Food Safety Regulation and Private Standards in China

On the issue of food safety regulation, the government will undoubtedly play a central role, which is also the requirement of the administrative law for the government.Principle of administrative law is one of the basic principles of substantive administrative law, which requires government activities within the bounds of the law, acting by law; if government and government workers violates the law or even beyond the legal activity, they will bear legal responsibility.Essence of the rule of law is that the people are higher than the Government, and the government subject to the people.It is said that many of China's food safety problems in recent years, are in some extent due to the government's poor regulations.If the government wants to effectively monitor and control food safety issues, we must first be clear what kind of food safety problems they are facing.Traditional food safety issues are represented by food borne diseases; we focused on food hygiene supervision, and took subsequent punishment as the main means.While modern food safety issues represented by food borne focusing on food risk supervision, and subsequent punishment as the main means

Food Science and TechnologyVolume 36, Issue 4 p. 42-45 SpotlightFree Access Networking to reduce microbial risk in foods First published: 01 December 2022 https://doi.org/10.1002/fsat.3604_11.xAboutSectionsPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Matthew Gilmour and Maria Traka of the Quadram Institute introduce the new UK Food Safety Research Network, which is aiming to Improve the safety of UK foods by harnessing expertise across the food chain in collaborative research and training activities. The challenging ecology of foodborne microbes Preventing microbial pathogens from entering the food chain is challenging due to the multitude of environmental and agricultural niches in which they thrive. Pathogens like Salmonella and Listeria are expert at being carried in and adapting to farm and food production settings, leading to contamination of diverse meat and plant-based foods. The challenges to control these microbes are only becoming more complex as food production systems and consumer preferences evolve and global factors, such as climate change, impact the ecology of food systems. The UK is strongly committed to food safety, with food manufacturers focusing on ensuring foods are healthy and safe for their customers. There are many programmes in place that regulate how food is produced and monitor for hazards that might contaminate foods; some initiatives come from government and some from the food industry itself. However, we also know from UK research that it is common for people to visit their GP with food-associated illness and that about a quarter of the UK population have diarrhoea each year1. The causes of food-associated illness are not always determined; of the estimated £9bn annual cost to the UK of these illnesses, £6bn are from unknown causes. Therefore, some microbial hazards are not only challenging to prevent from entering the food chain, but also to detect in foods and food settings. In studies that examined these cases more closely, the cause was often a microbial pathogen that had been carried over into food from the environment or from livestock or even from people. A solution to these food safety challenges is to catalyse collaborative research between scientific experts, the food industry and food policy partners to robustly consider and act upon new opportunities to make food safer. Applying science as a collaborative network In association with the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council of UK Research & Innovation (BBSRC-UKRI) and the Food Standards Agency (FSA), the Quadram Institute in Norwich established the new UK Food Safety Research Network (FSRN)2 in April 2022. Acting as a hub for scientific innovation and collaborative research that addresses complex challenges, the Network is creating a community from amongst representatives of the food industry, government departments and academia and developing a shared vision and plan for research that can improve the safety of foods now and in the future. The specific remit of the Network is to address microbial risks in the food chain; as the Network was created it became increasingly clear that more than just ‘microbiology’ was going to be in scope. Interviews with Network members and stakeholders during our establishment stages highlighted that there is a ‘new edge’ to biological research in foods based on new technologies and the dynamic economic and environmental sustainability drivers that are currently shaping food system transformations and which transcend traditional biological questions on food hygiene. At this edge, it is possible to pursue research and training that benefits the food system by collectively harnessing interdisciplinary expertise for cutting-edge technologies, rich food system data and theory, and