FOOD SAFETY OF THE SHORT SUPPLY CHAIN

Transcription

1 FOOD SAFETY OF THE SHORT SUPPLY CHAIN Symposium SciCom 2012 Brussels Friday, 9 November 2012 Edited by the Scientific Committee and the Staff Direction for Risk Assessment of the Belgian Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC)

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3 Editors André Huyghebaert, Chair Scientific Committee FASFC Xavier Van Huffel, Director Staff direction for risk assessment, FASFC Gil Houins, CEO FASFC Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC) CA Botanique Food Safety Center Boulevard du Jardin botanique 55 B 1000 Brussels Lay out Claire Verraes, Staff direction for risk assessment, FASFC The contents reflect the views of the authors and not necessarily the views of the FASFC nor of the Sci Com. Reproduction is authorized provided the source is acknowledged.

4 PREFACE Dr. Xavier Van Huffel Director Staff direction for risk assessment FASFC E mail: [email protected] The topic of this years symposium organized by the Scientific Committee of the Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain is special in many ways. From a risk assessor point of view Food safety of the short supply chain is a vague issue of which the terms of reference are unclear and about which dedicated scientific information is lacking. From a risk management point of view the short supply chain is part of the food chain and its food safety is covered by the existing legislation. Although short supply has always existed in society, subgroups of consumers and producers have rediscovered it as a new and attractive channel for food supply to which positive characteristics are associated such as authenticity, quality, income, and even food safety. This latter aspect has rarely been studied or covered in scientific symposia. For this reason the Scientific Committee was of the opinion that the subject deserved attention as it is an emerging trend in society with many different facets and close by the consumer. The symposium has to be seen as an excellent opportunity and forum at which risk assessors, regulators, consumers and producers convene to discuss about risks of new trends in the food chain. The Scientific Committee is grateful to the Food Safety Agency to support the yearly organization of a scientific event and thanks all speakers who have contributed to this symposium.

5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface... 4 Table of contents... 5 List of abbreviations... 6 Program of the symposium... 7 Introduction... 9 Session 1. The short supply chain: state of art Definition of the short food supply chain FASFC policy on food safety in the short supply chain Short food supply chain in Flanders The policy for short supply chains in Wallonia Food safety problems specific to the short chain selected case studies from the Netherlands 28 Session 2. Food safety of the short supply chain Microbiological safety and quality aspects in relation to the short food supply chain Chemical aspects of food safety and quality in the short supply chains Control of the food safety of the short circuits: the experience of the cell quality of farm products (cqpf) supporting the producers in wallonia Session 3. The short supply chain and the society Short channels in France: do they meat consumers concerns? Direct marketing from producers to consumers: economic aspects and key succes factors Summary and conclusions

6 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ACW ADL BuRO CAP CARAH CODA CERVA DGARNE EC EPASC EU FASFC GAL GAP GMP HACCP HMs ILVO KHK NVWA PCB POPs QCPF SC Sci Com SWOT SPW TAD zuivel Ulg GxABT QA General Christian Workers Association Local Development Agencies Office for Risk Assessment and Research Coordination of the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority Common Agricultural Policy Center for Agriculture and Agro industry in the province of Hainaut Veterinary and Agrochemical Research Centre General Direction for Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment (Walloon region) European Commission Provincial School for Agriculture and Sciences European Union Belgian Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain Local Action Groups Good Agricultural Practices Good Manufacturing Practices Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points Heavy Metals Flemish Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research Catholic High School Kempen Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority Polychlorinated Biphenyl Persistent Organic Pollutants Quality Cell for Farm Products Short Chain Scientific Committee of the Belgian Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats Public Service of Wallonia Technological Advisory Service for Dairy Products and Dairy Farmers University of Liège Gembloux Agro Bio Tech Quality Assurance 6

7 Symposium of the Scientific Committee of the Belgian Food Safety Agency FOOD SAFETY OF THE SHORT SUPPLY CHAIN Friday 9 November 2012 Auditorium Pacheco Pacheco Center Finance Tower Pachecolaan Brussels 9:00 RECEPTION 9:30 Introduction Luc PUSSEMIER Operational director CODA-CERVA Vice-chair Scientific Committee FASFC Session 1. The short supply chain: state of art Chairs: Els DAESELEIRE (Expert ILVO-T&V Member Sci Com FASFC) Antoine CLINQUART (Prof. ULg) 9:40 What do we mean by the short supply chain? Mieke UYTTENDAELE Prof. Ghent University Member Scientific Committee FASFC 10:05 The policy of the FASFC on the food safety of the short supply chain Herman DIRICKS Director-general DG Control Policy FASFC 10:30 COFFEE BREAK 11:00 The short supply chain in Flanders: possibilities and bottlenecks Ann DETELDER Coordinator Steunpunt Hoeveproducten KVLV 11:25 The short supply chain policy in Wallonia Damien WINANDY Director Direction Quality DGARNE SPW - Walloon region 11:50 The food safety of the short supply chain: case studies in the Netherlands Benno TER KUILE Senior advisor microbiology BuRO NVWA Guest researcher Amsterdam University (The Netherlands) 7

