SCRC: SCRC RTG: Dr Catherine McLeod "European Commission and Australian Embassy, Brussels, IFREMER (nantes and Arachon, France) and the 7th International Conference on Molluscan Shellfish SAfety, Nantes, France
Final report
This travel grant was related to research into market access of abalone to the European Union (Market Access for Abalone: Seafood CRC Project 2008/909). In order to gain information on the technical barriers to trade and assist the abalone industry's desire to regain market access to the EU, a meeting was held between Dr Catherine McLeod (Post Doctoral Scientist, Shellfish Food Safety, SARDI) and Dr Paolo Caricato (DG SANCO, European Commission, Health and Consumers Directorate-General, Directorate E - Safety of the Food Chain) on 11 June 2009 in Brussels.
Informal agreement was reached that the current implementation of the EC mollusc legislation is a problem for the Australian wild capture abalone sector and is likely inappropriate relative to the risk. The EC suggested that the approach used to manage marine biotoxins for the capture scallop industry would be more appropriate. Follow up to this meeting will involve submission (industry and AQIS agreed) of data gained through Project 2008/909 to the European Commission to assist in regulatory decision making and facilitate market access of wild capture abalone to the EU.
Furthermore, this grant allowed travel to the 2009 International Conference on Molluscan Shellfish Safety (ICMSS) which is the premier event for shellfish safety issues where industry, regulators and scientists come together to discuss emerging food safety trends and challenges, regulatory management issues, research outcomes, new analytical techniques and research priorities.
Following the conference, several field trips were undertaken to oyster and mussel production areas on both the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, and meetings were held between Australian regulators, scientists and industry members and various French oyster industry representatives and research providers.
SafeFish 2018-2021
Maintaining and enhancing market access for Australian seafood is critical for future industry growth. SafeFish makes a significant contribution to this by carrying out three types of projects:
1. Food safety incident responses. The SafeFish partners come together during each incident to provide industry and government with immediate technical information required to respond to the incident. Subsequently, technical input is provided to update policies for prevention of similar incidents and respond to them should they recur. Appropriate technical responses reduce the impact of food safety incidents and ensure better outcomes for future management.
2. Technical input to inter-government consultations on food regulations and market access. It is essential for the Australian seafood industry to participate in consultations such as Codex to ensure that proposed new, or modified, regulations are pragmatic and cost-effective for the Australian seafood industry. It is far easier to influence standards under development than after they have been finalised. Similarly, it is essential for the seafood industry to stay in close contact with Food Safety Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) when domestic food safety regulations are reviewed.
3. Proactive research, risk analyses and training. The safety of Australian seafood is not negotiable in domestic and international markets. Over recent years SafeFish has conducted many activities to assist the industry anticipate and minimize food safety risks. The objective of the activities has always been to identify and mitigate risks before they cause a problem, or to grow knowledge to enable us to improve our risk management in a cost effective manner.