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Food safety is a term, which encompasses methods used to maximise the safety and integrity of food. The very nature of food businesses in Australia now focuses on issues associated with food safety, particularly with meeting the demand by consumers for food free of chemical residues and microbiological hazards.

In meeting this challenge the Australian Meat Industry has developed a series of integrated quality assurance and food safety programs from the farm and feedlots right through to the consumers plate.

Australia's Integrated Quality Assurance and Food Safety Programs

ON THE FARM AND IN THE FEEDLOTS

To support the various government regulations, which ensure our livestock is free of residues and other contaminants, the industry has developed a number of quality assurance programs.

CATTLECARE and FLOCKCARE use the principles of HACCP to identify key production practices to avoid contamination programs. The National Feedlot Accreditation Scheme has been designed specifically for feedlots.

Underpinning such programs, is Australia's comprehensive animal identification system which can be used to trace the origin of livestock, and the National Vendor Declarations which verify the management and husbandry history of stock prior to sale.

PROCESSING

The Australian processing industry has implemented quality assurance systems as a vital step in the integrated program. These systems are backed by various Government regulations relating to food safety, health and hygiene.

Since January 1997, all Australian abattoirs have been required to operate under a new Australian Standard (ARMCANZ National Standards) which includes a mandatory HACCP plan. The US Mega Regs have also been implemented by abattoirs exporting to the United States.

What is HACCP?

HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point. It is used by food companies world wide as a risk management tool for identifying where things can go wrong, and using this to prevent problems from occurring. It was first devised by NASA to ensure the food for astronauts would not make them ill.

There are seven key steps to the system:

Conduct a hazard analysis to identify potential hazards which could occur in the food production process.

Identify the critical control points. These are points in the process where potential hazards can be controlled and monitored.

Set the critical limits for each critical control point.

Establish ways in which to monitor the critical control points. This is to ensure targets are being met.

Establish corrective action if monitoring indicates a critical control point is not within its established limits.

Establish effective record keeping procedures that document the HACCP system is working properly. Records should document critical control point monitoring, verification activities, and deviation records.

Establish procedures for verifying the HACCP system is working properly. Verification procedures may include reviewing the HACCP plan, critical control point records, as well as microbiological testing.

Further Information
For further Information on Food Safety Quality Systems, Third Party Auditing or any inquiries on AUS-MEAT Commercial services Ph 07 3361 9200 or email ausmeat@ausmeat.com.au.