8 12:15 RECEPTION 12:45 LUNCH Chairs: Session 2. Food safety of the short supply chain Katleen RAES (Prof. HOWEST Member Sci Com FASFC) Marie-Louise SCIPPO (Prof. ULg Member Sci Com FASFC) 14:00 Microbiological aspects concerning the food safety of the short supply chain Lieve HERMAN Head of division ILVO-T&V Member Scientific Committee FASFC 14:25 Chemical aspects concerning the food safety of the short supply chain Luc PUSSEMIER Operational director CODA-CERVA Vice-chair Scientific Committee FASFC 14:50 The management of the food safety of the short supply chain: the experience of the Quality Cell for Farm Products in the guidance of the producers in the Walloon region Marianne SINDIC Prof. University of Liège / Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech 15:15 COFFEE BREAK Chairs: Session 3. The short supply chain and the society Guido VAN HUYLENBROECK (Prof. UGent Dean) Bruno SCHIFFERS (Prof. ULg / Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech Member Sci Com FASFC) 15:45 The short supply chain in France: a response to the expectations of consumers? Pierre SANS Prof. National Veterinary School of Toulouse (France) 16:05 The direct sale from farmer to consumer: socio-economic success factors and points of attention Erwin WAUTERS Researcher ILVO-L&M Guest Prof. Antwerp University 16:25 Summary and conclusions André HUYGHEBAERT Prof. Em. Ghent University Chair Scientific Committee FASFC 8

9 INTRODUCTION Dr. ir. Luc Pussemier Operational director CODA CERVA Vice chair of the Scientific Committee of the FASFC E mail: luc.pussemier@coda cerva.be The annual symposium organized by the Scientific Committee of the FASFC has progressively become a good opportunity to meet the scientists, industrials and risk managers interested in the scientific aspects of food safety. The first edition was held in 2005 and today is the 8 th edition of this symposium. One can observe some trends in the different subjects treated over the years. At the beginning, not only was the methodology of risk assessment felt important (theme of the symposium in 2006) to discuss but also the quality and the valorization of the databases available at the FASFC (theme of the 2007 symposium). From the first year, however, attention was also paid to challenging subjects such as the precautionary principle which was explained and illustrated in detail during our very first symposium in More recently we have also tackled very specialized topics such as the emerging animal diseases (2008) and the nanotechnology applications in the food chain (2010). These two events were organized jointly with the European Food Safety Authority and the European Commission and have attracted a larger audience from other European countries. More recently, however, new accents have appeared as a reaction to some preoccupations from the risk managers, the general public and the consumers. I think more specifically about the communication organized since 2009 around the development of a barometer for food safety. This tool seems to be very useful for food safety managers in their communication strategy towards the general public and the media and it was further developed in the years after. This concept of measuring general food safety, based on the pioneer work carried out in Belgium, has been published in high level research literature and presented at international fora where it attracted much attention by other Countries and organizations. This year the Scientific Committee makes further steps to respond to some actual preoccupations of the consumers and the risk managers. Indeed, we present you a very sensitive topic that is the food safety in the short supply chains, those chains starting from the producers and reaching the consumers with a minimal number of links. Until recently, the short supply chain was not felt to be interesting by the policy managers in general and, more particularly, by those responsible for the agricultural policy. But things are changing. Firstly, the regional authorities have become aware of the great economic interest of local food production and 9

10 consumption. Everywhere, initiatives have been taken in order to promote organic baskets and farm markets. And this wave eventually reached the European Authorities. In April 2012, indeed, a conference on local agriculture and the short supply chains for food was organized in Brussels. At this occasion, Dacian Ciolos, a member of the European Commission responsible for Agriculture and Rural Development, pointed out the importance of the short supply chains as an answer to the increasing demand for local products. According to the Eurobarometer, indeed, one in two consumers regret that local products are hard to find and difficult to distinguish from other products. Therefore, the future CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) has to integrate this new dimension. Some measures have, thus, been proposed in the CAP reform. According to Dacian Ciolos, the issues to solve are: 1. The clear identification of local supply chains in order to ensure credibility and visibility; 2. The assurance of hygiene and food safety without discouraging the creation of small production units; 3. The restoration of the link between consumers in towns and cities and production centers nearby by supporting the initiatives of farmers markets; 4. The encouragement for farmers to invest. In his speech during this Conference on local agriculture and short food supply chains, Mr. Ciolos also stated: It is obvious that short supply food has too long been overlooked ( ) and, despite the lack of recognition and support, available data show that 15 % of EU farms sell more than half of their produce locally. This statement from the European Commissioner for Agriculture clearly indicates that the potential market of short supply chains on the European Continent is very huge, even though some voices claim that the market share is much less important (only 2 to 3 %) and that locavores are romantics and nostalgics of the good old times. Why is this topic so trendy? Is this a hype that will soon be forgotten? Or is it really a new attitude that will persist? These are very complex questions and it is not the aim of this symposium to give an answer to them. Let us limit ourselves by mentioning that several factors will help to maintain this trend, such as the willingness to promote sustainable production systems, which are not only environmentally friendly but also in agreement with the financial needs of the producers. Nutritional and organoleptic concerns will also be present because lots of consumers do believe that such products are better for their health and tastier. On the other hand, one can sometimes hear that, besides the advantages, there are also some specific risks linked to local food and short supply chains. The aim of this symposium is thus to inform risk managers and the general public in the most complete and neutral way on the state of the art. 10

11 Yet, local food and short supply chains need to be clearly defined. We will immediately start with this difficult task during the first session of this symposium. Also information will be given during this session on the policies that are adopted by our Federal and Regional Authorities and we will also hear what happens with our close neighbors. Lunch time will allow us to shift from theory to practice as you will be invited to taste some local specialities and kitchen products and to interact with other participants at the symposium... With the second session, after lunch, we will be at the core of the theme of this symposium and we will try to get more information on advantages and constraints offered by the short supply chains as far as food safety is concerned. We ll also have the opportunity to get informed on the efforts spent in order to train the local producers in an effective way. Finally, during the third session, more insight will be given in the consumers behavior and on his motivating to be attracted to this new production and consumption approach. Speakers will also try to discuss how far the producers can meet the consumers requirements. Finally, the symposium will end by drawing some general conclusions and proposing some recommendations. I wish you all an enriching symposium, tasty discoveries and fruitful discussions with all the invited stakeholders. 11

