees to implement HACCP, they should also provide support for the successful implementation of the plan by industrial departments. This support includes the following aspects:
3. 1 technical support
The government plays a leading role in the following areas:
Information: In addition to formulating laws, requirements or regulations, it is also necessary to prepare guidance materials or application guides to introduce management requirements and the role of the government in certification and audit of HACCP system. General information of HACCP and required documents should also be provided.
Application Guide: The guide expounds the principle of HACCP, its application to specific processes and products, and the main planning parts required by the control department (such as control preconditions, health control plan and general HACCP mode), which is very important for the successful application of HACCP in the industrial sector. The guide is helpful to official inspectors and managers and staff of industrial departments. This guide is applicable to the implementation stage of HACCP.
Industrial seminar: At the initial stage of the implementation of the plan, the government informed and explained the requirements, contents, benefits and planning objectives of HACCP to the industrial sector by holding meetings and seminars as a powerful tool. Publicity materials (such as brochures, leaflets and videos) are also useful in the early stage. Today, they are often replaced by network information, which is an easily available source of information.
Identify hazards and guide control: it is necessary to introduce hazards related to specific raw materials, processes or products to provide scientific information for hazard analysis and formulation of relevant control measures. An example of this material is the Hazard and Control Guide for Fish and Fishery Products issued by the US Food and Drug Administration, which lays a scientific foundation for implementing HACCP in the industrial sector. Many government agencies have compiled specific hazard and control guidelines for raw materials and processing.
General HACCP mode: The general HACCP mode was developed by government technicians as the basis of HACCP plan development. These are used as guidelines for food departments to design specific HACCP systems.
Scientific information: Because HACCP system is specially designed for food safety, the selected control measures must be based on scientific information. The management has formulated some control measures. If there is no specific statistical data or other important information about the results of control measures, it is necessary to carry out relevant research. These studies may include risk assessment to determine hazards and appropriate control measures. In addition, the methods and key points of key control points need to be certified. However, processing units cannot always carry out these activities, especially small processing plants do not have enough manpower, knowledge and skills. The government should take the lead in conducting research and provide necessary information to industry.
3.2 Training work
Originally, it was the role of the government to formulate training plans for industrial departments and employees; However, this activity is carried out by scientific research institutions, trade associations or private consultants. The training goal advocated by the government is to improve the ability; Promote the unified application based on science; Ensure compliance; And establish confidence in the ability of relevant personnel, and then have confidence in the safety of food supply.
In the initial stage of implementing HACCP, training is usually to provide necessary information for the development and operation of HACCP system in processing plants and make it conform to relevant management regulations. In the implementation stage, continuous training is needed to strengthen the weak links in some fields, such as hazard analysis, internal audit and certification, and how to maintain the effect of HACCP.
Because the ability of HACCP employees is one of the driving forces that affect the success of HACCP, employees should be well trained to help the implementation and management of HACCP system in their companies. The leaders of these staff members may need advanced training. Training is not only a theoretical study, but also a better understanding of practical experience.
In some developed countries (such as Australia, Canada and the United States), the government and the government/academic institutions/industrial departments jointly formulate training plans for industrial departments and management officials. At first, international organizations helped developing countries to train officials who applied HACCP. Teacher training funded by FAO and WHO is carried out in many developing countries. Thailand has invested in training officials and industrial departments to strengthen the capability of hazard analysis, planning application, planning evaluation and auditing. Thailand has also cooperated with FAO and WHO to compile information and develop training programs for other Asian countries.
Training programs that meet the requirements of national standards, Codex Alimentarius and importing countries have been formulated and adjusted to meet the needs of different sectors of the industry, especially the needs of small underdeveloped enterprises. In order to help teachers who hold HACCP training courses, many countries have compiled HACCP course manuals through the efforts of the government and the support of academic departments and industry associations.
3.3 Improve sanitation
As HACCP is not an isolated system, it needs basic sanitary conditions and good operating practices (GMP) to support the progress of the plan. Before implementing HACCP, the government must provide necessary help to improve the health situation. It is necessary to provide hygienic operation guidelines and good operation specifications for specific processes and products. It is necessary for the government and industry to regularly check sanitary conditions and make plans to encourage the improvement and maintenance of hygiene.
Thailand has recently launched a plan aimed at accelerating the improvement of sanitary conditions and operational procedures, such as good agricultural and aquaculture practices, sanitary condition surveys, on-site planning consultation, and supporting the monitoring of the activities of primary and small processing plants.
