Chapter 4 - A Simplified Guide to Understanding and Using Food Safety Objectives and Performance Objectives

Abstract

Food Safety Objectives (FSO) and “Performance Objectives” (Pos) are new concepts that have been introduced to further assist government and industry in communicating and complying with public health goals. These tools are additional to the existing programs of good agricultural practices (GAPs), good hygienic practices (GHPs), and hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP), which are the means by which the levels of POs and FSOs will be met. Hence FSOs and POs build on, rather than replace, existing food safety practices and concepts. The new risk management approaches that are outcome based offer flexibility of operation, which can be very important when considering the most effective control measures in a particular region or operation. However, perhaps the most critical aspect of these new developments in terms of global food-borne diseases is whether such new approaches allow for food safety control measures and regulations to be developed and implemented more rapidly. Many of the food safety issues that are faced today are more complex in nature, frequently requiring a through-chain approach and often requiring more than one control measure to effectively manage risk.