12 SESSION 1. THE SHORT SUPPLY CHAIN: STATE OF ART 12

13 DEFINITION OF THE SHORT FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN M. Uyttendaele*, L. Herman 1,3, E. Daeseleire 1,3, A. Huyghebaert 3, L. Pussemier 2,3 1 ILVO 2 CODA CERVA 3 Scientific Committee FASFC * Speaker: Prof. dr. ir. Mieke Uyttendaele Prof. Ghent University Member of the Scientific Committee of the FASFC E mail: [email protected] Developments at the consumer and the farmer level have resulted in a renewed interest in short market channels for foods. Consumers are increasingly motivated by health and environmental concerns, which is expressed by an increased demand for high quality foods (with emphasis on freshness, taste, nutritional quality and safety) and sales direct from source. The short food supply chain, offering locally grown (organic and non organic) food is a segment seen as a place to buy good food but also as means to express consumer values associated with food choices (e.g. resource conservation, animal welfare, the revival of a sense of community, enjoyment of cooking). Rural economy benefits from the increase in activity and profits through direct sales (Berlin et al., 2009; Carey et al., 2011). Short food supply chains short circuit the conventional long and usually more anonymous supply chain which has multiple intermediates involved. Typical for the short food supply chains is that there is a face to face or proximate producer consumer relation and often the producer involved uses this direct contact with the consumer in marketing his products and exchange information on quality attributes and provenance on the food to the overall more involved and interested consumer who makes his purchases in the short food supply chain. For the FASFC Scientific Committee Symposium on Food Safety of the Short Supply Chain on November 9 th 2012 the focus is put on activities in the food supply chain in which face to face or proximate contact is taking place between on the one hand grower/producer and on the other hand consumer. It usually includes the following relationship between the grower/producer, the consumer and the FASFC: FASFC registered operators (with registered activities at primary production and/or processing) having direct sales of primary and locally processed primary products to consumers. Occasionally one registered FASFC operator (with registered activity of trade or retail sales) may act as an intermediary to stock and transfer or sell (processed) primary products to consumers but without performing any manipulation on these locally grown/produced products; 13

14 FASFC registered operators (with registered activity of food serving operation but without FASFC registered primary production activity) serving (or selling) own grown crops, dairy or processed products to consumers (guests); Non FASFC registered individuals or hobby breeders who sell or set available own grown/produced products at home at gate. Examples of these direct interaction between producer and consumer for direct sale or serving of locally produced and/or locally consumed foods in the short food supply chain are shown in Table 1. In the short food supply chain the activity of agricultural production and further processing are often combined on the same site and/or managed by the same owner. Packing, sorting or processing usually takes place at the farm or the premises of the hobby breeder or individual, using most of the time on the site harvested crops, raw milk or raw meat derived from own live stock or from agricultural products derived from close proximity. Table 1. Examples of the direct interaction between producer and consumer in short food supply chain. Modified from Renting et al. (2003) as defined for the FASFC Scientific Committee Symposium on Food Safety of the Short Supply Chain (November 9 th 2012). Face to face or Proximate Short Food Supply Chains Farm shops or farm automates Farm shop groups Subscription farming Regional hallmarks Special events, fairs Farmers markets Door to door selling Farm gate or roadside sales Pick your own Box schemes & collective food buying teams Home deliveries Consumer cooperatives Community supported agriculture and urban farming Cook at home Guesthouses, restaurants, day care centers & food service operations cooking meals with inputs from own garden or community supported agriculture Mail order or e commerce to primary producer 14

15 Thus in the present definition, the short food supply chain is expanded from the definition used in agriculture economy and rural development targeting in particular farm s direct sales and focused at primary production activities and on the site processing. In the frame of the current FASFC Symposium the definition of short food supply chain also targets individuals or guesthouses, restaurants, institutional catering facilities, day care centre offering own grown crops dairy, meat and on the site derived food products to guests, visitors and thus also the face to face or proximate relationship in the frame of food serving. It should be noted that there is a frequent blending of the concepts of local, smallscale and organic, natural or artisanal, traditional and their associated benefits. Often foods traded in the short food supply chain in these face to face or proximate sales are defined by either locality or even the specific farm where they are produced and on some occasions they are also referred to as artisanal or traditional or terroir products. Many of these products draw upon an image of the farm and/or region as a source of quality. Direct linkages are also often created between farming and rural nature, cultural landscape and local resources. However, numerous of the actual terroir or artisanal/traditional products are not or not uniquely sold in a direct face to face or proximate contact between producer and consumer but also via the conventional food supply chain (i.e. via supermarkets, independent speciality or dietetic shops). As such these artisanal, traditional or terroir products are not automatically part of the Short Food Supply Chain. This in particular holds for many of the regional products who have received a recognition of a protected designation of origin which are widely marketed national and internationally. The same holds for organic food or other ecological or natural characteristics or labels attributed to food which link to bioprocesses (e.g. free range, natural) which may be marketed and be part of the short food supply chain but which are also sometimes internationally sourced and increasingly available in the conventional (long) supply chain (Renting et al., 2003). Generally speaking the Short Food Supply Chains appears to be mainly taken up by medium sized farm businesses: a minimum production level is often necessary to make the activity viable and generate sufficient income to finance investment, whereas large volumes are sometimes at odds with the specific and differentiated processing and marketing structures involved. Sometimes activities in direct sales or serving of food in short food supply chains is integrated with agritourism. Overall the landscape of short food supply chains is scattered and evolving and lacks a good definition. There is also the fact that some individuals may drop in and out of the short food supply chain depending upon seasonality and time or have a hybrid system (partially selling at gate, partially to local shops or also providing delivery to wholesalers, retailers or agri businesses). They may evolve when growing in volume from the short food supply chain to the conventional supply chain. There is often no straightforward division between production for local and non local market, nor should there be or is there evidence for a 15