an existing understanding of social and economic factors. The goal of the UK's FSRN is to take a multi-stakeholder approach to apply science to the food safety challenges prioritised within this community. The focus will be areas where collaborative research or training can build new capacity or knowledge that benefits food safety. Within the Network, policy and industry sectors are now coming together with scientific researchers via: exercises that define food safety problems, funded collaborative research projects and food safety training fora. It is important that the FSRN develops successful pathways to curate new relationships between academic researchers and food stakeholders, who are directly facing and motivated to address the evolving risks and challenges in the food system. We have learned that many in the food industry recognise the need for research and developmental activities that address food safety challenges. However, for some producers (often small and medium sized enterprises) there is little bandwidth beyond the operational challenges of their business to participate in such research. The FSRN is providing a platform for food industry members and academic researchers to make these connections and expedite adoption of effective food safety solutions by directly supporting and resourcing co-designed collaborative projects. Building a community to identify ‘problems worth solving’ that increase the safety of UK foods To scope the key food safety risks that would have a meaningful impact on UK foods if pursued in collaborative projects, we are engaging with members of our community of experts that represent primary food producers, food retailers and food sector trade associations. In a series of one-on-one interviews, we documented members’ experiences and perspectives about what they considered to be the contemporary, emerging and perceived food safety challenges that, if addressed, would bring value to their products and for which they could foresee a route to impact within the food system. Scientific perspectives on food safety risks and challenges were simultaneously sought from stakeholders from across scientific disciplines representing the environment, animals and human health. These included veterinarians, virologists, data scientists and social scientists. Perspectives were also sought from: government institutes, knowledge transfer networks and professional bodies specialising in food system studies, policy and training. It is from this multi-disciplinary and multi-sector community that an ability to address complex food safety issues emerges. A broad view of the issues affecting food safety The food system comprises many social, environmental and political factors that together can affect the foods that are produced and those that are sought by consumers. In our initial problem definition interviews, many of these ‘macro’ factors were repeatedly cited by stakeholders as conceivably having a significant consequence to food safety and shelf life because changes to how foods are produced and stored can impact the ecology of any microbes present. Amongst these extensive and overlapping macro factors, there are multiple points in the food chain at which food safety challenges can emerge and then endure as microbial risks, even those not easily identifiable as risks at the outset. For example, new economic pressures, such as those introduced by COVID-19 and Brexit, that affect supply and distribution networks introduce changes to the sourcing and availability of food ingredients; as food ingredients change so do the standards used to produce them, potentially impacting both the microbial composition and safety profile of individual ingredients. Likewise, economic pressures have resulted in other market shifts, such as the availability of CO2 supplies and operational costs related to the energy crisis. Supplies of CO2 have a direct impact on the ability to introduce modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), which is a preservative that inhibits both pathogenic and spoilage microbes. If food storage temperatures are increased to save on energy costs (e.g. during refrigeration), then basic microbial control measures that are currently effective will be compromised and could lead to altered microbial risk profiles. Food storage conditions were also highlighted from an environmental perspective. As our climate changes so does the ability to maintain optimal storage temperatures in some settings. In addition, global impacts to the environment and agriculture have increasingly led to changes in water, carbon and temperature cycles with direct effects on microbial ecology, e.g. microbial profiles in irrigation waters. As microbial composition changes in this critical agricultural resource, it was easy for our interviewees to conceive how the overall risk of pathogen transmission during primary plant and livestock production could increase. Further ‘upstream’ in the food chain, our stakeholders commonly