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With the increasing awareness about food safety, nutritional security, environmental quality and animal welfare, the prevalence of strict quality standards on imported goods is increasing worldwide, especially in developed countries. `Certification' has become a buzzword and different certification systems have come up covering a variety of aspects related to human life and ecosystem protection. There have been immense changes over time in the evolution of different certification systems and private industry standards, and certification bodies have become more relevant worldwide. The purpose of certification is often a matter of debate, and certification is often perceived as a barrier for exports from developing countries. This is because of the compliance costs involved and the stringencies of quality norms prescribed by different certification systems as developing countries have often been found to lag behind in terms of the necessary infrastructural facilities. However, there is no alternative as such, as quality certification for export is becoming quasi-mandatory at global level due to increasing demand for food quality by consumers.
Food safety refers to the potential hazards associated with food that can cause ill-health in humans. Some of these hazards such as presence of aflatoxins in groundnut are naturally occurring while others such as occurrence of pesticide residues in food exemplify contamination.
Following a series of highly publicized food scares or scandals (bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, in beef in the United Kingdom, coli in hamburgers in the US, and dioxins in animal feed in Belgium) consciousness for the need of food safety control has risen globally. In response, there have been significant institutional changes in food safety oversight and reform of laws and regulations. For long-held concerns, such as pesticide residues, there has been a tightening of standards in many countries. New standards are being applied to address previously unknown or unregulated hazards, such as BSE, genetically modified organisms, and environmental contaminants. |