3.4 Primary production control
Although HACCP is a tool for processing enterprises to manage food safety, the hazards in raw materials are related to the environment, such as heavy metal pollution and pathogenic bacteria pollution, which are usually beyond the control of food processing units. In this regard, a national food safety plan should be implemented throughout the food chain. This includes the control of harvesting environment (whether in the field or on the farm), the control of good operating practices before processing, and so on. Government departments should play a leading role in carrying out these tasks.
3.5 HACCP system certification plan
In order to speed up the effective implementation of HACCP, it is necessary to make a plan to certify HACCP system. This may include 1) reviewing relevant rules and requirements, only switching endpoint detection to safety management system, and 2) reducing the inspection rate when HACCP is effectively applied.
Statutory audit: With the development of HACCP system in food safety management system of food industry, the traditional role of food management department, including the role of food inspector, is changing, especially in those countries that require the implementation of HACCP system. In addition to checking whether the food industry meets good operating practices and other statutory requirements, government officials must also assume new responsibilities, including evaluating the HACCP system formulated and implemented according to the industry.
Government departments should review and formulate clear policies and procedures to ensure uniformity and technical integrity. The role of government in HACCP audit has been recognized internationally. Audit training materials, including the Audit Guide, have been compiled for government use. It also involves assessment tools for assessing and ensuring competence and consistency. Government assessment includes the following aspects:
Scheme evaluation: HACCP is approved by the government in advance, which can improve the application effect of the system in the industrial field, because it can ensure that the system meets the legal requirements and food safety objectives. Management authorities usually require processing enterprises to have HACCP plans, but some do not require processing enterprises to submit for approval in advance; Then it is impossible to know whether the HACCP plan of a processing plant meets the requirements of the competent department, and the truth will not be known until the factory is inspected. Pre-approval can also realize that the plan is sufficient to ensure food safety and can guide the application and implementation of processing enterprises.
On-site compliance audit: On-site audit should evaluate whether the implementation is in place, such as understanding whether HACCP plan and its preconditions are really implemented in the food field, whether it can be maintained and played correctly.
List of certification units: The competent government department is usually responsible for formulating HACCP requirements or meeting standards. Once these conditions are met and confirmed by audit, processing enterprises can log on to the approval list. Departments in charge of controlling and controlling imports and exports inform each other of these lists, thus providing market access for companies with standard systems.
Certificate: Certificate is also one of the magic weapons to ensure that enterprises have an effective HACCP system and ensure food safety and compliance. Many governments do not like to use certificates, but it is still a common practice to ensure compliance. The government can establish HACCP certification system to ensure that food processing departments comply with HACCP requirements. The main purpose of these plans is to promote trade.
3.6 Others:
Financial support: The government can provide financial support to promote the application of HACCP, and can fund health improvement, infrastructure development, training and consulting services.
4. Problems in the application of 4.HACCP
Although HACCP system has been applied for nearly 10 years, the difficulties encountered by industrial departments and managers in many countries in implementing HACCP are obvious. One of the main reasons may be that although there is HACCP system, effective control of food safety hazards still needs scientific design and in-depth understanding of management system. HACCP is not a hierarchical management system, it needs a process of analysis and thinking to ensure that the control is in place. This process should be reviewed by processing enterprises in HACCP development stage or by management personnel in evaluation stage.
Some problems encountered in the application of HACCP are:
4. 1 management organization
4. 1. 1 government support
Government commitment is an important driving force for the success of HACCP plan. Good food safety policies should be formulated and strategic planning should be made for actual operation. In many cases, the government has not made a firm commitment, which is reflected in the lack of support at the operational level. This support includes financial and human resources.
4. 1.2 legal requirements
In many countries, HACCP is only widely used in export products, but not in domestic products, because domestic products still lack the legal framework for implementing and evaluating HACCP system. Regulators are HACCP with many time-consuming challenges in persuading processing enterprises, especially those small processing enterprises that encounter difficulties in complying with good operating practices.
4. 1.3 human resources
Some departments only have a limited number of technical officials to provide technical support for industrial and regulatory audits, especially in some places, the inspection system has turned to HACCP. If the government's consulting and management functions are separated, the demand for talents will also expand. In addition, the evaluation based on HACCP is more time-consuming than the traditional good practice evaluation, because HACCP evaluation needs a good audit plan, review of documents and records, and better conforms to the current practice in the development process. The traditional inspection of good operating practices is mainly to evaluate hygiene and cleaning conditions according to standards, but this is only a simple observation of their conditions and implementation.