felt that changes in consumer preference and regulation of food categories sold in retail settings could also conceivably impact food safety. For example, the demand for new plant-based foods means food producers are developing product lines that use new ingredients (e.g. alternative proteins, micro-and macro-algae), new culturing technologies, or new processing techniques, while the overall knowledge of microbial risks for food safety and shelf life of these new categories may be lagging behind their arrival on retail shelves. Furthermore, consumers are also seeking food packaging that reduces plastic use; this requires the introduction of new materials or new methods of packaging (e.g. vacuum packing versus MAP). In addition, governments are regulating for reduced contents of salt, sugar and fat. Each of these changes potentially shifts the ecology and risk of microbes present on foods. Factors impacting food safety and microbial contamination more locally within particular food production settings were also discussed during our stakeholder interviews. For example, cleaning and hygiene is a cornerstone of food safety yet the effectiveness of some disinfection and sanitising agents is uncertain and there can be engineering issues associated with food contact surfaces that make them challenging to clean or maintain at controlled temperatures. Stakeholders also cited that there are knowledge gaps on microbial risks in food product categories or gaps in the ability to implement best food safety practices conceivably exacerbated by labour shortages, which aligns with global economic and political pressures. All of these challenges represent an opportunity for research and for the identification of new knowledge to inform interventions or policies that could improve the safety of food. They also provide a view on emerging food safety risks that require participation from a multitude of stakeholders and scientific disciplines if they are to be appropriately studied and effectively addressed. Brokering project partnerships around priority areas of applied food safety research Following our broad scoping of food safety challenges, the next key activity of the FSRN was to coordinate distribution of resources that supported both innovation and collaboration. We understood that many in our community had not directly participated in collaborative research activities previously, and that for some, Network support would be needed to broker partnerships and develop project plans that could draw on collective insights, data and technologies from across the Network. We also understood that some members were already tuned into food safety research around microbial risk and were ready to act with their partners. In August 2022, we opened the FSRN's first call for proposals. Using a streamlined application process, project applications could be submitted that were either ‘ready to fund and ready to act’ or were ‘expressions of interest’ for projects that needed further time to develop. As a guide to all applicants we publicised three prioritised areas as a framework for collaborative projects based on the earlier stakeholder feedback (Figure 1). Figure 1Open in figure viewerPowerPoint The Food Safety Research Network's priority areas. As a guide to all applicants we publicised three prioritised areas as a framework for collaborative projects based on the earlier stakeholder feedback. Firstly, to address known microbial risks, we sought new evidence for interventions that reduce pathogens, such as Salmonella, Campylobacter or Listeria, which continue to be problematic in some foods and food production settings. Secondly, to increase our understanding of the perceived microbial risk in new food categories and production systems, we sought studies on alternative proteins and new plant-based foods. Lastly, to improve the safety of ready-to-eat (RTE) foods, we sought to develop new ways to apply food safety knowledge and new tools to address this established high-risk food category. As an outcome of our first call for proposals, the successful ‘ready to act’ projects included activities that will develop and assess applications of bacteriophage for control of Salmonella and Listeria contamination in settings such as aquaculture and raw pet food production. Our prioritised area of research on novel foods was represented in a project that will profile the microbial communities of crickets (Acheta domesticus) and assess the production systems for this alternative protein, while other projects will test the efficacy of novel biocide combinations and develop new diagnostic technologies that will support pathogen environmental monitoring programmes. Fried crickets For the ‘expression of interest’ stream we received proposals from industry Network members from across the food chain, ranging from animal producers and primary producers to trade associations; we also received proposals from government departments with mandates outside the food chain. From the