Assessment of Food Safety Management Systems in the global fresh produce chain

- More microbiological outbreaks linked to fresh produce and derived food products.
- Important worry of pesticide residues and mycotoxins in these products.
- Development of a tool to assess food safety management systems in fresh produce.
- Integral and comprehensive assessment over the produce chain and across the world.
- The tool is validated by experts and tested in companies.

Foodborne outbreaks appear to increase with more incidences linked to fresh produce and derived food products. This indicates inadequacies in Food Safety Management Systems (FSMSs), which are currently implemented in companies along the fresh produce chain. However, the information related to these inadequacies is restricted and little is known about the status of the FSMS. This paper describes the development of a tool for assessment of FSMS implemented in the fresh produce chain. The tool consists of indicators and grids to assess activities that are important for fresh produce, and the system output in terms of microbiological and chemical food safety (that is, pesticide residues and emerging mycotoxins). Three sets of indicators, one for each stage of the production chain (primary production, processing and trade), have been validated by experts and tested in companies. The tool enables an integral and comprehensive assessment of FSMS across the entire supply chain. Users of the tool can identify improvement opportunities and learn how to develop towards more advanced levels of activities. For research purposes differences in FSMS can be identified and linked to type of commodity, production system, country, etc.