TIRANA, May 1- According to recent studies food safety is one of the main reasons for the developing of many diseases. For developing countries like Albania, food safety remains a challenge, but director of Food Safety Authority in Albania Agron Hetoja, said that based on results from official food examinations carried out and in relation to food products that they buy and consume, Albanian consumers consume food products that meet qualitatively the legal requirements of food safety.
Following recent and previous independent investigations from food experts that found various foreign chemicals in fruits and vegetables, and other packed consumer goods, food safety has become as hot topic for public debate. Nevertheless, in the ongoing struggle to meet the major objective of guaranteeing food security, the National Food Authority (NFA) is intensifying the growing attention and institutional care of issues related to the quality and safety of food products. Their activities also include the advicing of food business operators in order to meet the legal requirements, as well as to raise awareness of the Albanian consumer for the care they need to show in the consumption of food products.
In recent years, food security policies have taken the right place in the line of strategic priorities, including in important policy documents, such as the government’s “National Security Strategy” program. From all points of view, food security is considered a fundamental human right and, on the other hand, as an obligation of state institutions to guarantee it.
“As a result of the cooperation and in addition to the ongoing official controls exercised on food business operators, according to an annual plan for official risk-based control, the ‘natural partners’ of the National Food Authority have not only signaled identified cases of food products without quality, standard and safety, but also served as public awareness-raising promoters,” said Hetoja.
Hetoja added that ensuring food security is a complex process which fulfillment is achieved through an integrated approach, that includes the control of cultivation, processing, production and marketing of food products. Unlike some other areas of daily life or administration sectors, food security is very dynamic, but the likelihood of its being affected is the same probability that it will happen. Causes are of different nature and are often unknown. An effective food safety policy should recognize the complex nature of the production of these food products, as well as the assessment of the risks to human health.
How safe is food in Albania
After the news on hormones added to ripen fruits and vegetables faster, and then the alarm of cancerogenous chemicals found in packages, the first reaction came from the Ministry of Agriculture which said that the Albanian market today has safe and certified food products according to food safety standards guaranteed by law and regulatory acts. The Ministry added that its institutions have taken appropriate measures against any case of abuse discovered by them or made public in the media, up to the suspension of the production activity of subjects that have committed violations of the laws and standards in force. Another note the Ministry stressed on was that Albanian agricultural products are competing in international markets, indicating they are safe to consume.
Hetoja on the other hand said that official food safety controls or relevant monitoring exercised by the NFA to food business operators have also evidenced cases where legal requirements have not been met and depending on the typology of identified offenses the corresponding administrative measures are also individualized. Thus the Authority is strengthening the relationship with the Food Business Operators, redefining it in the institutional plan and focusing more and more on their awareness, in order to enable them to operate in accordance with the legal requirements for food.
Various categories of food business have been informed about the most frequent violations identified during the execution of official controls in the specific activity they perform, potential or real risks that may arise from these violations, summary of claims legal measures to be implemented, self-assessment and self-corrective measures in this regard. It has also been made known that in case of possible checks on the non-implementation of these requirements, the legislation provides for stricter administrative measures. Yet, during official controls on food safety, while concluding that in some cases the food business operators do not fully meet the legal requirements, the NFA assesses that the violations found do not affect food safety, but the violations related more to elements of infrastructure shortage and rarely translate into loss of quality of food products. Thus, Hetoja said that Albanian consumers consume food products that meet qualitatively the legal requirements of food safety.
Most frequent violations in meat and dairy processing
The NFA has shown particular attention to the business food business operators engaged in the production, processing and marketing of products of animal origin, mainly meat trading entities and dairy processing establishments. The controls are oriented to these categories of economic activities, not just because they are the main part of the Albanian daily consumer basket, but also for reasons related to the origin and nature of food products. If this category of food products is unidentified, or is produced, processed, and stored not in accordance with the legal requirements and the relevant protocols, the they present microbiological risks capable of causing pathological health injuries to the final consumer.
An attention has also been paid to the discipline of illegal livestock butchery and the marketing of uncertified meat. This has led to a number of butcheries which did not meet the criteria provided by law and bylaws being closed. Given that this practice is intertwined and encouraged not because of animal butchery costs but mainly due to non-documentation and concealment of fiscal transactions, that indirectly means uncertified meat product marketing. Thus, it has been stressed by controls that each marketing unit must trade products certified by the official veterinarian during the butchering process and accompanied by a veterinary health certificate stamped on the meat. These elements increase food safety in this product category.
The NFA has also developed special and detailed control and monitoring plans for subjects in the dairy processing industry, which is reflected in all stages of the food production process, from raw material handling to final product processing. Regarding this purpose, legal requirements have been reformed/enriched with official documents in the form of verification lists for milk processing establishments, which have been sent to food business operators who produce and process milk products in relation to the completion of s self-control report and the requirements that these operators must meet.
Some of the problems the NFA found during controls on food business operators are related to the implementation of the legal requirements respectively:
- Meat product, unaccompanied by seal and veterinary health certificate;
- Failure to comply with legal requirements for hygienic and sanitary conditions;
- Lack of accompanying documentation and shortcomings in the traceability documentation system;
- Lack of accompanying documentation for food products at retail outlets;
- Failure of the food business operators to withdraw their food from the market;
- Lack of labeling of food products in Albanian language;
- Trading of products out of use;
- Failure to meet the requirements for implementation of the self-control plan (HACCP).
Domestic meat farms
In this regard the Food Authority has built and is increasingly strengthening cooperation with other institutions operating in the food chain, such as veterinary service structures and agricultural extension. Hetoja said his institution judges and assesses that official food control would have higher quality and effectiveness if we could completely avoid fragmentation of institutional responsibility in the food chain, even though it disagrees with the allegedly controlling the food chain from the farm to the consumer table.
Hetoja said there is a steady growth in domestic production, but the Authority also inspects imported products, with products coming from Brazil especially. For instance, in 2017 they caught 25,660 kg of unsafe poultry meat, and in 2018 they caught 184,554 kg unsafe poultry meat and 26,788 kg unsafe pork meat which were returned to their country of origin.
