Second OIE/FAO-APHCA Regional Workshop on WTO's SPS Agreement (Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 8-12 July 2002)
The Second OIE/FAO-APHCA Regional Workshop on WTO's SPS Agreement was jointly organised by OIE and FAO-APHCA in collaboration with the Department of Livestock Development (DLD) of Thailand, Free University of Berlin (FU-Berlin), the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Chiang Mai University (FVM-CMU) and the Japan Livestock Technology Association (JLTA) at CMU from 8 to 12 July 2002.
The objective of this Workshop was to train government officials, in particular at technical level, in the Asia-Pacific region on important regulations and roles of WTO's SPS Agreement, the OIE Animal Health Code and Manual, the FAO Codex Alimentarius, food safety, etc.
The Workshop was attended by 34 participants from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and the People's Republic of China, and Germany, Switzerland, Egypt, and two international organizations: OIE and FAO-APHCA.
Welcome addresses were made by Dr T. Fujita, OIE Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific, Dr D. Hoffmann, Senior Animal Production and Health Officer, FAO and Secretary for FAO-APHCA, Dr Rapeepong Vongdee, Director General of DLD, Prof K. Zessin, FU-Berlin and Dr Thanan Anumarn Rachathon, Vice President of CMU.
Dr V. Songkitti, FAO-APHCA explained the concept and trade related international organisations, WTO's SPS, TBT and Codex Alimentarius on behalf of FAO-APHCA.
Dr Fujita presented a paper on the background information and outlines regarding the WTO's SPS Agreement as well as the OIE's involvement and roles in SPS.
Current country reviews with respect to SPS activities were made by the participants of the Workshop.
Prof Zessin gave lectures regarding concepts and major steps of qualitative and quantitative risk assessment, risk management and risk communication, and introduced risk assessment by using some examples including the import of specifically processed ham. He also provided the participants with guidelines for group work sessions, using a model framework on poultry meat processing. After group exercise, representatives from the respective groups made their presentations on their group work. Prof. Zessin gave some lectures on kinds and use of distributions in modeling and the risk programme on @risk, and all the participants did an exercise using @risk.
Prof U. Kihm, Swiss Federal Veterinary Office, gave lectures on risk assessment for import risk analysis. He included in his lecture hazard identification, risk assessment, release and exposure risk assessment, risk estimation, collection of data and arrangement of data for qualitative risk assessment, etc.
Prof Kihm and Dr D. Heim, Swiss Federal Veterinary Office, gave lectures on the BSE risk model of the European Union. Each member from all the participating countries had joined the discussion about assumption of BSE cases in their countries, before Dr Heim spoke about the updated situation of BSE worldwide, surveillance systems and risk analysis. Group work was carried out on data collection needs, BSE-model pathways and modifications for the countries of the participants. All the participants joined each of the divided groups with three different scenarios regarding importation of cattle and/or meat and bone meal (MBM), and discussed outcomes of their group exercises under the guidance of Prof Kihm and Dr Heim. Their discussions were firstly made mainly on risk assessment of given information about the importation of cattle and MBM from specifically exampled countries and then focused on the design of a pathway on what may have happened with the imported cattle or MBM.
Dr N. Hafiz, Cairo University, introduced the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) System, the management tool for food safety assurance to improve food safety and reduce food borne illnesses, principles of HACCP, steps to be taken for the purpose, etc. and then gave lectures on how to set up and conduct a HACCP study with different stages and HACCP study forms. All the participants joined the group exercise for a case study (pasteurized milk), and they presented and discussed outcomes of their group work on the HACCP study, under the guidance of Prof Hafiz.
Dr Braeunig, German Federal Consumers Protection and Veterinary Services, gave her lecture on microbiological risk assessment by introducing the Codex Alimentarius procedures which include the Codex basic text. The lecture was followed by principles and guidelines for the conduct of microbiological risk assessment with introduction of hazard identification, exposure assessment and hazard characterisation. Listeria monocytogenes was used as an example of quantitative microbiological risk assessment. The second example on quantitative microbiological risk assessment with Salmonella spp. in broilers and eggs was also presented by Dr Braeunig. The group exercise was undertaken on the exposure assessment on Vibrio spp. in seafood as an example and a group discussion was followed for outcomes of their assessment, under the guidance of Dr Braeunig.
- WTO = World Trade Organization
- SPS = Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement
- TBT = Technical barriers to trade
- APHCA = Animal Production and Health Commission for Asia and the Pacific