successful proposals we are facilitating planning with the applicants, other stakeholders and funders to develop these ideas towards large collaborative projects; further information will be forthcoming from the FSRN on these opportunities and the fora (such as stakeholder workshops) that will be used to progress them. Examples of the areas that were prioritised for additional collaborative work include: conducting focal studies on pathogen transmission in livestock production and the spill-over of microbes into meat-based foods; establishing and promoting fit-for-purpose best practices that improve the safety and shelf life of RTE foods; advancing bacteriophage applications to provide evidence to move beyond existing regulatory barriers; understanding the food safety implications of climate change; filling a gap in certification and guidance on food safety for primary producers; facilitating the availability of microbial testing data amongst partners to enhance trend analyses and overall horizon scanning on microbial risks; developing new methods for investigating foodborne viruses (e.g. norovirus; hepatitis E). As project applications and expressions of interest were received during our call for proposals, we realised that not only can the Network provide partners with essential financial resources to conduct collaborative studies, but also a legitimate entry point to communicate ideas and identify partners. Thus, the FSRN has established a framework for collaborative processes where members become mutually aware of food safety networking and research opportunities. Further, there is also the opportunity to connect with other UK food system network programmes, such as the Transforming UK Food Systems Strategic Partnership Fund3, FSA's PATH-SAFE4 and Innovate UK's KTN Food5, to amplify food safety objectives across multiple partners. Mobilising food safety knowledge Paraphrasing from our stakeholder interviews, key findings from industry were that ‘we need simple tools to interpret test results and their implication for food safety’ and that ‘what we don't need is an expensive list of microbes that we don't know what to do with’. These were powerful sentiments and we understand that for some food industry members their capacity to take new action and adopt scientific advancements supporting their food safety aims can be limited due to accessibility and practicality of scientific information or technologies. As such, the ultimate goal of the FSRN is to bring forward Network discoveries that are game changing by working directly with food producers and other food industry members in a manner that is continually informed by their perspectives and ensures their active involvement in piloting or demonstration of new technologies or knowledge. We have also identified that not all knowledge that should be acted upon needs to be new knowledge. Stakeholders asked that FSRN members exploit existing studies, platforms and experiences within the Network's collaborative projects and promote their accessibility. This would create opportunities to upcycle existing data sets that have value for contemporary food safety challenges but which have not been broadly applied by scientific or stakeholder communities. This would also create long-term impact and value from previously funded research. Further, the FSRN plans to publicly promote and extend the impactful methods and knowledge developed in our collaborative research programmes. We will host a series of training events and sponsor the exchange of scientists and food industry employees between Network member sites. A goal is for our programmes to actively support skills development around food safety and interoperability between Network partners. These include professional groups, such as veterinarians and environmental health officers, and our partners in the food industry, who all have key roles in enhancing the safety of UK foods. Matthew W. Gilmour and Maria H. Traka, UK Food Safety Research Network, Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich, UK email foodsafetynetwork@quadram.ac.uk web quadram.ac.uk/food-safety-research-network/ References 1 Food Standards Agency. 2020. Foodborne disease estimates for the United Kingdom in 2018. Available from: https://www.food.gov.uk/research/foodborne-disease/foodborne-disease-estimates-for-the-united-kingdom-in-2018 2 Quadram Institute. 2020. Food safety research network. Available from: https://quadram.ac.uk/food-safety-research-network/ 3 Global Food Security. 2022. Transforming UK food systems SPF. Available from: https://www.foodsecurity.ac.uk/research/foodsystems-spf/ 4 Food Standards Agency. 2022. Pathogen surveillance in agriculture, food and environment programme. Available from: https://www.food.gov.uk/our-work/pathogen-surveillance-in-agriculture-food-and-environment-programme 5Innovate UK, KTN. 2022. Food. Available from: https://ktn-uk.org/agrifood/food/ Volume36, Issue4December 2022Pages 42-45 FiguresReferencesRelatedInformation