16 differentiation on good quality and safety of these foods from short food supply chains as defined above and conventional long food supply chain (Ibery and May, 2005). In the short food supply chain, the whole production from primary product till end product and distribution, is usually managed by the same person or the same team. Due to the broad range of tasks, specialization towards food safety management is mostly not possible. As a consequence, most short food supply chain operators or production units are struggling with the complexity of the food safety management rules. However, the peculiarity of the short food supply chain, often related to fresh foods or restricted in the number of processing and transaction steps and employees involved, facilitates efficient communication and control. As such there might be the option for simplified rules and control systems to be put in place. Furthermore guidance, training and networking for exchange of information provided by either public or private organizations to farmers or business in the short food supply chain may enhance the capacity to comply to the relevant food hygiene and other food safety regulations and demands for assuring safe and high quality foods to the consumer. REFERENCES Carey, L., Bell, P., Duff, A., Sheridan, M., Shields, M Farmers Market consumers: a Scottisch perspective. International Journal of Consumer Studies 35 (3), Berlin, L., Lockeretz, W., Bell, R Purchasing foods produced on organic, small and local farms: a mixed method analysis of New England consumers. Renawable Agriculture and Food systems. 24 (4), Renting, H., Marsden, T.K., Banks, J Understanding alternative food networks: exploring the role of short food supply chains in rural development. Environment and Planning A. 35, Ibery, B., Maye, D Alternative (shorter) food supply chains and specialist livestock products in the Scottisch English borders. Environment and Planning A. 37,

17 FASFC POLICY ON FOOD SAFETY IN THE SHORT SUPPLY CHAIN Ir. Herman Diricks Director general of the directorate general Control Policy of the FASFC E mail: [email protected] Socio economic trends, consumer demands and increasing environmental awareness have entailed changes in the ways of presenting and supplying food to the consumer. In the approach towards food safety at both European and national level, it is important to anticipate these societal developments. The European Union as we know it today is built on diversity with each country having its own particularities and specific needs. For this reason provisions with respect to flexibility and subsidiarity have been included in the European hygiene regulations. This means that in some specific cases the member states have the authority to adopt down their own national rules while at the same time ensuring the achievement of the objectives of the European hygiene regulations. The national authorities have the best understanding of the diversity and the socioeconomic situation in their country and therefore are in the best position to adopt such rules in consultation with the different target groups involved. Flexibility and subsidiarity with respect to direct supply of foodstuffs to final consumers apply to: direct supply, by producers, of small amounts of primary products to the final consumer or to local retail establishments directly supplying the final consumer; direct supply, by the producer, of small quantities of meat from poultry and lagomorphs slaughtered on the farm to the final consumer or to local retail establishments directly supplying such meat to the final consumer as fresh meat; hunters who supply small quantities of wild game or wild game meat directly to the final consumer or to local retail establishments directly supplying the final consumer; supply of food of animal origin from a retail establishment to other retail establishments if such supply is a marginal, localized and restricted activity. The Belgian Food Safety Agency included specific provisions in its control policy in order to give small producers the opportunity to benefit from this flexibility and subsidiarity. National rules have been laid down with respect to the abovementioned activities. At the moment, a new legislative act with regards to direct supply of products of animal origin at the production site to final consumers or to local retailers supplying directly to the final consumer is in preparation. In addition, criteria for flexibility provided in EU regulations such as 17

18 marginal, local and restricted activity and small amounts have been interpreted in national legislation. For instance local has been defined as supply within an 80 km radius of the production site. More flexible hygiene rules apply to the direct supply of products of plant origin (potatoes, vegetables and fruit) and products of animal origin (milk, eggs, slaughtering of poultry and rabbits, fishery and aquaculture products, wild game). These rules have been developed in consultation with the stakeholders concerned. In addition to these specific hygiene provisions, the Food Safety Agency has also implemented flexibility with respect to the European requirements concerning HACCP and traceability. Food business operators who only market prepackaged and/or non perishable foodstuffs without performing any kind of processing of these foods do not have to implement the HACCP principles but only need to apply good hygiene practices. Certain other food business operators can apply a simplified HACCP system if they implement a guide to good practices that has been approved by the Food Safety Agency. These operators do not have to develop their own HACCP system. They can rely on the HACCP plan provided in the guide. In addition, the requirements for record keeping are limited to the registration of non compliances. Besides the HACCP flexibility, strongly simplified administrative procedures with regard to traceability are provided. The Food Safety Agency has taken the initiative to further develop and simplify the approved guides in the sectors directly supplying to consumers (bakeries, butcher shops, pubs, restaurants, hotels, dairy farms, retail and nurseries). These guides will be made publicly available on the Food Agency website free of charge and support for training of target groups will be provided. Several other initiatives have been taken to inform food business operators active in the short supply chain. A brochure on food safety requirements during processing and marketing of food on the farm has been published recently. Many other brochures are available to food business operators: e.g. on selfchecking in small businesses, notification requirement, traceability, The Food Safety Agency website contains guidelines on milk dispenser machines, including hygiene rules and specific risks relating to the consumption of raw milk. Currently, consultations are ongoing with the agricultural sector on the possibilities of lowering the sampling frequencies for the analysis of well water. 18

