- PDF Version (1.9M) - Print Friendly - Help

Food Focus May 2006

DFR a working model

The Domestic Food Review (DFR) proposes that most food businesses should have a Food Control Plan (FCP). Those food sectors whose operations present the highest risk are likely to be required to apply the new requirements first. But which ones will they be? Risk analyst Dr Lisa Gallagher, pictured, explains NZFSA’s risk ranking and prioritisation models for the DFR

To work out which food businesses are expected to be first off the rank once the proposed new system comes into effect, NZFSA has developed risk-ranking and prioritisation models.

They rank and categorise food businesses according to their potential food safety risk by weighing up the probability of an adverse health effect, as a result of their operations, and the subsequent severity of that effect, as well as a range of other practical considerations.

The models will help determine a transition programme for those businesses that are likely to need to develop an FCP, and identify an implementation programme as the new requirements are rolled out over the next five or more years.

NZFSA has identified more than 80 different food sectors (for example and in no particular order, distributors and transporters, frozen meal manufacturers, retail butchers, cereal manufacturers, ice manufacturers, brewers and distillers, retail bakers, fruit and vegetable producers – and so on) that do not currently operate any risk-based management plan.

Priorities of involvement

From here it is possible to begin estimating the level of risk their operations may pose and the relative priorities of involvement.

“It’s a simple tool and a good way of ensuring the process is systematic and transparent,” says Lisa. “If a particular business sector wants to know how or why they’re positioned where they are, the models can show how the decision was arrived at.”

Using the data NZFSA’s Science Group already has on the microbiological hazards that most commonly cause foodborne illness in New Zealand, the risk-ranking model takes account of the food those sectors produce to assess whether it represents a high, medium or low risk.

Risk-based and prioritised

“If a sector can prove to us that the information we used for the risk model is wrong, then any new and relevant information they supply can be fed into the model and the list updated – quickly, simply and easily,” says Lisa.

“It is intended to ensure the DFR requirements are implemented in a risk-based and prioritised way and that resources are aimed, in the first place, at the areas where they’re most needed.”

Added to the mix are details about the type of food produced, such as ready to eat or that which has to be cooked or processed in some way first; the level of preparation and processing that goes into creating that food (the more preparation involved, the greater the potential risk); whether the industry operates a voluntary food safety code of practice and if so, whether it’s effective; how relevant current requirements are for each food sector; the best place in the supply chain for effective risk control, and the skills and competencies typically found in that sector.

Other parameters that need to be considered include whether the food produced is regularly eaten by the vast majority of the population and in what volumes, and whether it’s specifically eaten by vulnerable groups, such as children under five, adults over 65, pregnant women and anyone who may be immune-compromised.

Necessary skills

“Some of the questions that need to be considered in the prioritisation model are: has this particular sector got the skills necessary to implement the changes and would it be able to adapt easily? Does it have systems in place that would allow it to adopt an FCP? What is the level of public interest in regulating that sector – and so on,” says Lisa.

Once all the parameters are in place scores can be awarded to the different sectors and weighted appropriately with respect to their food safety impact. These scores are then fed into the model which combines the scores and ranks the sectors.

Transition and implementation

Both models used together will form the basis of recommendations for transition and implementation of FCPs. However, it is envisaged that NZFSA will make the management decisions required to finally determine the transition and implementation plan by taking into account other significant factors, such as resources and timeframes.

Once the ranked list has been produced the sectors will be grouped for implementation, in descending risk and priority order. The highest ranked group will be targeted in the first year that the DFR requirements are expected to come into effect, the second-highest in year two – and so on down the line so that, by the end of the proposed five-year implementation period, all food sectors are covered and meeting the new requirements.

For more information

Call NZFSA’s free information service 0800 NZFSA1 (0800 693 721) or email info@nzfsa.govt.nz for hard copies of the explanatory brochure, a summary paper or Position Paper. Copies of all DFR documents published to date can be downloaded from the website: www.nzfsa.govt.nz.