Preventive Strategy Against Infectious Diarrhea—A Holistic Approach

Meeting US food safety regulations

Despite the substantial progress in agro-industrial production development was achieved in the twentieth century, the food problem has not only lost its acuteness, but also turned into a global problem of food safety of mankind. The proper legal regulation of the production of necessary quantity of quality and safe food in the state is a guarantee of food safety of the state. The concept of food safety is legally enshrined in Art. 2 of the Law of Ukraine “On State Support to Agriculture of Ukraine” (dated June 24, 2004) as the protection of human life interests, which is expressed in guaranteeing by the state of unimpeded economic access of a person to food products in order to maintain his/her normal life activities. This normative definition of food safety has become the subject to substantiated criticism in legal literature, since it reflects only one aspect of Ukraine’s food safety – the economic availability of food for the population. The food safety has a number of distinctive features, which determine its role in guaranteeing the national safety of the state. Firstly, the food safety has internal and external aspects. The internal aspect of food safety lies in the functioning of effective mechanisms in the state for guaranteeing human being the access to food products in the quantity and range, sufficient to ensure his/her livelihoods (quantitative measurement), as well as ensuring the proper quality and safety of such products (qualitative measurement). The agricultural legislation of Ukraine provides only a few legal mechanisms to ensure quality measuring of food safety. At the same time, the ensuring the quantitative measurement of Ukraine’s food safety is extremely negative due to difficult economic situation in Ukraine. Legally established minimum wages, scholarships, pensions are not enough to provide a full-fledged human nutrition. The external aspect of food safety is self-sustaining by the state of its food needs in order to reduce the dependence of its economy on food imports. Secondly, ensuring food safety is an essential condition for the realization of one of the basic human rights – the right to adequate food, which is part of the right to a sufficient standard of living. Thirdly, food safety, in particular its qualitative criterion, is an integral part of the internal environmental safety of citizens, because the use of poor quality and dangerous food products significantly affects human health, can provoke diseases and cause fatalities as a result of food poisoning. Fourthly, guaranteeing the food safety of the state is a strategic goal of the state agrarian policy. Given the importance of food to ensure human existence, food safety can be considered as a kind of system of economic and social relations, which is the biosocial basis for the existence of both society and the human individual. In economically developed countries issues of food safety have been subject to considerable legislative regulation. In Ukraine the level of legal regulation of food safety is unsatisfactory. In national agrarian and environmental legislation only quality criteria of food safety are legally defined. Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “Some Issues of Food Safety” (dated December 5, 2007, No. 1379) approved the Methodology for Determining the Main Indicators of Food Safety. These indicators have been criticized in special literature because they do not take into account issues of quality and safety of food products, peculiarities of development of the agro-food sector as a system-forming for the whole system of food safety. In Ukrainian legal science the necessity of adopting of a special law “On Food Security” or “On Food Security of the State” was substantiated. But the attempt to adopt a special law, aimed at ensuring the state food safety, was unsuccessful. In 2012 the draft law “On Food Safety” was returned by the President of Ukraine to the Parliament with substantive remarks and rejected by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. By this time relations in the field of food safety remain without proper legislative regulation. Currently, the issue of adopting of a special law of Ukraine, aimed at the comprehensive regulation of relations in the field of food safety, is still relevant.

Food safety vs health and safety

As the implementation of certification systems and other food quality and safety systems has become a strong trend in Turkish agribusiness, there are no comprehensive studies in such field, which is considered of major significance for the future development of Turkey’s food industry. We went beyond existing studies by taking into account a broader set of food safety and quality assurance systems and agri-food industries. We considered a complete set of determinants of the implementation of food safety and quality system practices that take into account various Turkish agribusiness sectors rather than just one sector. Furthermore, it considered a broad spectrum of public and private standards. Many indicators were detected as incentives for enterprises to follow food safety and quality practices, comply with standards or even implement third-party audit-based certification schemes. The adoption of food safety and quality assurance practices was found to be very closely linked to objective data characterizing Turkish food processors, whereas subjective perceptions turned out to be insignificant. Legal form of ownership, region of ownership and control, firm size, being an exporter and major market served have a greater influence than industry subsector, level of foreign market sales and processed food share. Economic performance indicators as profitability, multifactor productivity, costs and reputation will provide insights into further developments in such area.With Turkey seeking EU accession, a series of reform packages were developed to fulfill the membership requirements (Akşit and Üstün 2009). However, despite these efforts, the process of harmonizing Turkish legislation with EU legislation is a slow one. For instance, food safety and quality assurance standards are not fully and effectively applied in the field, and many gaps still need to be filled in this regard. Many papers and reports have sought to evaluate the effectiveness of certain measures in meeting EU requirements among food enterprises in Turkey. However, firm operators’ perceptions of EU requirements regarding food safety and quality regulations are still unverified. Therefore, but seeks to better understand the perception and, thus, implementation of such EU requirements at the firm level. We revealed that perception of the EU requirements is very closely linked to the knowledge and the personal and economic characteristics of Turkish food processors. More precisely, improving knowledge about food safety and quality perceptions decisively increases firms’ ability to cope with the EU instructions. Such studies need to be extended and the alignment of Turkish legislation with EU legislation completed accordingly.

