Based on a World Food Safety Day press release by Lynca Meats
According to The World Health Organisation, World Food Safety Day “draws the attention and inspires action to help prevent, detect and manage food safety risks in order to promote the availability of safe and healthy food for all.” The theme for 2021 is “safe food now for a healthy tomorrow” which stresses that the consumption and production of our food have “immediate and long-term benefits” for people, the world and the economy. When it comes down to the inner workings of food safety, Lynca Meats CEO, Brent Fairlie addresses the local and international safety standards for pork, information surrounding the demand for livestock products, food safety compliance; the role Lynca Meats play in delivering safe, good quality pork and getting to know the measures that are taken to enhance food safety to improve product quality.
Know Your Standards
Compulsory standards are set by the Meat Safety Act and Red Meat Regulation governing the Red Meat Industry which includes pork. The aim is to provide measures that promote meat safety and the safety of animal products; to establish and maintain essential national standards in respect of abattoirs, and to regulate the import and export of meat. According to Brent, “The purpose of these guidelines is to give clear guidance to producers and other value-chain role players on the expected minimum requirements for food safety of meat products that is required by various government institutions.” Voluntary standards are also set by various stakeholders to coordinate national and international food safety requirements or to meet specific attributes. These include, but are not limited to the management and control of Food Safety Management Systems; Pork 360 covering farm administration in the raising, feeding and housing of pigs; as well as the SPCA conducts inspections to ensure the welfare and treatments of animals.
Food Safety Compliance On Supply Chains
The larger ‘scale’ operators throughout the chain can afford to implement and maintain required international Food Safety Standards; this means that the big corporations will play an increasing role in the food chain while it threatens the smaller producers as this food chain won’t be able to be accommodated. As each supply chain required different standards from such supplier audits, the increased demand places any company (both large and small) under pressure to produce the required results. Safety Compliance doesn’t come cheap either, and while large scale operators manage to afford a larger percent of the costs of ongoing annual audits, it will impact the smaller producers more so.
How The Demand For Pork Has Changed
Pork is one of the most consumed meats globally and for good reason – price and demand. It’s known that beef, lamb and chicken have become relatively more costly to produce in comparison to their lean counterpart, pork which is being passed onto the customer who can no longer afford these proteins as often as they used to. Limited consumption of red meat has paved the way for an increased demand on pork as prices have become more affordable. The same can’t be said for white meat. Take fish for example; with global overfishing and products becoming more scarce, prices have increased in that sector, therefore influencing demand for consumption.
Improving Safe, Good Quality Pork and The Enhance On Food Safety
The Full Food Safety Programme is in place to ensure compliance to Food Safety Standards rights from Farm (Pork 360 compliance), through to factory (DALRRD regulations), Meat Act Compliance; including other various Legislation Compliance Acts right through to Retailer compliance Programmes (who require their own Food Safety Standards). Quality assurance requirements from all suppliers need to be met and approved for any product received, either for use in any production process or sold on as is.
The Full Food Safety Department is a dynamic environment where Food Safety Standards and Legislation is changing, constant monitoring and reaction, where a full MicroProgram is in place; this is where routine lab tests are performed in line with a Micro Program. A fully established Quality Assurance department is responsible for our Food Safety Management System and its attendant practices document and update operating procedures throughout all production facilities and related departments. Non-Conformances and customer complaints form part of its ongoing corrective action in improving best practices and retaining and/or developing skills across the board and in doing so developing a Food Safety culture of commitment to constant improvement.
In essence, World Food Safety Day is a reminder that really sets the standards for safe and ethical production and consumption. With prices changing, demands changing and consumption changing, Lynca Meats is committed to providing and regulating high quality Food Standards in their fine tasting pork that makes its way from farm to fork.
Photo by Cornel van Heerden.
Relevant pages on AgribookDigital include “Pork and Pig Farming” and “Food Safety and traceability“
