Food Safety and Security Services

TÜV SÜD America Inc. now utilizes its internationally recognized auditing, testing, inspection and certification expertise to support the food safety industry. In Europe, TÜV's food safety entity, VITACERT, is working with hundreds of clients including farms, producers, retailers and government agencies to improve the safety and quality of the feed and food supply chain, to ensure compliance with local and international requirements as well as increased consumer confidence.

Prevention is key to ensuring a safe food supply. When ordering a meal, whether fine cuisine or fast food, or shopping at the local supermarket, it is naturally assumed that the food will be safe and suitable for consumption. Yet experience tells us that food-borne illness and injury are ever present in our world. Drawing on the methods and technologies successfully used in the European Union, TÜV SÜD America now offers food safety & security services in the following areas:

• Training
• Auditing/Certification
• Traceability Services (QuaTIS)

Why is food safety a concern?
Every day we are faced with the challenges of meeting ever increasing safety and security demands which stem from events and crises in the United States and abroad. Major recent food product recalls have illustrated the vulnerability of many food production chains. In July 2004, the USDA issued an 18-ton recall of chicken product due to listeria contamination. A salmonella outbreak traced to one of the world's largest almond producers initiated a 13-million-pound recall in May of 2004. The recent Mad Cow Disease (BSE) scare in Washington State highlighted the potential presence of this crisis in the United States.

To date, fifty countries will not accept export beef products as a result of the BSE scare in December 2003, costing the U.S. hundreds of millions of dollars in beef exports. These crises demonstrate the need to quickly trace, contain and minimize food safety issues. Furthermore, bio-security has received a significant thrust of financial and human resources from the US Department of Homeland Security as the food supply has been deemed a credible potential target for future terrorist attacks. Although industry and regulatory agencies have worked for decades to improve and enforce the food safety standards, the stakes have increased, and the need for new solutions to new problems is not only critically important, but urgent.

For more information, contact us.