Regulations, laws and quality management system are important part of quality management of pork chain, which plays role of monitoring and supervising of the sector. An efficient regulation and quality management system is helpful for the guarantee of the pork safety.
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The legislations and regulations system in Spanish pork chain is described in table 22 in terms of quality and safety, traceability, animal welfare and environment.
As a European country, Spain not only obeys the legislations and regulations of European Union, but also its national legislations and regulations settled according to its national situation.
From table 22 we can see that, in the case of feed producers, ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 are common accreditations. In the case of producers they have its quality controls inside the farm in terms of management practices. The management of the farm has increased quality of animals in recent years as animals are homogeneous and have better production indexes because of several reasons: the use of homogeneous reproductive animals, separation of animals in groups and improvement of installations. There is no accreditation in farms but the integrator manages quality of the farms of the associates.
Farms are also controlled by institutions. There are controls by the Regional Ministry of Agriculture in terms of number of animals, control of blood in the prevention of illnesses that can affect other farms and controls of the adequacy of the installation to the national regulations of welfare, well-being and safety.
HACCP implementation is obligatory for slaughterhouses.
In the case of retailers, great supermarkets have its quality programs and brands that guarantee their quality objectives. In the case of small retailers as the butcher interviewed, he comments they have the business according the regulations on safety and they have developed a code of good practices in the stores they have.
To detect the disease in livestock, which could cause serious economic, social and health loss and affect public health (e.g. zoonosis), Veterinary health warning system was created, whose legal basis by the Royal Decree 1440/2001, which consists of the following elements:
- The National Committee for Veterinary Health Warning System, Which coordinates activities between national authorities on animal health.
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scientific knowledge needed to deal with emergency situations when there is a serious risk of epidemics or spread of zoonosis.
- A computer network that integrates health databases and whose name is Veterinary health warning network (RASVE) This computer system is an essential tool for the objectives pursued by the Veterinary health warning system. The RASVE integrates all health information available, both nationally and internationally, allowing real-time connection between the computer applications existing and Production Animal Health and Food Safety. This tool provides urgent decision making for prevention, control and eradication of animal diseases, while ensure a greater protection to public health. We can see that the Spanish pork chain legislation system is clear and completed, which covers safety and quality, traceability, animal welfare and environment. In addition, the big companies have their private quality and safety systems to ensure the quality of their products.
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Quality and safety Traceability Animal health and animal
welfare Environment The sector RD 315/1996 sanitary conditions of production
and marketing of fresh meat REG, 852/2004 Hygiene of food products REG 853/2004 Hygiene of products from animal origin
REG 854/2004 Official control of animal origin products
REG 2073/2005 Microbiological criteria
REG. 178/2002. General principles of food regulation where traceability is made obligatory
EC No 178/2002
Agreements in the European
Union Ley 16/2002. Prevention and integrated control of pollution from the directive 96/61/CE
Breeder RD 479/2004 General register
of cattle farms. Identification systems and register of pigs (SIMOPORC)
RD 1201/2005 about protection of animals used for experimentation RD 1135/2002, minimal regulations for pig protection
RD 324/2000 for manure management
Feed producer Framework normative.
RD 418/1987, of 20 February, on substances and products involved in animal nutrition RD 2207/95 of the 28 December in which hygiene regulations on food products are established from the Directive
93/43/CEE,enterprises of the food sector must have self control activities based on the principles of the HACCP
ISO 9001 and ISO14001:2004
REG 178/2002 regarding
traceability Ley 16/2002. Prevention and integrated control of pollution.
Pig producer RD 1749/1998 Control of certain substances and wastes of live animals and its products RD 1323/2002 on which it is modified the RD 324/2000 3 march on which there are established basic regulations on pork farms. RD 142972003 of the 21 November in which there are regulated the application of the European regulations regarding sub products of animal origin not assigned for human consumption
Reg. (CE) 1774/2002 of the European Parliament and Council of the 3 October 2002 on which sanitary regulations to be applied of animal sub products not used for animal consumption Control of swine fever
RD 479/2004 General register of cattle farms.