19 SHORT FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN IN FLANDERS Dr. Ann Detelder Coordinator Steunpunt Hoeveproducten KVLV E mail: [email protected] FRAMEWORK Short food supply chain is a sustainable marketing system with a direct relationship between the producer and the consumer. In most cases the producer sells directly to the consumer. There is no real definition of the short food supply chain system but there are a number of basic principles: Relationship producer consumer: the farmer sells directly to the consumer; Limited number of links in the chain: the product is not distributed through wholesale distribution or the food processing industry; Ownership: the producer/farmer can determine the price, production method and supply (fair price for a fair product); Local: locally grown products are sold locally; Contact with the agriculture: consumers rediscover modern agriculture. Short food supply chain initiatives can have various forms. Farm products can be sold on the farm itself, in a farm shop, through home sales, at farmers markets, in a neighborhood store in the immediate surroundings of the farm or through collective systems such as food teams, vegetable subscriptions or cooperatives of farmers. The farmer can also sell his products in a kiosk along the side of the road or trough u pick farms. Direct sales through local markets or other short chain channels is, of course, not a new concept. 'Farmers markets' have existed for centuries and were formerly one of the main sources of income for farmers. By urbanization, intensification in agriculture, better preservation techniques and the emergence of supermarkets however many farmers markets disappeared. The food chain is also becoming more globalized, consumer foods are offered from all over the world. Farm products are products of agriculture or horticulture, harvested on the farm and possibly processed and offered for sale directly to the consumer or third parties. Mainly primary products, but also processed products such as butter, ice cream or fruit juice can be assigned as farm products. 19

20 The characteristic element of farm products is therefore not only their origin (the farm), but also the way they are sold: through the short chain. NUMBER OF SHORT FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN SELLERS IN FLANDERS Short food supply chain marketing in Flanders is mainly the responsibility of farmers. They market their own primary or processed products through their own farm shop, local (farmers) market, internet, small retail businesses, subscription initiatives, Number of farms in Flanders (data through Ministry of Agriculture and Fishery 2011) 2011 % in 2011 Farms in Flanders % Farms in Antwerp % Farms in Flemish Brabant % Farms in West Flanders % Farms in East Flanders % Farms in Limburg % Number of short food supply chain farms in 2012 in Flanders (data through the Steunpunt Hoeveproducten 1 /KVLV vzw) % relative to the number of farms Flanders % 5.08 % Antwerp % 6.44 % Flemish Brabant % 6.47 % West Flanders % 4.51 % East Flanders % 4.22 % Limburg % 5.57 % 1 The Steunpunt Hoeveproducten of KVLV vzw (= Assistant Center for farmers starting and developing their short food supply chain marketing activity) is active in Flanders and informs farmers concerning the legal framework of starting/developing a short food supply chain activity (food hygiene, self control systems, food law, marketing legislation, land management, fiscal matters, cost price calculation and profitability, ) 20

21 Number of short food supply chain farms in 2011 in Flanders (data through the FASFC) Selling manufactured Selling primary Total products products Flanders Antwerp Flemish Brabant West Flanders East Flanders Limburg Number of short chain food supplier farms/sector in 2011 in Flanders (data through the FASFC) Meat manufacturers Dairy product manufacturers Manufacturers of crop products Farms selling primary products Total Flanders Antwerp Flemish Brabant West Flanders East Flanders Limburg MOTIVATIONS FOR STARTING A SHORT FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN SELLING ACTIVITY IN FLANDERS Short chain selling of primary and/or manufactured food products by farms is an important way of broadening the farming activities. The main reason of initializing the activity of marketing its own products is an economic reason. Getting a reasonable income in Flanders in a farming business is not easy. Enlarging the scale size of the farm/the production is not always an easy or wanted solution so the marketing of own farm products can for a certain number of farms be a good alternative. Short chain selling of own farm products can also be a good option when the son/daughter wants to join the parents farming business. Furthermore some farms are located close to a village centre/city and can therefore profit from their location close to the end consumer. 21

22 Short food supply chain selling farms are mostly small scaled with a very limited number of people employed (family members). Rather seldom external people are employed in the product manufacturing selling activity. TYPES OF SHORT FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN SELLING FARMS Farms selling primary crop products: fruit, vegetables, raw milk; Farms selling manufactured dairy products: desserts, ice cream, cheese, ; Farms selling meat products: sealed meat, farms with own butchery; Farms selling manufactured crop products; A lot of farms combine several types of products. FOOD SAFETY IN THE SHORT CHAIN SELLING ACTIVITY ON FARMS Food safety is linked to the type of product. Meat and dairy products are more sensitive products than primary products. Therefore the possible food safety risks are not similar on all the short food supply chain selling farms. Farms selling primary crop products: fruit, vegetables, raw milk The production of primary products in Belgium/Flanders is regulated by the Federal Food Law and more and above by quality guides the farmers (IKM, vegaplan, ) have to comply with in order to deliver their products to the milk cooperation, the auction market or wholesalers. Most of the farms sell only a limited percentage of their production directly through short chain food supply means. Therefore the primary products sold through the short chain comply with all the quality and food safety regulations as the products sold through the regular chain. The production of manufactured products in Belgium/Flanders is also regulated by the Federal Food Law. Small farm businesses have to comply to the same regulations as large food industries. Only on a administrative level they can profit from some facilitations. The Steunpunt Hoeveproducten organizes on a frequently basis courses on Hygiene and autocontrole (self checking) were the participants learn about food hygiene, the risks on food manufacturing, risk analysis and risk reduction. In collaboration with the ILVO (TAD zuivel) and the KHK, the Steunpunt Hoeveproducten advises farmers on regulations and help them in case of problems. The Steunpunt Hoeveproducten underwrites the importance of a selfchecking plan and quality manual. 22

23 The Steunpunt Hoeveproducten also encourages the half yearly bacteriological control of the farm manufactured products (organization of the half yearly lab analyses). The bacteriological lab analyze results tend to be very positive for the farmers/manufacturers of food products. Example for dairy products Exceedance of enterobacteria: in ice cream, yoghurt and chocolate mousse Exceedance of E. coli: in butter and buttermilk Exceedance of coagulase + staphylococci: in cheese Exceedance of Listeria: in cheese Some farmers produce dairy products based on raw milk. This could mean a higher risk for public health but bacteriological lab analysis do not show significantly this higher risk factor. POSSIBLE CONSTRAINTS REGARDING FOOD HYGIENE AND PUBLIC HEALTH IN THE SHORT FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN Small scale: primary production/manufacturing/selling are happening in 1 location so there could be a higher risk of cross contamination. This potentially higher risk is countered by the fact that the business is run by 1 or maximum 2 persons, the limited volume of food product and the short storage time of the products; Artisanal products: farm manufactured products are often produced following old recipes with respect for traditions and good taste; Investment capacity: second hand material, half automated machines; Use of well water: a certain number of farms (10 15 % have no access to tap water); 23

