Launched in July 2021 and funded under the EU Aid Programme for the Turkish Cypriot community, the EU Food Safety Project (EU FSP) supports efforts to improve food safety, animal health, and disease crisis preparedness in the northern part of Cyprus.
The project aims to promote the development of a safer, more resilient agri-food chain by enhancing public health protection, supporting environmental sustainability, and increasing the preparedness and response capacity to transboundary animal diseases.
Project Scope and Beneficiaries
The primary beneficiary of the project is the Turkish Cypriot community, including a broad range of stakeholders:
- Primary producers (farmers, breeders)
- food business operators (dairy, meat, poultry, honey producers)
- Veterinary and health-related local bodies
- Testing laboratories
- Chambers of commerce and NGOs
- Consumers
PURPOSES: The purposes of this contract (Implementation periods 5/2021-5/2024 and 5/5024-5/2027) are as follows:- To improve consumers’ and food business operators’ awareness and knowledge on food safety risks and prevention, so that food business operators are capable to exercise their roles and responsibilities in ensuring safety of products they produce.
- To increase consumers’ demand for safe food and the ability of food business operators and local bodies to deliver according to the consumer’s demand.
- To reinforce cross-sectoral communication and coordination in order to ensure effective implementation of annual/multiannual control and monitoring programmes along the food chain.
- To place a system ensuring required information on food business operators and data collection for food safety risk assessment, planning of risk-based controls and achievement of traceability objective.
- To increase awareness, capacitate own-checks, controls and verifications of compliance along the food chain, including effective programmes for monitoring of zoonosis, zoonotic agents, residues, antimicrobial resistance, and enforcement, leading to progressive reduction of occurrence of foodborne zoonosis and antimicrobial resistance.
- To increase awareness, controls and enforcements in order to ensure progressive reduction of use of veterinary medicines in food producing animals.
- To engage food business operators’ participation in schemes (such as “milk channelling” scheme) which increase market opportunities for their products and overall resilience of their businesses.
- To ensure local bodies and interested stakeholders are prepared and capable to effectively implement disease emergency/response measures at the initial stage of any outbreak of an exotic animal disease and effectively manage disease crisis.
Project phases and architecture are outlined as follows: (Scheme with hyperlinks)Inception Phase I: May 2021 - Aug 2021Implementation Period I: Sep 2021- Jun 2024 Implementation Period II: May 2024- May 2027 Component I: Food safety (hyperlink) ; Component II: Animal disease crisis preparedness (hyperlink)Cross cutting tasks (hyperlink)While Implementation period 5/2021-5/2024 of the project has focused on animal origin food, for Implementation period 5/2024-5/2027 specific tasks as regarding processed food including of animal and non-animal origin are added.
Component I: Food safety: Component I is focused on improvement of food safety standards (i.e. strengthening capacities to implement EU aligned food safety standards and related checks along the food chain)
Component II: Animal disease crisis preparedness: Component II is focused on animal disease crisis preparedness (i.e strengthening capacities for prevention, early detection and crisis preparedness mechanisms for rapid and effective elimination of emerging diseases).Cross-cutting tasks:Following cross-cutting tasks are undertaken by the Project:- Risk assessment of introduction of major animal diseases into the northern part of Cyprus
- Development of a structure and functionalities of a computerised interactive disease surveillance data information system
- Re-evaluate the needs and technical specifications for equipment/consumables for the implementation of EU aligned food safety standards and animal diseases crisis preparedness
- Drafting TCc general plan for crisis management in the field of the safety of food and feed
PROJECT ACTIVITIES
EU FSP project focuses on strengthening food safety and animal disease crisis preparedness in line with EU standards. Activities are designed to inform, assess, involve all key stakeholders—from farmers and food business operators to laboratories, local bodies, and the wider public.
Component I: Food Safety
Training and Awareness: We provide customised trainings, workshops, and consultations to raise awareness and build practical skills in food safety. Topics include among others:- Food safety hazards and risks along the production and supply chain.
- Good hygiene practices, structural and operational requirements for dairy and meat establishments.
- Step-by-step preparation of HACCP plans.
- EU requirements for imports, use of veterinary medicines, antimicrobial resistance, and feed hygiene.
- Microbiological criteria, residues monitoring, animal disease surveillance, and integrated food safety data management.
- topics relevant to food-chain safety incl. processed food of non-animal origin and composite food
These efforts are supported by study visits and tailored guidance materials.Assessments and Analysis: We conduct in-depth assessments to map roles, responsibilities, and capacities in food hygiene and safety. This includes:- Evaluating procedures, staffing levels and knowledge, and available resources.
- Assessing food establishments to identify gaps and propose tailored improvement plans.
- Reviewing HACCP systems, zoonosis monitoring, residue testing, and traceability practices.
- Exploring the introduction of farm certification and a milk channeling scheme allowing a controlled supply of milk from “certified” farms to designated milk processing establishments (taking into account EU standards on identification and registration, biosecurity, veterinary medicinal products usage and animal welfare).
Stakeholder Engagement and Support: EU FSP actively supports local bodies and businesses in:- Developing and implementing monitoring and surveillance programmes for residues, Salmonella, TSEs, zoonosis, and antimicrobial resistance.
- Planning and implementing food safety checks, categorising establishments, and upgrading hygiene and HACCP practices.
- Establishing registers, audit plans, sampling protocols, and data management systems.
- Piloting innovative approaches such as a milk channeling system.
Monitoring and Communication: The EU FSP ensures continuous oversight and transparency by conducting independent monitoring of project outcomes and recommendations. Among the EU FSP activities is the establishment of the present online food safety platform to host resources, tools, and a register of all trainings delivered and facilitate the ongoing communication, data sharing, and knowledge exchange among stakeholders.Component II: Animal Disease Crisis Preparedness1. Building Capacity and Sharing KnowledgeWe deliver targeted training on EU legislation, animal disease prevention, farm hygiene, and crisis preparedness. Stakeholders also take part in workshops on surveillance, exotic disease risks, and public awareness campaigns about prevention and emergency response.2. Strengthening Crisis ManagementCurrent contingency plans and manuals are reviewed and upgraded. Human and material resources are assessed, and practical solutions are proposed to reinforce response capacities.3. Simulation ExercisesTo ensure crisis preparedness, simulation exercises are organised. These test the suitability of contingency plans, identify gaps, and allow for continuous improvement of crisis response mechanisms.Cross-Cutting ActivitiesThe project also addresses broader issues that affect both food safety and animal health:- Risk assessments on the introduction of major animal diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease.
- Development of an interactive data information system for disease surveillance.
- Evaluation of equipment and consumable needs to align with EU standards.
- Drafting a general crisis management plan for food and feed safety.
- Foster collaboration with EU and OIE reference laboratories, including participation in proficiency testing schemes.