Biosecurity
certification against Avian Flu:
Food safety technology
for competitiveness on world markets
By Jon Fernquest
After the Avian Flu outbreak
in 2004 major buyers in Japan and the European Union (EU) stopped
buying chicken from Thailand.
From 2003 to 2004 Thai raw chicken meat exports dropped from 27 billion baht (484,000 tonnes) to zero. Thai exports of cooked semi-processed meat products that have been heat-treated are still going strong at 345,000 tonnes this year. Brazil and China are the major fresh chicken sellers on world markets nowadays.
Growing importance of food safety
Food safety standards and technology have become very important in the last few years. China has had several recent food safety incidents.
Thai fruit exports to the European Union were banned in 2005 when European food safety inspectors discovered a serious bacterial contamination. Thailand eventually lost 40% of its market share in European supermarkets to Vietnamese exports. The value of Thai produce exported to Europe declined from 100 billion baht in 2005 to 20.2 billion baht last year (Read article).
Food safety measures to bring the buyers back
Thailand is currently putting biosecurity management systems in place to guarantee food safety in the future. With food safety guaranteed export market share can be won back and food exporters can regain market share.
The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) formulates guidelines on biosecurity management which consists of surveillance against disease and better control of disease outbreaks when they occur.
A system of zoning helps control where chickens and chicken meat comes from. The system divides the country of Thailand into several zones or regions within the country, then into compartments or production facilities within each zone, and finally into flocks or individual groups of birds within each compartment.
A compartment is defined as a well-defined area where animals are kept under a biosecurity management system. At every stage of production the origin of the chicken meat destined for export can be traced back to a specific flock in a specific compartment.
If Avian Flu is detected, a buffer zone can be formed around the compartment where the outbreak occured and the Avian Flu can be prevented from spreading.
Pilot programme with World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)
In 2006, the Thai government, CP Foods (CPF), and and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) have worked together on a pilot certification programme that guarantees that a biosecurity system has been put in place to protect farms and is working properly. An additional 21 chicken processors have been encouraged to join the programme.
Certification is necessary for foreign buyers who are "very strict on product standards." Big importers of Thai raw chicken like Tesco make two or three trips to Thai production facilities per year to inspect for food safety.
In May of this year a CP Food's compartment in Nakhon Ratchasima with 15 farms received certification from the Livestock Development Department of the Thai government. By the end of 2008 all 39 compartments of CP Foods covering 123 farms should be certified.
Regaining lost customers
After certification is in place the work of regaining lost buyers will begin.
Next month, the Livestock Development Department will inform six major importers (European Union, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan) of the new measures that Thailand has put in place.
This will involve talks between governments. A follow-up meeting on the JTEPA (Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement) in Bangkok in two months. The new measures and the resumption of raw chicken imports will be discussed at this time.
Local oversupply of fresh meat and rising feed costs
Renewed export of raw chicken meat from Thailand would help relieve the current problem of oversupply in Thai domestic markets that causes low chicken meat prices while the cost of feed and producing chickens is rising worldwide:
"The export of fresh meat would help absorb the local oversupply situation, in which about 19 million birds have been produced each week, from 12-13 million chickens a few years ago. He was afraid that local farmers, with a combined 2-3 million birds, might not be able to survive in the business due to the soaring prices of feed.Stemming from expensive feed, the export prices of processed and semi-finished chicken in global market have shot up substantially this year. According to Mr Teerasak, prices in Japan were US$5,000 to $5,500 per tonne, up from $3,000 to $4,000 last year.
To prevent risk from fluctuating export prices, the company has dropped multiple-month advance sales and taken only one or two months in advance. CPF plans to sell 100,000 tonnes of processed chicken this year, of which 90,000 tonnes are exported.
Virote Kumpeera, senior executive vice-president of CPF, said maize prices have increased significantly to between 11 and 11.50 baht a kilogramme today, up from an average of 8 baht last year and 5 baht in 2006, following more demand for fuel crops in the global market.
It plans to invest 100 million baht to build silos and dryers in Laos to supply maize for the Thai operation."