24 Self checking system and risk analysis: farmers active in de short food supply chain business cannot employ a quality supervisor ( industry). Developing a self checking manual and risk analysis needs specialized knowledge and skills. Specific training sessions and an independent advise centre are essential in order to preserve food quality, food hygiene and public health. REFERENCES Korte keten initiatieven in Vlaanderen, een overzicht; Departement Landbouw, Departement Landbouw en Visserij, afdeling Monitoring en Studie; Geertrui Cazaux; april 2010; Rapport, 52 blz. Depotnummer: D/2010/3241/163; Strategisch Plan Korte Keten ; Vlaamse overheid, Afdeling Duurzame Landbouwontwikkeling; Beleidsdomein Landbouw en Visserij; Maayke Keymeulen; Depotnummer: D/2011/ ; 24

25 THE POLICY FOR SHORT SUPPLY CHAINS IN WALLONIA Ir. Damien Winandy Director Direction Quality DGARNE SPW Walloon region E mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT Wallonia has supported short supply chains for several years using various measures. This marketing method is developing but is still experiencing many obstacles that must be identified in order to implement the tools needed for the development of new projects. This lecture is a policy overview for short supply chains in Wallonia outlining potential developments and the resources to be implemented so that local producers can develop their businesses by making best use of the opportunities on offer and expanding sales through short supply chains. SCOPE The role of agriculture is no longer confined to simply feeding the population. It has become multi functional and its existence and development affect the economy, the environment, the landscape and regional and sustainable development. Short supply chains contribute to these various roles by helping to support farms, and particularly small farms. In addition, more and more consumers are asking questions about the system of mass consumption. They want to be better informed about where the foods they consume are produced and who is involved in this production. Some are interested in consuming seasonal products, local produce and rediscovering heritage varieties of fruits and vegetables. This consumer questioning also covers the production method, increasingly motivating them to choose food produced using environmentally friendly, fair trade or organic farming methods. Governments play a key role in promoting this awareness and influencing these changes. The development policy for short supply circuits proves its value at a local and regional level and the Walloon Region is no exception in this area. GENERAL CONTENT 1. In July 2009, in its regional policy declaration, the Walloon government established the policy guidelines underlying its action for the period. For agriculture, it set out a major commitment to promote the 25

26 consumption of Walloon products and those produced using organic production methods. 2. In order to translate policy issues into operational objectives, the advantages and constraints of the marketing methods in short supply chains for farmers, consumers and society in general must firstly be understood. 3. The current situation with short supply chains in Wallonia is spread across a wide range of practical examples that help to illustrate the great diversity of situations and the resulting wealth of product types. The reasons for such diversity are generally related to local conditions, the people involved and the varied solutions that they choose to explore. 4. The operational strategy implemented by Wallonia is expressed through various support measures and its effectiveness is measured through the results recorded. 5. There are many obstacles to the development of short supply chains and these are far from being removed at present. Accurate identification of these obstacles is essential in defining missing tools and new initiatives that would be useful in helping various individuals and organizations to develop their projects. 6. The conclusion of this policy overview for short supply chains in Wallonia will primarily summarize potential developments and the resources needed to implement them so that local producers can seize all available opportunities to help them develop their businesses by making best use of these opportunities and expanding sales through short supply chains. REFERENCES Appétit Champs: Diagnostic et proposition de stratégies pour développer, au départ des collectivités, une filière d alimentation durable sur le territoire de Namur, ECORES SPRL January Circuits courts, CRIOC June Circuits courts pour la commercialisation des productions agricoles alimentaires : de quoi s agit il? Claustriaux J. J., Palm R., Lebailly P., Winandy S. University of Liège/Gembloux Agro Bio Tech 8 December Consommation et commercialisation en filière courte des viandes en Wallonie Gembloux 29 November Déclaration de politique régionale "Une énergie partagée pour une société durable, humaine et solidaire" 12 July Typologie circuits courts, CRIOC June

27 Vade mecum de la valorisation des produits agricoles et de leur commercialisation en circuit court, Public Service of Wallonia DGARNE July

28 FOOD SAFETY PROBLEMS SPECIFIC TO THE SHORT CHAIN SELECTED CASE STUDIES FROM THE NETHERLANDS Dr. Benno ter Kuile Senior advisor microbiology BuRO NVWA Guest researcher Amsterdam University (The Netherlands) E mail: [email protected] When it comes to foodstuffs, the term short chain is to be taken quite literally. It often defines sale at the place of production, such as farms or small workshops, such as bakers and butchers. The place of production indicates something different from the place of preparation. Restaurants or catering is not by necessity considered short chain, only in the exceptional cases that they are linked to farms and use products of their own land. Another term often used for the short chain is artisan, denoting special skills of the producer and traditional preparation procedures. In the Netherlands there are approximately 25,000 companies that are considered short chain food producers. The mobile group, selling at markets is the largest (11,500), followed by the bakers (3,500) and butchers (1,800). The total number has been steadily decreasing over the years. The short chain is subject to Regulation (EC) No 852/2004, which has been transformed into hygiene codes by their trade organizations. Examples of farm shops that sell products, in these cases cheese, that are produced on the premises. 28

