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Asian seminar for on safe and high quality food

New Delhi, 4 – 5 April 2002

Tom Heilandt

Agricultural Standards Unit, UNECE Trade Division

Overview of commercial quality standards for agricultural

produce

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Outline

• The need for harmonization: History, goals and role of commercial quality standards.

• Aspects of quality• UNECE Agricultural Standards• A forum for the development of standards• Application of standards• The future of quality standards• Questions, discussion

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Situation in the ECE region in 1949

• Countries use national quality standards to regulate trade within their borders

• Producers market• Growing interest in international trade• Existing national regulations become barriers to

international trade

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Harmonization of national standards

• 1949 The Working Party on Standardization of Perishable Produce and Quality Development takes up its work at UNECE in Geneva

• 1954 The Geneva Protocol and Standard Layout are adopted

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Why UNECE Standards?

• To facilitate fair international trade• To encourage high quality

production• To improve producers’ profitability• To protect consumers’ interests

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Role of UNECE standards

• To define a common international trading language• To fill the gap between food safety regulations and

marketing• To define commercial quality for foodstuffs

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ESSENTIAL QUALITY

Environmental aspects of production

Food safety

(human, animal and plant health)

Nutritional value

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COMMERCIAL QUALITY

Internal

Taste

Maturity…

External

Cleanliness

Color

Freshness

Shape

Presentation

Packing…

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Commercial quality

• Commercial quality is a set of parameters describing internal and external characteristics of the produce, which are necessary to ensure transparency in trade.

• Commercial quality lies between essential qualities like food safety or nutrition and marketing claims

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UNECE Standard Layout

• Definition of produce• Minimum requirements• Maturity requirements• Classification (Extra, class I, class II)• Sizing provisions• Tolerances (quality, size)• Presentation (uniformity, packaging)• Marking• Annexes: Definitions, Lists of varieties,

Testing and Sampling procedures, Definitions

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UNECE AgriculturalStandards

Fresh fruit and vegetables (46)

Eggs and egg products (5)

Dry and dried Fruit (17)

Potatoes (3)

Meat (3)

Cut flowers (8)

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Principles for the Development of the Standards

• Encourage all relevant parties (buyers, sellers, retailers, producers, consumers etc.) to participate

• Define commercial quality in a way that is acceptable to all participants

• Avoid building technical barriers to trade• Encourage widespread use of the standards

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Working procedures for the UNECE meetings

• All UN and UNECE member countries can participate with the same rights

• International organisations give input and use the standards

• International producer, retailer, import/export or consumer organisations are welcome to cooperate and give advice

• Decisions are taken on a consensus basis

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Organizational Structure

Working Party on Standardisation of Perishable Produce and Quality

Development

Fresh Fruit and

Vegetables

Dry and Dried Fruit

Early and WarePotatoes

Seed Potatoes

Meat

Specialized Section on Standardization of

Committee for Trade, Industry and

Enterprise Development

ECOSOC

Economic Commission for Europe

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Participation (1999/2000)

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Côte d’Ivoire, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, European Community

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UNECEStandard

European Commission

Codex Alimentarius

CommissionRegulation

Codex StandardExplanatory

Brochure

OECD Scheme

Application of UNECE Standards

Government

NationalStandard

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ESCWA - Beirut

ECA - Addis-AbebaESCAP - Bangkok

ECLAC - Santiago

ECE - Geneva

Promoting application of standards through cooperation of the Regional Commissions

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The situation 2002• Consumers market - Consumers preoccupied with

quality and safety• Complex international supply chains• Big retailers operate globally• Many more countries enter the international

markets• Trade creates their own strict standards

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The future of quality standards

• Private and public standard setting bodies work together, complementing each other

• Definition of parameters and values for internal quality of produce

• Codify standards to be used in electronic commerce

• Develop training packages to assist countries in the implementation of standards

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Example: Bovine Coding

( 01) 91234567890121( 3102) 000376( 7002) 15111110205142111

( 1 3 ) 0 0 1 2 3 1 ( 1 0 ) 1 2 3 ABC

(01) 91234567890121 - Global Trade Item Number (GTIN)(3102) 000376 - Net Weight, kilograms(7002) 15111110205142111 - UN/ECE Meat Carcasses and Cuts Code(13) 001231 - Slaughter/Packaging Date(10) 123ABC - Batch Number

 

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UN/ECE standards and meeting information on the internet

• Http://www.unece.org/trade/agr/welcome.htm