Identification systems and register of pigs (SIMOPORC)
LEY 8/2003 of the 24 April of animal health
RD 1135/2002, minimal regulations for pig protection
RD 441/2001 of 27 April on which RD 348/2000 of 3 march is modified and it is added 98/58/CE regarding animal protection in farms
Law 16/2002 affects intensive pork production. For farms with more than 2000 places for pigs of more than 30kg and/or 750 places of sows
There are regulation about: - Wastes to public beds - Agrarian manure application - Manure storage - Ammonia emissions - Special wastes - Noises
Veterinarian RD 1440/2001 Creation of the
veterinary sanitary alert system
Transporter ORDEN APA/3164/2002
National identification and register of pig movement system (SIMOPORC)
REG(CE) 1/2005 of the council of the 22
December 2004 protection of animals during transport RD 751/2006 of 16 June regarding authorization and register of transporters and means of animal transport Slaughterhouse RD 2224/1993 sanitary regulations on
transformation and elimination of death animals and animal wastes against pathogens in concentrates of animal precedence RD 3262/76 and others with the regulation technical and sanitary for slaughterhouses, rooms of quartering etc.
Order of 16 January 1992 and others about classification of pig carcasses, methods etc RD 2207/95 of the 28 December in which hygiene regulations on food products are established from the Directive 93/43/CEE, enterprises of the food sector must have self-control activities based on the principles of the HACCP. ISO 9001 (2000)
RD 1808/1991 which regulates mentions that can identify a set
RD 54/1995, modified by RD 731/2007
about protection of animals during the
slaughter process
Processor RD 1904/199 auto control system (HACCP) RD 202/2000 regulations for food handlers Orders related to stamps on skin of cured hams Regulations regarding the use of additives by the feed industry
RD 1334/1999 and others. General regulation on labelling, presentation and advertising of food products RD 2207/95 of the 28 December in which hygiene regulations of food products are established from the Directive 93/43/CEE, enterprises of the food sector must have self control activities based on the principles of the HACCP
RD 1808/1991 which regulates mentions that can identify a set
Retailer RD 202/2000 regulations for food handlers RD 1376/2003 sanitary conditions of production, storage and marketing of fresh meat
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China
The management departments of the government
At present, China has formed a management system coordinated by the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), jointly conducted by nine departments, which are Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Public Security, State Administration for Industry (SAIC), General Administration of Customs (GAC), State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA). They are responsible for the governance and regulation of food safety and quality, including pork safety. Their functions in pork chain management are shown in table 23. SFDA is responsible for the coordination of all links of the chain, Ministry of Public Security is responsible for inspecting and enforcing of the law and regulations set. These two departments are responsible for the management and supervision for all the links of the chain; the other departments are responsible for each critical links of the chain.
Table 23. Administrative departments in China and their functions in pork chain Departments
Raw materials Pig production Slaughtering and processing Distribution of pork Consumption of pork Importing and exporting production International trade distribution Location, environment production SFDA √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ Ministry of Public Security √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ Ministry of Agriculture √ √ √ √ √ Ministry of commerce √ √ √ √ √ Ministry of Health √ √ SAIC √ √ √ √ AQSIQ √ √ √ √ √ √ GAC √ √ SEPA √ √ √
Notes: The raw materials refer to the materials invested in pig production such as feed and veterinary drug
Source: from webpage of each department
There are problems exist in this management system, which are:
First, overlap of management right. To ensure the pork safety, the Chinese government has established a system that is composed with several departments. These nine departments manage coordinately, but their rights are not clearly defined and divided. Inevitably it causes the right of management overlap. They enforce the regulations according to each own standard, resulting the coordination difficulties. The overlap of the management right has caused low efficiency of this management system, while the pork safety accidents happen time and time again, which made the
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consumers lose their confidence in pork safety. Some scholars describe this problem as ―nine supervision departments are not able to well manage a plate of pork‖.