29 In the eyes of the public the short chain is linked to all kind of positive connotations. They expect the products to be more fresh, pure, healthy, natural, nutritious, better tasting and safe than their mainstream industrial counterparts. It is questionable whether any or all of these expectations are realistic. First of all a term like pure is poorly defined and taste is very personal. Whether the nutritional value is different depends on many factors, the length of the chain being only one of them and a short chain does not guarantee an increased nutritional value. This presentation will focus solely on the aspect of food safety. The mainstream food industry attempts to control the chain from farm to fork using such instruments as HACCP and GMP. All major companies employ quality managers and food safety specialists. In the short chain very few companies have the size that they can afford the services of professionals dedicated solely to safety. Three examples of mishaps that have occurred in the Netherlands may serve as examples of what can go wrong as result of a lack of knowledge in this area. In 2006 an unexplained cluster of infections with a rare Salmonella Typhimurium fagetype 560, was discovered in Twente, an area in the east of the Netherlands. An investigation using among other things the addresses of the people affected disclosed that the cluster coincided with the sales area of two supermarkets. One of the few specific items that these supermarkets carried exclusively were the products of a nearby cheese farm. Using standard methodology the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) did not discover the 29

30 Salmonella strain in the cheese. It was found, however, in a drainpipe in a cowshed on the farm. No action was taken as this was considered insufficient evidence. When the outbreak continued, the Netherlands Institute for Health and the Environment using much larger sample sizes found the strain in a so called old cheese from this farm. An investigation into how the Salmonella strain could have ended up in the cheese, revealed that the farmer did not always change his boots when he walked from the cowshed to the building where the cheese was made. He did not understand the logic of the rule and thought it was unnecessary and bothersome. A farmers wife who has a hobby making milk based deserts decides to start selling custard directly to customers at the farm. At first she follows well known recipes, but later she starts to experiment and discovers that lowering the final heating step from 90 o C to 80 o C improves the taste of the custard. This causes a string of complaints. People got sick because the lowered heating step doesn t eliminate Bacillus cereus. The hobby cook didn t realize that the heating step is a safety measure aimed at eliminating spore formers like B. cereus. The local butcher looses customers to the nearby supermarket and decides to increase business by selling homemade ready to eat dishes. Among these are fried rice dishes and a pea soup that contains meat. The turnover steadily increases and the entrepreneur decides to invest in new equipment. He buys huge 800 liter vessels, but economizes by omitting the optional cooling system. The soups and rice dishes are not cooled fast enough and during the cooling down period Clostridium perfringens outgrowth occurs. The butcher was not aware of this risk. There are several common factors in these and almost all other mishaps in short chain food enterprises. The first one is that sufficient knowledge of food microbiology is not always available within these small companies. This situation is in many ways comparable to home cooking, where lack of knowledge leads to risky situations, that could have easily been prevented at low or no costs, had the cook the correct insight in food microbiology. A contributing factor may be the nature of HACCP plans and hygiene codes. These plans are often so detailed and describe procedures, such as receiving and opening a carton box or measuring the temperature of products in the freezer, in such detail that the target audience stops to take it seriously. The food handlers and preparers cannot distinguish the essential from the irrelevant rules and regulators are not always keen enough on weeding out unnecessary rules. The result is that food producers in the short chain do not realize the risk attached to not exactly following prescribed procedures, as they have no insight in and knowledge of the underlying facts. The NVWA commissioned a research project in 2005 aimed at pinpointing these problems. Partially based on the outcome of this investigation a work plan was designed including some new measures. The first one was, as simple as it sounds, 30

31 to make a survey to ensure that all short chain food establishments were known and their essential data, such as the nature of the business and the address, included in a database. Next they were categorized according to the risk they posed, according to the kind of product and, when available, their track record. The groups were designated as green for low risk, orange for moderate and red for high risks. The members of the green group are spot checked only, orange regularly and most attention is given to the red companies. In the event of frequent violations, establishments are closed. An information leaflet on sales from home was drafted an distributed. Start up businesses can ask for compliance assistance. An inspector will visit and make recommendations on how to make sure they act in accordance with all rules, free of charge and without the risk of being fined. In the interest of efficiency, inspectors limit themselves to checking only for observance of rules that affect food safety. Additional training was given to inspectors of short chain establishments, to make sure that they were able to make the correct judgments on the application of the rules and regulations. Finally, the outcome of the inspection efforts are measured by linking the inspection data to disease load and health complaints associated to short chain products. 31

32 SESSION 2. FOOD SAFETY OF THE SHORT SUPPLY CHAIN 32

33 MICROBIOLOGICAL SAFETY AND QUALITY ASPECTS IN RELATION TO THE SHORT FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN L. Herman*, M. Heyndrickx 1, K. De Reu 1, E. Van Coillie 1, M. Uyttendaele 2,3 1 ILVO 2 Ghent University 3 Scientific Committee FASFC * Speaker: Dr. Lieve Herman Head of division ILVO T&V Member of the Scientific Committee of the FASFC E mail: [email protected] INTRODUCTION A number of microbiological safety aspects are related to food and food production. According to the EU regulation 852/2004 (Anonymous, 2004) the safety of the food chain has to be controlled from farm to fork, each step in the food production chain taking its responsibility to deliver a safe food product to the market. The safety is to be controlled based upon the principles of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP). This regulation is valid for all food production, including the production by the short food supply chain. However, the complexity of legislation, the fact that the persons in charge are engaged in multiple simultaneous assignments and the lack of profound knowledge to assess the risks associated with their products may put a challenge to comply to and implement all food safety regulations. A collaboration between all players in the field, including the scientific world, is highly needed. In this presentation, a balanced view by means of a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) is presented on the typical characteristics of the short food supply chain in relation to microbiological food safety and quality aspects, and in comparison to the more conventional (large scale) production. In this report, results of several scientific advices of the Scientific Committee of the Belgian Food Safety Agency (FASFC) are incorporated, showing the increasing topicality of the problem and the increasing demand for knowledge and guidance. STRENGTHS OF THE SHORT FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN IN RELATION TO MICROBIOLOGICAL SAFETY AND QUALITY ASPECTS CONTROL OF QUALITY AND SAFETY OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS Microbiological hazards as Salmonella, Yersinia, Campylobacter and verotoxigenic E. coli on farms are related to animal carriage of these pathogens (and for 33

