Food Safety Legislation

Introduction
Definition : Food Legislation
 Is a mandatory regulatory activity of enforcement by national or local authorities to
provide consumer protection and ensure that all foods during production, handling,
storage, processing, and distribution are safe, wholesome and fit for human consumption;
conform to safety and quality requirements; and are honestly and accurately labelled as
prescribed by law.
The Objectives of Food Legislation
The principal objectives of legislation are:
 Protecting public health by reducing the risk of foodborne illness.
 Protecting consumers from unsanitary, unwholesome, mislabelled or adulterated food.
 Contributing to economic development by maintaining consumer confidence in the food
system and providing a sound regulatory foundation for domestic and international trade in
food.
Importance of food legislation
 Legislation imposes a general responsibility to ensure safety of any food brought to the market
 The foremost responsibility of food control is to enforce the food law(s) protecting the consumer against
unsafe, impure and fraudulently presented food by prohibiting the sale of food not of the nature, substance or
quality demanded by the purchaser
 The primary purposes of food legislation are to protect the health of the consumer, protect the consumer from
fraud, and facilitate trade.
 Legislation may also be required to prohibit the addition of nutrients to commodities where it is nutritionally
unnecessary or unsafe.
 Confidence in the safety and integrity of the food supply is an important requirement for consumers
 The development of relevant and enforceable food laws and regulations is an essential component of a
modern food control system.
 Many countries have inadequate food legislation and this will impact on the effectiveness of all food control
activities carried out in the country.
 To the extent possible, modern food laws not only contain the necessary legal powers and prescriptions to
ensure food safety, but also allow the competent food authority or authorities to build preventive approaches
into the system.
Characteristics of food legislation
 Food legislation should include the following aspects:
 It must provide a high level of health protection;
 It should include clear definitions to increase consistency and legal security;
 It should be based on high quality, transparent, and independent scientific advice
 following risk assessment, risk management and risk communication;
 It should include provision for the use of precaution and the adoption of provisional measures where an
unacceptable level of risk to health has been identified and where full risk assessment could not be
performed;
 It should include provisions for the right of consumers to have access to accurate and sufficient information;
 It should provide for tracing of food products and for their recall in case of problems;
 It should include clear provisions indicating that primary responsibility for food safety and quality rests with
producers and processors;
 It should include obligation to ensure that only safe and fairly presented food is placed on the market;
 It should also recognise the country's international obligations particularly in relation to trade; and
 It should ensure transparency in the development of food law and access to information.
Food safety legislation
 Food safety legislation can be traced back to Victorian England when there was a
widespread adulteration of food
 Its not only fraudulent but often dangerous eg toxic salts of lead and mercury were used to
provide additional colour in sugar confectionery intended for children
 Hence the intro of the 1st food adulteration Act in 1860
 Food safety is an issue for which regulatory authorities in any country adopt a formal
responsibility.
 The main reasons are:
a) a primary duty of care toward their citizens in respect public health: to correct by their
interventions,the market failure to create incentives for improved safety.
 b)food safety is an area of great political sensitivity; decisions impact on the income of
farmers,manufacturers etc ,food price,on the strength of the economy and international
competitiveness .
 Accidents or outbreaks receive wide coverage by mass media , consumers become
increasingly aware of the link food &diziz
 Thus a greater demand for food safety
 BUT consumers often lack precise & objective information about the safety of the food
they buy
 Currently there is no rational and systematic approach to FSL
Principles of Food safety legislation
 Food Safety Legislation should reconcile:-
-science,
-the interests &concerns of consumers,
-the interests of food operators and
 the exigence of free trade
The principles
1. Based on sound scientific analysis and evidence(objective evaluations of public health & food
safety situations)
2. A rigorous risk assessment should be undertaken to form the basis of decision making process
3. Legislative requirements should be proportinate to real health risks
4. Health protection &food safety should be achieved on a preventative basis.
5. Should concentrate on objectives and principles for action rather than concentrating on
technical issues
 .

6. Implementation should be concerted to the largest possible extent(official mechanism of

exchange of info)
7. Should unambiguously define authority and responsibility both in drafting & in
implementing regulations
8. Should be comprehensive i.e deal with all components of the food system
9.Shld provide for adequate enforcement
Based on the above principles legislative activities should center on 4 basic functions
1.FSOs
 Refers to the development of a science based, strategic and systematic plan or program coupling
health problems identification and assessment
 Have different forms e.g. determination of levels at which exposure is considered safe , or
determination of a specified %age of reduction of food contamination or product standards