Managing food safety risks associated with climate change and agriculture necessitates comprehensive policy strategies to safeguard public health, ensure food security, and sustain agricultural productivity. This review delves into the multifaceted challenges posed by climate change on food safety and explores policy approaches aimed at mitigating these risks. Climate change presents a myriad of challenges to food safety, including altered patterns of precipitation, temperature extremes, and increased occurrences of extreme weather events. These changes impact various stages of the food supply chain, from production to consumption, exacerbating existing food safety risks and introducing new ones. Addressing these challenges requires proactive policy strategies that integrate climate adaptation and food safety management. Policy strategies for managing food safety risks associated with climate change encompass a range of measures aimed at enhancing resilience, promoting sustainable agricultural practices, and strengthening food safety systems. One key approach involves the implementation of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices, which aim to improve agricultural productivity while minimizing environmental impacts and enhancing resilience to climate change. CSA practices such as crop diversification, soil conservation, and water management can help mitigate the impacts of climate change on food safety by reducing the risk of contamination and enhancing the quality of agricultural products. Furthermore, policies aimed at promoting sustainable food production systems can contribute to mitigating food safety risks associated with climate change. These policies may include incentives for farmers to adopt sustainable farming practices, support for organic farming, and regulations to reduce the use of chemical inputs in agriculture. By promoting environmentally friendly farming practices, such policies can help minimize the occurrence of foodborne pathogens and chemical contaminants in food products, thereby enhancing food safety. In addition to promoting sustainable agricultural practices, policy strategies for managing food safety risks associated with climate change also focus on strengthening food safety systems and enhancing surveillance and monitoring mechanisms. This includes investing in infrastructure and capacity building to improve food safety testing and inspection capabilities, as well as enhancing early warning systems for foodborne disease outbreaks. By strengthening food safety systems, policymakers can better detect and respond to emerging food safety risks exacerbated by climate change, thereby reducing the likelihood of foodborne illness and protecting public health. Furthermore, international collaboration and knowledge sharing are essential components of effective policy strategies for managing food safety risks associated with climate change. Given the global nature of both climate change and the food supply chain, coordinated action at the international level is crucial for addressing shared challenges and exchanging best practices. International organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) play a critical role in facilitating collaboration and providing technical assistance to countries in developing and implementing effective food safety policies in the context of climate change. Managing food safety risks associated with climate change and agriculture requires a multifaceted approach that integrates climate adaptation, sustainable agriculture, and robust food safety systems. By implementing proactive policy strategies that promote sustainable practices, strengthen food safety systems, and foster international collaboration, policymakers can mitigate the impacts of climate change on food safety and ensure the availability of safe and nutritious food for all.

European food production systems have become very efficient in terms of high yield, quality and safety. However, these production systems are not sustainable since, amongst other reasons, a significant proportion of the production is wasted or lost in the supply chain. One of the strategies of the European Union is to achieve climate neutrality by moving towards a circular economy with better waste management. This includes, reducing food waste and losses, and reusing or recycling by-products of the food and feed production systems. A circular economy would greatly improve the sustainability of the European food systems, but attention must be paid to the emergence of (new) food safety hazards. New or not well-known hazards can occur because by-products are reintroduced into the system or new processing steps are used for recycling, and/or known hazards can accumulate in the food production chain due to the reuse of (by-)products. This review addresses food safety hazards in the circular biobased economy, covering the domains of plant production, animal production, aquaculture, and packaging. Instead of an exhaustive list of all potential hazards, example cases of circular food production systems are given, highlighting the known and potential emerging food safety hazards. Current literature covering emerging food safety hazards in the circular economy shows to be limited. Therefore, more research is needed to identify food safety hazards, to measure the accumulation and the distribution of such hazards in the food and feed production systems, and to develop control and mitigation strategies. We advocate a food safety by design approach.

