Food Safety Guidance for Irish Farmers
5 March 2005
Food safety is a concern for everybody. From mild diarrhoea, cramps and vomiting to kidney failure and in extreme cases death, food poisoning is a threat to the health and well being of our children, grandparents and friends. We all have a role to play in preventing bacteria such as Salmonella and E. coli O157 contaminating our food. This is particularly true for farmers, whose livestock are the source of most of these disease-causing agents.
However, food safety management and the systems developed to protect our food must not result in unacceptable cost or a mountain of additional forms and paper work. Thus food safety systems such as Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP), which under the new European Commission Hygiene Regulations will be required at the processing, retail and catering stages in the food chain, may not be suitable for controlling pathogenic bacteria at the primary production stage. Farm food safety management requires a novel approach and is best developed by the farmers themselves, who have a long and proud tradition in the production of wholesome, safe, nutritious food.
To facilitate this process, Dr. Bláithín Maunsell and Dr. Declan Bolton of Teagasc have compiled the scientific information required by farmers to develop their own farm food safety system in ‘Guidelines for Food Safety Management on Farms’. In this document, the importance of on-farm food safety for Irish agriculture is highlighted by Mary Coughlan TD, Minister for Agriculture and Food, in the foreword. The scientific basis for on-farm food safety is then provided. The areas covered include food safety aspects of animal traceability, feed / fodder, water, animal housing / living conditions, clean livestock, animal health and disease prevention, detergents, disinfectants and agro-chemicals, milk quality, animal waste, biosecurity and poultry production.
This document is published as part of the European Union Risk Analysis Information Network (EU-RAIN). EU-RAIN is a major Teagasc-led European Commission funded food safety project. Lead by Dr Declan Bolton of the Teagasc - National Food Centre, EU-RAIN involves a consortium of food safety experts from 13 EU member states, the United States of America and Canada.
To download a copy of ‘Guidelines for Food Safety Management on Farms’ Click Here
Copies may also be downloaded from the EU-RAIN project website at www.eu-rain.com
Copies are also available free of charge from Dr Bláithín Maunsell, Email: bmaunsill@nfc.teagasc.ie