Objectives of FSOs
 They identify the level of protection of the consumers that has to be guaranteed
 Reflect the goals &priorities that the government considers to be achievable
 Give consistency to food safety statements and interventions e.g. context of assessed risk policy
Determining FSOs
 A scientific assessment of risk
 Consideration of the available science &tech
 Evaluation of the costs that the society at large can afford
 A judgment as to the acceptability of the risk
2.Systems
 To provide assurance that the established objectives are being fulfilled
 Such systems may refer to the current good practice(GAP,GMP,GHP) that all operators
must observe
 Use of HACCP
 Microbiological analysis of foods
 Clear attribution of the responsibility of application & implementation to operators(gives
them accountability)
3.Food control activities
 Aimed at ensuring the systems and means are appropriately validated, implemented and
implementation verified by the operators concerned.
 Procedures should be identified to ensure food conforms with the safety requirements
4.Evaluation
 To assess that the activities undertaken under the different aspects of
effectiveness,impact,efficiency, progress, adequacy and relevance
Food laws enacted with the specific objective of protecting the health of the consumers
Laws also try to discourage fraud in the manufacture of food, promote fair practices in trade and
aim to prevent dumping
Food laws are divided into
i. Primary legislation
ii. Secondary legislation
Examples of the Zim primary legislation are the Food and Food standards Act and the Public
Health Act
Examples of secondary legislation are the food labelling regulations
They put into effect the detailed requirements of the Acts
The Food and Foods standards Act
The Zim Fd & Fd Stnds Act (1995) states that :
It is an offence ,to sell, offer for sell, deposit for the purpose of sale , food which fails to
comply with food safety requirements.
_ food fails to comply with food safety requirements if:-
1. It has been rendered injurious to health
2. It is unfit for human consumption
3. It is contaminated(extraneous matter or otherwise) that is would not be reasonable to
expect it to be used for human consumption in that state
 Adulteration of food
Section 4 of the Food & food standards Act
 Falsely described
Regulations
 made by the Minister and they give effect to the Act
 Describe the composition,strength, potency ,purity ,quality or other property of any food or any ingredient or
component
 Describe the nature of foreign matter which may be present as a result of unavoidable or necessary admixture
of food components
 Give details of the composition of any mixture of compounded food and outline what needs to be done
 Clearly spell out methods of testing,examination or analysis
 Hygienic design and construction of premises
 Also provide for methods ,appliances and processes to be used

check sections in the food and food standards act :

 Inspection
 Samples for analysis
 Detentions at port of entry
The Public Health Act
 The public health Act CAP 15:09,1996 is also used to in enforcing requirements for safe
handling and processing of food
 It has provisions for control of infectious diseases and how to implement international
sanitary regulations
 The act outlines requirements for the establishment and inspection of food processing
environments
 There is also information about infant nutrition
 Under the Public Health Act it is an offence to sell ,or prepare ,keep ,transmit or expose for
sale and milk dairy produce, meat or other article of food which is not clean, wholesome,
sound and free from and disease or infection or contamination
 In addition no person shall collect, prepare, manufacture ,keep ,transmit or expose for sale
any such article without taking adequate measure to guard against or prevent any infection
or contamination
 The regulations under this act that have a bearing on food relate to inspection of animals
intended for human consumption & for slaughter houses and of factories, shops, stores and
other places where any such article is manufactured/prepared /kept
 The regulations also relate to :
 Taking & examination of samples of meat or other articles of food and the removal or
detention pending examination or inquiry on suspected disease
 Seizure & destruction of unwholesome food
 Prohibition of importation of certain foodstuffs
 The PHA functions to prevent and guard against the introduction of disease from outside of
the country
 Used to assist local authorities in matters affecting public health
Other food laws

 The Food Safety Act(UK) 1990

 The US Food & Drugs Act

 Read around them
Food safety system in Zimbabwe

 Ensuring food safety requires action & cooperation of all individuals involved in the food
supply chain ie from suppliers to the consumers
 “from the stable to the table’
 It is important that a country takes measures at each of the 5 stages of the food supply
chain
 In Zimbabwe however there is less focus at stages 1 to stage 3
 It is in stages 4 & 5 where most food borne diseases occur as a result of incorrect handling
and preparation of foods
 Various organizations are involved in food safety at different levels of the FSC
 Use of different pieces of legislation are adopted altho the activities are fragmented
The food supply chain
 In 1996 the gvt of Zim adopted a policy of ensuring food and nutrition security as a basic
right for all citizens
 Establishment of The Food Standards Advisory Board (FSAB),
 Comprises of representatives of ministries:
-agriculture
-industry and commerce
-CCZ,Health,local authorities,food industry ,SAZ
Work on a part time basis and given a sitting allowance (meager).
 The FSAB has no enforcers to food laws and measures are underway to establish the Food
Safety Control Authority(FSCA) which will bring together inspectors in provinces and at
ports of entry, meat and plant inspectors ,vet and dairy services as well as food and water
laboratory.
 The FSAB has harmonized national food standards with international codex standards by
revising the F&FS,PHA,Animal health act , the dairy Act and the fruit councils act
 Other complimentary acts in food safety control include :
o Trade measures Act –minister issue regulations to control food safety such as all food
handlers have to have health certificates
o Urban Councils Act- local authorities are empowered to inspect premises where food is
prepared and sold
o These are loosely used to control informally distributed(street vended foods)
o Drawback-criteria need to be set for registering and licensing of food vendors
-licenses must have expiry dates and there must be re-registering and re licensing audits
Challenges with the system
 Human resource capacity
 Food standards and technical regulations
 Food borne disease surveillance
 Laboratory services
 Food inspection
 Communication
 Training
The impact of food safety systems
 Economic
 Health
 Social
Recommendations
-zimbabwe needs a clear food safety policy
-need for private sector & FSAB to formulate a national agenda in food safety training
-CCZ to intensify campaigns
-revision of penalties for flouting food safety laws
Success !