Inclusive diets within planetary boundaries

Current transformations in food consumption and food trade have allowed greatly increased food exports from developing countries and also shifted the composition of exports towards high-value foods that offer better opportunities for smallholder farmers to improve their livelihoods. Transformations in the domestic markets of developing countries are also changing the composition of food consumed and opening up opportunities there. Nevertheless, food safety crises and changing food safety requirements are widely considered as potentially limiting the opportunities for smallholder farmers to enter these expanding markets. In particular, a shift in food safety philosophy towards the introduction of risk-based preventive controls on farms appears to pose a threat to smallholder farmers by creating new requirements for knowledge about food safety, additional investment in equipment and food safety systems, and more intensive linkages between producers and the buyers of their products. Food safety challenges vary considerably across markets and across products. Markets – developed country export markets, regional markets and developing country domestic markets – are changing rapidly and present different opportunities and threats from food safety risks and also the controls introduced to contain them. The food products for which food safety challenges are most prominent are cereals and nuts susceptible to aflatoxin contamination, and high-value fresh products such as fresh fruit and vegetables, meat and dairy. The use of risk-based preventive controls to address challenges is being extended not only through the extension of border controls, but also through private standards and through domestic controls in developing countries and food importing countries. Increasingly, the pressure is for the food safety systems of exporting countries to demonstrate their capacities to offer levels of food safety protection equivalent to those achieved in destination markets. Responding to these food safety challenges involves developing country governments making strategic choices about establishing a range of domestic standards and facilitating the upgrading of capabilities by smallholder farmers and their inclusion into a range of different markets. With respect to enabling smallholder farmers to gain knowledge about new food safety requirements, invest in food safety systems and increase the confidence of buyers, the well-established mechanisms for supporting smallholder inclusion in markets can make a substantial contribution to limiting exclusion.

Today, the provision of quality and safety of food products is an inalienable and significant part of the right regulation of socio-economic relations. Integration of Ukraine into the world economic community is impossible without the creation of a perfect legal framework in this area. In view of this, the urgency of the scientific elaboration of the problems of legal regulation of quality and safety of food products has been fully proved.A positive solution to the problem of increasing the competitiveness of agricultural enterprises (production, harvesting, processing, realization) depends on the quality management system and food safety at both the economic and regional levels. One of the conditions for increasing the competitiveness of enterprises in the agrarian sector of the economy is the introduction of a cluster model of agro-industrial production, which strengthens the relations of its business entities through close cooperation on mutually beneficial terms and provides new impetus for the development of their activities. These benefits of the cluster organization of agro-industrial production ensure the effective development of the quality management system and food safety at the enterprises of the regional agro-industrial cluster.The purpose of the article is to generalize the theoretical approaches to ensure the development of a quality management system and food safety at the enterprises of the regional agro-industrial cluster, to analyze the current situation of normative legal provision of quality and safety of food products in the country and to suggest ways of solving this problem.One of the most effective directions of socio-economic development of the regions that allows them to secure their competitive advantages in the field of food production and high level of food security is the formation of regional agro-industrial clusters.The article is devoted to the problem of ensuring the development of the quality management system and food safety of the regional agro-industrial cluster. The analysis of modern approaches to the quality management system and safety of food products of the agro-industrial cluster was conducted.The basic theoretical questions of normative-legal maintenance of quality and safety of food products in the country and in the world are considered. The current legislative framework in this area is worked out. The problematic directions of its application were determined, proposals were made regarding the improvement of the legal basis for ensuring the quality and safety of food products in Ukraine.The methods of ensuring the development of a quality management system and safety of food products at enterprises of agro-industrial cluster are offered.The organizational model of the quality management system and food safety system at the enterprises of the regional agro-industrial cluster has been developed.

The concept of “food systems” as used in this treatise refers to multiple systems: local, regional, national, and global. Two additional points flesh out the concept of food systems as used in this treatise. First, each food system comprises the production, processing, preparation, packaging, promotion, sales, preparation, distribution, and consumption of food. The shorthand descriptor of these events is known as “farm-to-fork” or “farm-to-plate,” which connote a systematic way of thinking about the life cycle of a food product. Second, a “food systems approach” involves more than the acknowledgment of the multiple stages in the modern food system; it also refers to an orientation that raises normative questions about what sort of food system(s) is preferable. Discussion of these normative questions involves food policy that is beyond the scope of this food law treatise; however, the implications of the debate are germane to food law because much of emerging law governing food is shaped in response to the changing norms and social ideas about the food system(s).

