The United Nations has declared 2021 as the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables. The Year aims to raise awareness of the nutritional and health benefits of eating more fruit and vegetables as well as directing policy attention to reducing the loss and waste of these highly perishable items. In the coming weeks, the Stabroek Business will publish a series of articles based on expired information from the UN / FAO publication, International Year of Fruit and Vegetables 2001.
We begin our series with a spread of basic background information on the importance of fruits and vegetables to the human diet
The Codex Alimentarius Commission is the central component of the FAO / WHO Joint Food Standards Program. Develops recommended codes of practice, such as hygienic practices and practices for processing and handling foods or food groups.
GAP: Good agricultural practice
GMP: Good manufacturing practices
GHP: Good hygienic practices. A set of recommended practices to maintain quality and hygiene in the food chain.
HACCP: Hazard analysis and critical control point system: A hazard identification method and specific control measures, to ensure food safety.
SOP: Standard operating procedures: Detailed, written, accessible description for use by personnel explaining how each operation is performed.
Traceability: The ability to follow the movement of food through specific stages of production, processing and distribution.
International standards (FAO / WHO: Codex Alimentarius Commission)
The Codex Alimentarius, or “Food Code”, is a collection of food standards, guidelines and codes of practice developed by independent experts and experts in a wide range of disciplines to ensure that they withstand the most rigorous scientific scrutiny. Established by FAO and WHO in 1963 to protect consumer health and promote fair practices in food trade, Codex forms the foundation upon which countries develop their national food regulations. These standards enable companies to trade with each other with confidence that the product they buy will be in line with internationally recognized specifications. The Codex standards cover the general quality requirements, along with a list of permitted pesticides, permitted limits of approved pesticides, post-harvest treatments such as waxing, labeling and packaging requirements, and permitted levels of contaminants. Without these common standards, international trade in these products would be much more difficult.
When standards are set by a government (such as ISO (ISO, 2017)) or a non-governmental organization (such as Global GAP (2020)), the consumer can be reasonably confident that the product is actually what the label is say it in. But many companies add their own labels that are not subject to independent verification.
Security
Fruits and vegetables can be rich in vitamins and other nutrients – but what if they’re not safe to eat? They will then not provide any benefits to consumers but may cause them to become ill or even die – they cannot be considered food. They can harbor dangerous pathogens or become contaminated with chemicals.
Washing, peeling and cooking can help remove some of these hazards (although peeling and cooking can lead to some nutrient loss). But many fruits are eaten without wood and raw, as are salads, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and other vegetables.
Consumers can easily find poor quality fruit and vegetables, and so decide not to buy them. This is not the case for food safety problems, which can go undetected until the product has been eaten. They can then cause immediate health problems – such as E. coli bacteria food poisoning.
Foodborne diseases
Foodborne disease outbreaks can have disastrous consequences for consumers and producers alike. Food safety hazards can result in products being excluded from the market, causing major economic losses and costs to producers, processors and traders. Ensuring food safety must therefore always take precedence over achieving high levels of other quality attributes.
Foodborne illnesses are estimated to cause around 600 million illnesses and 420,000 deaths worldwide each year (WHO, 2015). The World Bank estimates that diseases resulting from eating unsafe foods cost low- and middle-income countries themselves only US $ 110 billion in lost productivity, lost trade, and medical expenses per year (Jaffee et al., 2019).
Such diseases are often associated with two main food groups: fruits and vegetables, and animal products. Fresh produce that contains too much chemical residue or is vulnerable to pollution or microbial contamination has been linked to a worldwide series of foodborne disease outbreaks.
Fruits and vegetables that are eaten raw, and especially those that are not peeled or washed in clean water, can transmit pathogens and dangerous chemicals (WHO). Public concern about these risks is at an all-time high.
Security controls
Safety controls protect consumer health and business interests by ensuring that a traded product complies with food safety standards and is safe to eat. Because products can be contaminated along the value chain, controls are needed at all stages.
Good practice. In addition, FAO publishes recommendations for good practices in agriculture, manufacturing and hygiene for fruits and vegetables. These aim to help farmers, traders and processors achieve the standards set out in the Codex Alimentarius.
Food safety hazards along the value chain: Possible sources of contamination
Production: Soil, wildlife, pests, run-off or irrigation, manure, pesticides, chemicals, tools, and own seeds or plants.
Harvest: Tools, containers, earth contact, and people.
After harvest: Equipment containers, packaging, storage rooms, washing, waxing, people, animals, pests, and transportation.
Responsibility for food safety
Various stakeholders share responsibility for food safety.
National governments are responsible for establishing a national food management system with appropriate legal and policy instruments, well-qualified human resources, sound institutional frameworks and the financial assets, equipment and infrastructure for them to carry out inspections. They also enforce compliance and impose penalties for violations or non-compliance.
National Codex Committees facilitate alignment of national regulations with the Codex, provide coordination among national stakeholders, and contribute to the development of Codex standards and related texts.
National governments are also responsible for ensuring that the supporting infrastructure can supply sufficient safe fruit and vegetables. This includes roads for market access, water supplies, power for equipment and cooling systems, access to laboratories and suitable storage facilities.
The private sector, from producers to retailers, is responsible for ensuring compliance throughout the food chain and the well-trained facilities, systems, equipment and staff to achieve this.
Innovation in tracking
Tracking is essential in fruit and vegetable supply chains to mitigate and manage risks associated with food safety recalls. New tracking practices using digital technology are helping to ensure food safety and quality, optimize supply chains and reduce loss by making spoilage problems easy to spot (WEF, 2019). Blockchain is an increasingly popular tracking tool because it links all stakeholders’ digital records and events in an interference-resistant format. The information can be accessed at any time from anywhere, yet it cannot be edited or deleted.