(Source: Bangkok Post, business, 15-07-08, WALAILAK KEERATIPIPATPONG, temp-link)
Vocabulary:
Avian Flu, bird
flu - a danger virus transmitted to humans by birds (See Wikipedia
and Social
effects of H51N, biosecurity
against Avian Flu) ไข้หวัดนก
an outbreak, a disease outbreak - when people
suddenly start getting the disease การแพร่ระบาดของเชื้อโรค
raw -
not cooked, uncooked ดิบ ยังไม่ได้ปรุง
raw chicken meat - uncooked chicken meat
เนื้อไก่ดิบ
food processing - methods and techniques used to
turn raw ingredients into food that can be eaten by humans or animals,
clean, harvested crops or slaughtered and butchered animal meat is used
to produce attractive, marketable and often long-life food products
(See Wikipedia)
การถนอมอาหาร
cooked semi-processed meat products - meat that is
cooked before it is put in a package for sale (for example, the
packaged meat products at 7-11 which you can eat immediately)
ผลิตภัณฑ์เนื้อสัตว์ที่ผ่านการปรุงพร้อมอุ่นเพื่อรับประทาน
เช่นจำพวกอาหารแช่แข็งเป็นต้น
food safety - a scientific discipline that studies the handling, preparation, and storage of food to prevent food from carying illness (See Wikipedia) ความปลอดภัยในเรื่องการอาหารนับแต่กระบวนการการผลิต ขนส่ง การจัดเก็บและจัดจำหน่าย
bacterial
contamination - การปนเปื้อนเชื้อแบคทีเรีย
market share - the percentage of sales in market
that the company has (See glossary)
ส่วนแบ่งของตลาด
biosecurity
- policies and measures taken to protect a population from biological
harm, includes the prevention of diseases, pests, and bioterrorism, and
reducing their impact on the economy, the environment, public health,
includes protection for the food and water supply, agriculture,
pollution, and blood supply (See Wikipedia)
นโยบาย หรือมาตราการการป้องกันการติดเชื้อของสัตว์ในโรงเรือน
หรือในฟาร์มปศุสัตว์
biosecurity
management systems - a proven system for protecting a
population from biological harm
ระบบการจัดการให้สัีตว์ในโรงเรือนปลอดการติดเชื้อ
guaranteed
- promised to happen (See glossary)
รับประกัน
food safety guaranteed - that the food is safe is
promised รับประกันว่าอาหารปลอดภัย
World
Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) - an internation
organisation that fights animal diseases world and takes action to
improve animal health worldwide, recognised by the World Trade
Organisation, has 172 member countries (See website)
CP Foods (CPF) - Thailand's largest agribusiness
firm, a publicly traded subsidiary of the Charoen Pokphand Group (See Wikipedia)
กลุ่มผลิตอาหารในเครือเจริญโภคภัณฑ์
JTEPA (Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement)
- a free-trade agreement between Thailand and Japan, signed on April
3rd, 2007 (See Wikipedia)
surveillance
- the careful watching of something การเฝ้าระวัง
surveillance against disease - carefully watching if
the disease occurs การเฝ้าระวังไม่ให้เกิดโรค
zoning
- dividing an area into smaller areas with restricted and controlled
activity การแบ่งเขต
compartments - a well-defined area where animals are
kept under a biosecurity management system ส่วนต่างๆ
ที่จัดสรรเพื่อป้องกันการติดเชื้อ
facilities - buildings, equipment, and services
provided for a particular purpose (See glossary)
ตึก อาคาร อุปกรณ์อำนวยความสะดวกต่างๆ
production facilities - buildings, machines, and
equipment for producing goods อุปกรณ์และเครื่องมือในการผลิต
a flock
- a group of birds, sheep, or goats ฝูงสัตว์
X traced back to Y - follow the path that X has
taken back to point Y ตามรอย
X traced back to a specific flock - follow the path
that bird or bird meat until you find the flock that it came
from
a well-defined area - exactly what the area includes
and its boundary are described exactly (people know when they are in or
outside of the area) บริเวณที่จัดไว้ หรือแบ่งเขตไว้อย่างชัดเจน
destined for
export - will be exported, not exported yet
เตรียมไว้เพื่อการส่งออก
detected - people know that it exists ที่พบ
a buffer zone - an area around a place, that
protects things or people inside from being harmed เขตกันชน
follow-up
- continuiing something that you already started (See glossary)
การติดตาม
a follow-up meeting - a meeting that continues
business started in a previous meeting
การประชุมสืบเนื่องจากการประชุมครั้งก่อน
resumption of X - beginning X again
การเริ่มต้นอีกครั้ง
resumption of raw chicken imports - beginning raw
chicken imports again เริ่มการส่งออกเนื้อไก่ดิบอีกครั้ง
renewed X - beginning X again
renewed exports - beginning exports again
เริ่มการส่งออกอีกครั้ง
relieve problem X - solve problem X แก้
ขจัดปัญหา