Food safety has been a critical issue from the beginning of human existence, but more recently the nature of concerns over food safety has changed. Further, in terms of both scale and impact, the modern problems of food safety are very different from the issues that confronted the past. For example, especially since the late 1990s, society has faced food safety crises and scares arising from threats as diverse as bovine spongiform encephalitis (BSE), dioxin contamination, melamine-tainted infant milk formula, and so forth. These phenomena show that an ever-increasing variety of contaminants such as chemical and microbial agents can potentially find their way into the food supply, while novel foods such as GM foods and cultured meat add new challenges when it comes to certifying food safety. Food safety has become a particularly complex issue in the context of the global economy because the governance of food safety is entangled with several larger trends at the global scale, including (a) trade liberalization in the 1980s; (b) the adoption of a risk analysis framework by global and national food safety administrations; and (c) the spread of food quality management regimes throughout the entire food industry, from food production to processing and retail. Furthermore, there are vast differences between developed and developing countries with respect to both food safety regulations and prominent food safety issues. These facts, combined with the borderless nature of sociotechnical food systems, contribute to a situation in which it is extremely challenging for any individual country to manage food safety issues within its jurisdiction. This observation underscores the importance of global food safety governance, a goal which is in itself difficult to achieve. Two especially significant dilemmas have emerged within the existing situation vis-à-vis global food safety governance. The first is the challenges arising from the tensions inherent in a “modern” food safety governance approach, a model that combines a science-based strategy of dealing with food safety problems, on one hand, and the ideal of participatory democracy, on the other hand, in trying to deal with food safety issues. Problems arise from the contradictions between the science-based risked management approach, focused narrowly on monitoring and mitigation of hazards, and the wide-ranging complexity of the social, political, and interpersonal factors that shape people’s real-world concerns about food safety. The second is cross-border application of risk management to food imports in the Global North and its implications for exporting countries in the Global South. Problems arise from disparities in approaches and expectations regarding food safety between the Global North and the South. These two dilemmas have one thing in common: Each inherently contains challenges arising from internal contractions, as when the goal of achieving sound and consistent solutions to food safety issues is pursued alongside the goal of building a broad consensus across varying actors whose values, norms, needs, and interests differ and who are situated in differing socioeconomic and political contexts. Drawing insights from the sociology of agriculture and food and from social studies of science, an attempt is made to unpack the societal and policy challenges of food safety governance in a globalized economy.

Immediately following the 1993 Jack-in-the-Box outbreak caused by Escherichia coli O157:H7, the United States began to look for a more robust regulatory food safety system than previously employed. In the same time frame in the United Kingdom, an outbreak of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) eroded public trust in the food safety systems of Western Europe. As a result, there was increased interest in implementing the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system worldwide. Although the ideas incorporated into HACCP principles were developed decades earlier, the 1990s saw a focus on implementation of the system throughout developed food production systems based on the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF)’s seven principles which were subsequently mostly adapted by Codex Alimentarious. During this period of time, there were increased governments and private companies that required HACCP implementation. In the United States alone, HACCP was estimated to reduce foodborne illness by 20% during the 7 yr after its implementation. During HACCP adoption, many food retail and foodservice purchasers also developed additional unique specifications that suppliers had to adhere to in order to market their products, the idea being to improve consumer confidence in food safety management systems. This resulted in creation of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) system for benchmarking additional voluntary food safety management standards against preferred methods for reducing foodborne illnesses (first in Europe, and later adopted in the United States and globally) which reduced redundancy and helped us to bring global consistency to food safety. Although developed countries now mostly all adhere to core HACCP principles of food safety, ideas dealing with traceability, vulnerability to food fraud, and intentional adulteration are now being considered to further bolster food safety. On the other hand, developing countries appear to have had varied success in implementing similar food safety management systems, and many countries still struggle with high numbers of foodborne illnesses. At the broadest level, the HACCP system is a preventive-based method for assuring food product safety. Biological, physical, and chemical hazards can be prevented, reduced, or eliminated through this system. In addition to the management of hazards, record keeping demonstrating adherence to HACCP is included in the system.