4. 1.4 audit ability
HACCP knowledge: Government officials need to master HACCP knowledge comprehensively, design and implement plans for industrial departments, and answer possible questions. The management evaluation of HACCP needs stable performance. Therefore, the ability of auditors is the key. High-quality HACCP officials and auditors should know the seven principles of HACCP and how to apply them correctly. Should be able to determine the possible hazards in the processing process and evaluate the suitability of its specific control. Knowledge should also include (not limited to) understanding the hazards related to different raw materials and processing technologies, such as canning and freezing, which have different hazards and need different control.
If HACCP evaluation is not in place, the potential hazards cannot be identified and necessary control can be taken, and the food safety of production will be affected. On the other hand, if it is too difficult to control unnecessary hazards, processing enterprises will be reluctant to maintain HACCP. For example, if it is wrongly decided to control histamine in fish that does not form histamine, the processing factory will be required to record the temperature of the fish, obtain an analysis certificate from the fish supplier, or conduct histamine test on each batch of fish. Some processing plants often think that more control in HACCP plan can improve food safety. However, too much control may bring a burden to the processing plant, especially when errors need to be corrected. Although these HACCP plans are correct, the processing plant may not be able to maintain the whole HACCP system. Because it is likely that more time will be spent on unnecessary control than on important hazards.
Evaluation technology: In addition to the basic evaluation procedures, the biggest challenge faced by auditors is to be able to collect enough evidence to judge whether it conforms to HACCP. Different processing enterprises may have different control methods for the same hazard and may provide different assessment information. Therefore, appraisers must use appropriate technology to obtain necessary information in various situations. Some units give auditors good cooperation, while others don't. If there are too many restrictions in the evaluation guide or the general HACCP model lacks flexibility in different situations, it may lead enterprises not to comply with the HACCP plan. On the other hand, if the correct evidence cannot be obtained, the processing enterprises will give up the control of potential hazards and bear the risk of producing unsafe food.
4.2 Food Industry
4.2. 1 technical difficulties
Hazard analysis (HA): Since the introduction of HACCP system, the application of hazard analysis technology has been a difficult problem, even for large-scale companies. The process of hazard analysis requires professional knowledge, knowledge of chemical and microbial hazards and knowledge of the risks they will bring, but this kind of analysis often does not exist. Therefore, the application of hazard analysis has always been the focus of high-quality training programs.
Determination of key boundary: the key boundary is the boundary that distinguishes between acceptable and unacceptable products. However, not all boundaries are delineated in the form of numbers that are easy to use in industry. In this case, the determination of this boundary is necessary. HACCP plan can't ensure the safety of food without establishing critical limits for controlling hazards, such as temperature and time when food is pasteurized or cooked. This definite process needs to kill the target bacteria to an acceptable level. Because in some cases, the key points selected in scientific theory cannot be realized, or it is not feasible under realistic processing conditions. Large factories usually have their own equipment and experienced professionals to set up this process, or hire other experts to carry out this research. But for those small processing plants with limited economic and human resources, the determination of this boundary is a big problem. Even if other research institutions have successfully carried out experiments, if the processing factory can't deeply understand how to use these research results, difficulties still exist.
Discontinuity of HACCP implementation: The implementation process of HACCP system includes monitoring, corrective measures and verification. Sometimes it is found that the HACCP plan has not been applied to the production site and the monitoring measures have not been implemented as planned. When there is deviation, no corrective measures are taken. When the HACCP plan is too difficult to make, there will be many deviations, which need to be corrected in daily operation. Worst of all, the factory won't carry out an unrealistic HACCP plan because it increases the product cost. This often happens when a company asks an external consultant to make a HACCP plan for it, but no one inside the company participates in making the plan. So once the original plan is changed for some reason, it is often difficult to implement the whole plan.
Incorrect confirmation procedure is another defect of HACCP application. In the process of monitoring, verifying and confirming methods, confusion will be caused because some processing plants can't distinguish these three stages. Therefore, the confirmation of all factors in the whole system is often misleading and may be limited, and only some sanitary measures and GMP inspections are taken, instead of observing the whole HACCP-related activities and reviewing documents and records. Verification is an important means to check whether HACCP system is implemented normally. Lack of this activity will lead to inconsistency in the implementation of HACCP plan.
Another technical problem related to the industrial sector is how to use the data obtained from monitoring and other HACCP-related activities. Many important records obtained in the process of applying HACCP are very useful for providing trend analysis and can make great contributions to improving HACCP system. However, to do these analyses, professionals are needed. They need to understand the trend analysis process and know how to evaluate and use the obtained data. It is difficult for small-scale processing plants to have such professionals.
