Eva Roth
Department of Environmental and Business Economics
University of Southern Denmark
Esbjerg
Denmark

The background for the rather strict European food safety rules and regulations is a direct consequence of mutual food scandals in Europe over the past 5-10 years. Though the most noteworthy were the BSE and Dioxin problems, there were also salmonella, listeria and cholera scares which also entered the awareness of European consumers. A number of politicians were obliged to leave office because they did not acknowledge the strong political stance of the consumers and the lessons learned therefore have served to strengthen both the legal framework, monitoring and control of food safety.

The private sector has adapted to this change in consumers’ perception, not only because of changes in the legal framework guiding food safety in Europe, but also out of self interest as food safety, health and quality in the eyes of the consumers are seen as one issue. Consumer preferences and willingness to pay for safe food is used for market differentiation and for raising the company profile. This is done in several different ways – branding and certification being the most prominent.

Equal playing fields for European-produced products and imported goods, together with the risk of bad publicity (and consequent economic losses) for products and product groups constitute the direct reasons why European companies insist on equal food safety standards for competitors both inside and outside Europe, when these products are targeted towards European consumers. Most private agents in the European market place, if directly consulted, actually ask for strict but fair food safety rules and regulations which must be rigorously enforced for all goods entering the market.

The scientific approach has replaced the previous system, which was based on trust and confidence parameters, whereby, for instance, small fishmongers established the quality and other properties of their products simply by common sense and experience. However, the system has now been built up as a legal command and control system, harmonized within the European countries and driving the changes in countries exporting to the European market. This development has been driven by consumer demand for food without pathogens, bacteria or other substances harmful to human health. It has also been driven by private business concepts attempting to attain a high profile in the eye of their business partners (e.g. quality and food safety image towards the consumer).

In lieu of the clear need by the European community to further harmonize the activities covered by feed and food law, including feed and food safety and other aspects relating to consumer protection, such as feed and food labelling, the European Union has passed new regulations covering operational criteria, control guidelines as well as administrative co-operation between the member states. The new guidelines do not change the present federal system, whereby responsibility for operating control systems is national, but enhances the key points in the operations from which auditing by the FVO can be done.

DG SANCO operates as an open and transparent organisation, which underlines their willingness to provide information on matters arising from non-compliance through publication of inspection reports and agendas and decisions in the Standing Veterinary Committee, an open, service-minded policy towards countries with problems related to food safety issues (an open door policy) and direct recommendations and in-house resources used for helping both member states and developing countries with poor performance to upgrade all the links in the food safety chain.

The objective is therefore to describe and discuss the connection of upstream and downstream supply of goods, the cooperation experienced between the agent of the chain and the transfer of knowledge in the supply chain both vertically and horizontally between private actors. The public actors in the market are likewise described and analysed to order to pinpoint strengths and weaknesses experienced by the private sector supply chains in the management, monitoring and control of food safety exported from developing countries and imported into the European Union.

The problems encountered are described in three supply chain models:
TILAPIA: VERTICAL INTEGRATED SUPPLY CHAIN
NILE PERCH: TRANSACTION-ORIENTED SUPPLY CHAIN
SHRIMPS: COLLABORATIVE SUPPLY CHAIN

How can these driving forces be utilized in the State-of-the-Art Fisheries Management system presently being implemented by the new base – directive? How do they differ from each other?

The sustainability measures are perceived as far more challenging than food safety issues. The political driving forces do not in the short run encompass all consumers as is the case for food safety. The decisions are taken in a political forum even though multi-annual guidance programmes are being implemented – Total Allowable Catches are set frequently.

• To increase awareness in general public to balance information from interest organizations
• To implement automatic action on selected indicators
• To restrict market access to incorporate sustainable management policy, monitoring and control
• To help the private sector to develop private standards for sustainability

Source: Ongoing research not published, “Cost of Compliance, Food Safety”, World Bank.