Secondly, the current quality and safety management system pays inadequate concern in the origin links in pork chain such as feed production, pig production and pig/pork transportation. The related departments do not monitor efficiently the addictive of the feed and veterinarian drug.
Laws and regulations:
Laws and regulations in food safety and quality are basis of management and supervision, the laws and regulations related are listed in table 24.
Quality standard system
To continue to ensure and improve product quality, a lot of pork enterprises in China has got certification in quality standards, the main quality standards are as follows:
ISO 9000 series of standards:
Though ISO9000 quality certification is becoming common, it is not obligatory, among the more than 2000 main meat enterprises, 57 have achieved ISO certification in 2005 (China meat association).
GMP Standard:
GMP refers to Good Manufacturing Practice. It gives special focus on the implementation of automatic control of the production process on product quality and health safety. It is not obligatory, only several leading pork slaughtering and processing companies have got the certification.
HACCP standard:
HACCP is the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point which has got its recognition in FAO / WHO Codex Alimentations Commission (CAC) for its function in prevent and control the food safety.
Till 2005, there are 47 meat companies got HACCP. It is recommendable but not compulsory; many small meat industries do not have HACCP certification as they cannot afford the cost.
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QS Standard:
QS is the abbreviation of quality safety, it is a national market access system which is developed by the AQSIQ. It states the production requirements that the companies should meet to conduct production business and the requirements that the companies should meet to have their products sold in the market. QS includes three components, which are: (1) conduct a production licenses system to the food production enterprises; (2) conduct a mandatory testing to the finished products from the enterprises that are ready to sell; (3) sign the QS mark to the products that are proved to be qualified to have the access to market through the test, making the commitment to the public.
Table 24. National regulations and laws in pork chain in China
Actors of chain National laws and regulations Breeder Anti-epidemic law of P.R of China
Feed producer Feed and feed additives regulations Standards of labels of feed
Pig producer
Agri-products‘ safety and quality law of P.R of China Animal Anti-epidemic law of P.R of China
Regulations on meeting emergencies of grave animal epidemics Veterinarian Management of veterinarian Animal Anti-epidemic law of P.R of China
Transportation Animal Anti-epidemic law of P.R of China
Slaughterhouse
Agri-products‘ safety and quality law of P.R of China
Special regulations on strengthening supervision and management of the safety of food from the State Council
Food hygiene law of P.R of China Management of slaughtering of pigs Hygiene standard of pork (GB2707－1994)
Processor
Agri-products‘ safety and quality law of P.R of China
Special regulations on strengthening supervision and management of the safety of food from the State Council
Food hygiene law of P.R of China
Hygiene standard of pork (GB2707－1994) QS certification standard
Retailer
Special regulations on strengthening supervision and management of the safety of food from the State Council
Agri-products‘ safety and quality law of P.R of China Source: collected by the author
QS is a national standard of quality and safety, it is compulsory in China that all the producing and processing companies should pass to enter the market.
Meat hygiene standards (GB2707-1994):
This standard specifies the meat hygiene requirements and testing methods for slaughtering pigs processed by the veterinary health inspection pass, allowing sales
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of fresh pork and frozen pork. The standard is a quality inspection of meat products.
Other quality standards:
Besides the systems and standards mentioned above, there are also other industrial standards, local standards and standards of each company, which are adopted to control and supervise the safe production.
3.4 Chapter summary
This chapter gives comparisons on pork chain and pork chain management between Spain and China. Many differences are found in respect to each link of the chain, governance of the structure, information use and exchange, logistics systems and quality management systems.
The main difference in pork industries between the two countries is the pig production manner. Small-scaled backyard pig production still dominates the pig production in China while big-scaled and commercial pig production is the main production way in Spain.
The main difference in pork chain management between the two countries is the governance structure. In China, spot market relationship dominates the governance structure though big processing industries are conducting new governance structures. In Spain, most of the chain agents choose cooperated or integrated governance structure to collaborate with their chain partners.
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