4.2.2 Human resources
The limited qualified professionals limit the success of HACCP. Large processing plants and well-managed human resources enterprises can minimize this limiting factor. However, the turnover rate of core employees in small processing plants is usually high, so they will encounter more difficulties in developing and maintaining HACCP systems.
In order to maintain the effectiveness of HACCP, the company must have at least one professional who knows HACCP and has relevant experience. In many cases, employers do not consider the technical personnel needed to implement HACCP system, but spend more energy to find suitable candidates to meet the needs of daily production. This also includes personnel related to HACCP activities, such as CCP inspectors. Lack of personnel or limitation of test time may lead to inconsistency of hazard control.
Economic capacity
Economic difficulties are particularly confined to small-scale enterprises. Most food in many countries is still produced by these small enterprises. Because food hygiene standards are the premise of HACCP, the basic environmental conditions of food processing must be met first. For some processing plants, the implementation of HACCP means a large capital injection, because they have to make considerable efforts to improve their original production sites. In addition, HACCP plan also needs additional expenses, such as hiring new employees, increasing paperwork, consulting fees, training fees and so on. For these reasons, if this is only a voluntary plan, as long as their products still have a market, many enterprises will delay the implementation of their HACCP plan.
After HACCP:
How can the current food safety system be improved in all aspects of the food chain?
In order to ensure food safety, it is necessary to apply HACCP principle to all aspects of food supply chain from raw material production to processing. HACCP is recognized as one of the risk management tools that can be applied to the food industry. But it can't solve the food safety problem alone, and other control measures such as traceability method, label analysis method and experimental analysis method are needed. The latter should be used to monitor pesticides, pollutants and natural toxins, not just final products.
Special topic 4.5 GF 02/8a
The 2nd FAO/WHO Global Forum for Food Safety Managers
Bangkok, Thailand, June 65438+1October 12- 14
Food export management and verification
Ms Shashi sally
(Paper prepared by the Director of the Export Inspection Commission of India)
1. Introduction
The establishment of the World Trade Organization enables countries to better enter the world market. World trade is developing rapidly. The main reasons include the increase of consumer demand, the internationalization of tastes and habits, the development of science and technology, and the improvement of communication and traffic conditions. Coupled with the breaking of tariff barriers and quantitative restrictions, quality and safety have become very important in international trade. Not only do consumers around the world pay attention to quality issues, but governments around the world also realize their responsibility to protect the health and safety of their own people, and have formulated stricter laws and regulations from the perspective of health, safety and environmental protection.
The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and the Agreement on Sanitary and Quarantine Measures for Animals and Plants (SPS) require countries to abide by various rules to ensure that the above standards and regulations will not cause unnecessary trade barriers, while allowing countries to formulate standards to protect people's health and safety and ensure fair trade. These two agreements encourage member countries to mutually recognize conformity assessment systems established according to international standards. Therefore, through "equivalence" or "mutual recognition agreement", products verified in one country should be accepted when entering another country without further inspection/testing.
The necessity of establishing a strong import management mechanism is obvious. It is an inevitable result for importing countries to establish an export verification system that recognizes trading partners and an equally powerful export management mechanism on the basis of reciprocal agreements.
We realize that the quality and safety of food can be guaranteed by implementing an appropriate and well-designed food management system (import and export), so we set up a food import and export inspection and verification committee to formulate rules and guidelines in related fields.
As stipulated in the Committee's terms of reference and most documents, although food management should include import and export, most governments attach great importance to establishing and strengthening the import management system to protect their own people and prevent inferior foreign products from being dumped into their own countries. India and some other exporting countries have different practices, stipulating that some foods should be subject to compulsory export inspection and verification.
This paper emphasizes the importance of food export management and verification, introduces the broad concepts that should be followed, discusses the experience of implementing export management measures, including India's experience, and finally expounds the views on export management systems of other countries.
2. The importance of food export management and verification
SPS agreement allows member countries to formulate measures to protect human, animal and plant life and health. In addition, through the compliance/enforcement provisions of its Codex Alimentarius Commission standards, the agreement also provides a legal framework for import, official/government inspection/verification institutions, and recognizes the inspection/verification institutions of corresponding institutions in exporting countries on the basis of equivalent agreements, allowing members to establish formal import management systems to protect the interests of their respective people to an appropriate extent.
Through these agreements, both developed and developing countries have established strong import management systems for the food industry. Many countries have also established export inspection systems, but these systems are very limited. Basically, sanitary and phytosanitary or sanitary certificates are issued at the request of the importing country.
For major exporting countries, it is more important to establish a good food export quality management system. Some advantages of the export quality management system mainly include the following aspects:
(i) Reducing the inspection and testing time of importers will hinder