Sub-Activity 4.2.1: Establishment of an on-line platform on food safety accessible to FBO and general public
Establish an on-line platform accessible to food operators and general public to:
- Contribute/ease access to information/education on food safety risks, standards and guidelines on measures to mitigate food safety risks along the food production chain, or similar.
- Share good practices on the implementation of food safety standards in the TCc.
- Promote transparency; publicise compliance/non-compliance with the food safety standards.
- Register and share alerts in food and feed (in locally produced and imported products) and information on occurrence of foodborne zoonosis.
- Share information to media, consumers associations, chambers in food sector or similar (e.g. food safety news).
- Share information on fines imposed by the ‘courts’ or administrative fines imposed by local bodies, in relation to infringements of food safety requirements.
The establishment of the new inter-sectorial online platform for food safety will allow an easy access to information, communication and related documents on food safety. Food standards, reports, guidelines, good hygiene and manufacturing practices will be made available via the platform, as well as results of the pilot studies, listings of registered and approved establishments and other relevant information as indicated in the project description.
Continuous e-learning opportunities will be proposed, training material and supporting documents for food business operators, local administrative bodies and general public, other as relevant, made available. The platformer will also be used to communicate on alerts and other actual information, provide transparency on the level of compliance and regarding fines imposed and related to the non-respect of food safety standards. It will contribute to the continued education of farmers and food business operators on hygiene, prevention and mitigation of biological, chemical and environmental contamination along the entire food chain, and make available posters, leaflets and guidelines.
The online platform will at the same time contribute to the collection, analysis and dissemination of data on the occurrence of zoonosis, zoonotic agents and antimicrobial resistance.
Other aspects and functionalities, like discussion forums, frequent questions and answers, special access for different target groups, will be discussed with the beneficiaries during the assessment meetings and taken into consideration, as well as the identification of the institution to be in charge of the management and maintenance of the tool.
IMPLEMENTATION
WEB solution in a form of Portal.
Public and internal side - accessible only to registered and authorized users.
Powerful Content Management System
and
Automatically by linking to the data collection modules (forms) and database.
System provides for easy creation of new parts in order to ‘organize’ information presentation per topics.
Activity 6.2 (Task 4.7.2.)
Propose/contribute to the development of a structure and functionalities of a computerised interactive information system for the effective collection and management of disease surveillance data and data on notifiable animal disease outbreaks, including data collection procedures
As highlighted in the Component 2 tasks, timely and good-quality information about disease surveillance data and data on notifiable animal disease outbreaks are needed in order to:
- understand the epidemiology/disease situation;
- introduce appropriate decision-making;
- prevent potential disease incursion;
- respond quickly in an emergency situation;
- prevent potential disease speeding.
This is particularly important for the emergent zoonoses include avian influenza (HPAI / H5N1) and other transboundary threats such as foot and mouth disease,lumpy skin disease, sheep and goats pox, respiratory syndrome or peste des petits ruminants. Practice shows that a tailor made computerised interactive information system, designed to collect and manage major animal disease surveillance and monitoring data as well as data on notifiable animal disease outbreaks, is an advanced tool supporting activities of a veterinary service to successfully manage all the challenges mentioned above.
In that regards, the current information systems of the veterinary service of the northern part of Cyprus will be assessed and analysed, as well as available laboratories information management systems. Considering that the reliable and up to date system for animal identification and registration and movement control is precondition for the efficient information system, its assessment will be carried out firstly. Furthermore, detailed assessment of laboratories data collection systems, particularly Veterinary diagnostic and research laboratory will be implemented as well.
Considering the assessment outputs, we will propose development of additional modules in the currently used IT databases of the veterinary ‘department’. The proposed modules should be developed on the existing IT platforms, and will be designed with the infrastructure and coding system adopted to exchange data with other MSsservices/authorities and international bodies on notifiable animal disease outbreaks, respectively occurrence of animal diseases in the northern part of Cyprus will be able to share within the CY and to the outer world (connection with the Task 6.1). In that regards, the coding system and datasets content will be proposed in accordance with the OIE, European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) and Animal Disease Notification System (ADNS) databases pattern.
Respecting the above mentioned, we will consider and follow provisions of the Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/723[1] laying down the rules for the application of the Regulation (EU) 2017/625 where the standard model form for the annual reports are clearly defined. Particular attention (within this task implementation) will be given to the points 4 and 5 prescribing requested data for the annual reports content, which are in detail listed in the tabular layout of the Annex 1 which is integral part of the Regulation EU 2019/723, as follows:
- Animal health requirements – real data, respectively number of official controls carried out
on animal I&R (e.g. number of holdings/establishments controlled, number of animals registered, number of animals checked, etc.); non-compliances found; overall conclusion on the level of compliance achieved and common box for the MS remarks - Prevention and minimisation of risks to human and animal health arising from animal by-products and derived products – real data/number of ABP establishments/plants controlled; non-compliances found; overall conclusion on the level of compliance achieved and common box for the MS remark on the subject.
The animal welfare issue might be considered as well (if will be requested by the beneficiary), in line with the Welfare requirements for animals (point 6, Annex 1 standard model form of the Regulation EU 2019/723).
Furthermore, we will propose interactive data exchange among relevant authorities/bodies at national and district levels, what is of vital importance for underpinning cooperation in the ongoing surveillance and monitoring programs, as well as timely collection of passive surveillance data.
[1] COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2019/723 of 2 May 2019 laying down rules for the application of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the standard model form to be used in the annual reports submitted by Member States