application of alternative food-preservation - Bentham Science

6 Application of Alternative Food-Preservation Technologies Bevilacqua et al.
Propensity
to take risk
Perceived
danger
Figure 1: Scheme of the risk-benefit analysis.
Table 1: Focus on SPS Agreement.
Perceptual filters
Balancing
behaviour
What SPS: Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Agreement.
Perceptual filters
Rewards
Accidents
Where The Agreement applies to all sanitary and phytosanitary measures that may affect international trade.
Why 1. Maintain the sovereign right of its member government to provide an appropriate level of health
protection (ALOP)
2. Ensure that the ALOP does not form unnecessary barriers
How 1. Measures should be based on risk assessment standards, provided by international organizations
(e.g. Codex Alimentarius, OIE, IPPC)*
2. The SPS measures applied in different countries should be accepted as equivalent if they provide
the same level of health protection
*OIE, World Organization for Animal Health; IPPC, Secretariat of the International Plant Protection Convention of FAO
BOX 2.1: The precautionary principle in the EU.
1) The precautionary principle allows authorities to adopt and maintain provisional measures on the available
pertinent information to protect human health, in situations when complete scientific information is absent
and available data are insufficient for a comprehensive risk assessment [7].
2) As a prerequisite, the measure that has been set according to the principle should be revised within a
reasonable period of time [7].
3) The principle was initially developed in the context of environmental policy in the 1970s and recognized
in the Rio declaration in 1992.
4) The EU incorporated the principle in the Treaty of the European Union, as a basic rule for European
environmental policy.
5) The Regulation 178/2002 of EU adopted the precautionary principle as an option open to risk managers
when a decision on human health should be made, but the scientific information are not exhaustive or
incomplete in some way.
6) The Regulation stated that the principle may be adopted provisionally until a complete risk assessment.
AN OVERVIEW ON THE QUANTITATIVE RISK ANALYSIS
According to the Codex Alimentarius, the microbiological risk analysis, or quantitative risk analysis (QRA), is a
complex process, consisting of risk assessment, risk management and risk communication [8] and involving a
network amongst risk assessors, risk managers, operators and other interested parties.