The project’s 8th Steering Committee Meeting was held on Friday, 23 June 2023. The 4th Interim Report covering months 19-24 of 36 planned (19 November 2022-18 May 2023) was presented by the project experts.
Consultations and preparation for PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) certification for 3 Food Business Operators (FBOs) and 11 certified farmers have been effected.
The following documents have been prepared by the project experts:
- 22 technical reports on consultations and assistance for the preparation of monitoring programmes for the data collection on zoonosis, zoonotic agents; antimicrobial resistance, food-borne outbreaks and use of veterinary medicines;
- Multiannual control plan and annual control plan;
- Pilot categorization of FBOs and related follow-up procedures;
- Sampling procedures and techniques of sampling; standard operation procedure for control activity in food establishments; traceability
70 activities have been completed out of a total of 97 per ToR.
92 training events and workshops have been conducted, with 1712 participants registered, of which 551 are unique participants.
28 FBOs have been assessed (dairy, meat, honey) and 28 action plans for improvement and follow-up assessment reports prepared accordingly. 1 FBO has been registered by the local body in charge of ‘veterinary services’ for PDO milk collection/transportation and 3 FBOs have been registered/’approved’ by the local body in charge of ‘veterinary services’ as PDO eligible. 2 FBOs have been inspected by Bureau Veritas and have obtained their certificates, and 11 dairy farms are currently undergoing PDO attestation.
10 guidelines,
14 leaflets and
9 posters have been printed and are being disseminated. All produced visibility materials are available on the Food Safety Project online platform.
Planned activities for the period 19 May - 18 August 2023 include:
- Preparation of training materials for TSE (Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies) consultation exercises and training materials and operational documents to test implementation/suitability of contingency plans and operational manuals.
- Capacity building and monitoring: 14 activities on planning and implementation of ‘official’ controls including preparation of control plans and programs regarding the categorization of establishments: HACCP, planning and implementation of good hygiene practices, Farms certification, monitoring programmes of zoonosis & antimicrobial resistance (AMR), annual plan of ‘official’ controls and integrated multiannual control plan, implementation of “milk channelling system”, monitoring the use of the project outputs, FMD risk assessment update.