34 Salmonella sometimes with animal disease) and subsequent excretion in the environment; these zoonotic pathogens can be exchanged between animals and the environment and can be spread to the fields by contaminated irrigation water and manure. Listeria monocytogenes contamination can also circulate in the environment without animal infection or carriage. Control of these microbiological hazards can be based on i) the knowledge of the animal status concerning disease and carriage of zoonotic pathogens; ii) the analysis of well dedicated samples to follow the status at selected points of attention during farm production; and iii) a strict implementation of the best practices and hygiene rules during cultivation, harvest and processing. In the short food supply chain the activity of agricultural production and further processing are often combined on the same site and/or managed by the same person in charge. Packing, sorting or processing usually takes place at the farm, using most of the time on site harvested crops, raw milk or raw meat derived from own livestock or from agricultural products derived in close proximity. As such, adherence to GAP and control of its raw materials for microbiological hazards is expected to be an inherent central focus point of the short food supply chain. A reduced risk for the introduction of certain emerging microbiological hazards is expected for the short food supply chain production due to its in general local sourcing of inputs (raw and auxiliary materials, feed) in comparison with the globalized food production. ON SITE PROCESSING AND DISTRIBUTION OF FRESHLY HARVESTED AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS In the short food supply chain it is in terms of logistics more feasible to maintain a short and direct link between primary production (harvest, milking, slaughter) and subsequent need of storage until food processing and the distribution to the consumer. In general, this short time frame of storage can be considered as beneficial for the microbiological quality and safety of the end product. This can be deduced from the following examples: 1. Prolonged storage of primary food products at low temperature before processing allows the outgrowth of Gram negative psychrotrophic and psychrophilic microorganisms such as Pseudomonas in raw milk. Some Pseudomonas bacteria are capable of producing thermo resistant extracellular proteases and lipases, which can cause spoilage and structural defects in pasteurized and ultra high temperature treated milk (products). Outgrowth of Pseudomonas members occurs from the beginning of the dairy chain (farm tank) till the heating process in the dairy industry and is clearly dependent on the storage time (De Jonghe et al., 2011). On farm production does not need long storage of raw food products. 34

35 2. Scientific studies show that the best way of protecting human infection from salmonellosis caused by contaminated eggs is offered by limiting the bacterial outgrowth by direct and constant cooling of the eggs after lay (De Reu, 2006a; Messens et al., 2006). This would be easier to organize in the short food supply chain. In addition, the absence of temperature fluctuations, which may occur more in long food supply chains with multiple transactions, avoids eggshell condensation and thus also bacterial eggshell penetration (De Reu et al., 2006b). The immediate cooling of eggs has been recommended to be included in the Guides for the autocontrol system for activities as the collective nursery (chréche) for young childeren (Sci Com Advice ), and the horeca sector (Sci Com Advice ). 3. Patulin is a mycotoxin, produced as secondary metabolite by several fungal species from which Penicillium expansum is the most important one on apples. Patulin production occurs during storage of damaged apples and patulin contaminates the processed products as apple juice and apple compote (de Souza Sant Ana et al., 2008). Reducing the storage time of apples offers the possibility to control the problem. CONTAMINATION FROM DIFFERENT MICROBIOLOGICAL SOURCES MAY BE MORE LIMITED In most cases, the short food supply chain limits processing to the agricultural products produced at the farm; this in contrary to most conventional processing units where raw materials of multiple producers are entering the same processing plant. It is expected that in the short food supply chain, the contamination of the processing area with a pathogen would be limited to those strains circulating on the own farm and its environment. Potential contamination sources can thus be more limited. This would also favor the strength of any epidemiological link in case of human foodborne illness reported and traced back to a contaminated farm product. The same may apply to the microbiological quality of short chain food products. It was for example observed in simulations of the cooled raw milk chain from the farm bulk tank to the dairy plant silo that the overall Pseudomonas diversity was less in a cool stored sample of a single farm milk tank compared to a cool stored mixed sample from different farm milk tanks (De Jonghe et al., 2011). This may have consequences for raw milk quality in processing, shelf life and safety, but more research is needed to have consistent proof of these assumptions. FOOD SAFETY CULTURE AND INFORMAL SYSTEMS CONTROLLING ADHERENCE TO BEST PRACTICES Short food supply chains are responding to a consumer demand for a larger variety of quality food products. Producers and consumers in the short food supply chain are concerned on values as taste, nutrition, freshness and in 35

36 generally quality, and thus intrinsically also safe food and food production. A large responsibility is expected from the employees towards their clients due to personal contact and a larger commitment. The adherence on a daily basis to good practices and hygiene is very much influenced by human behavior and commitment. As a consequence, the short food supply chain may be characterized by an good food safety culture, which is intrinsically more prone to adherence to good practices leading to risk reduction and high quality foods without formal procedures (Douglas et al., 2011). WEAKNESSES AND THREATS OF THE SHORT CHAIN IN RELATION TO MICROBIOLOGICAL SAFETY ASPECTS INCREASED POTENTIAL FOR CROSS CONTAMINATION IN CASE OF COMBINED OR NEIGHBORING ACTIVITIES: ANIMAL AND CROP PRODUCTION OR PRIMARY PRODUCTION AND FURTHER PROCESSING In the short chain, the primary production is mostly localized on the same site as the further processing and distribution of the end products or there is a close contact between these activities on neighboring farms. Several reports underline the possibility of end product contamination due to transfer of pathogens from animals and the animal environment to finished food products ready to be set on the market. This contamination can occur as a post contamination after pasteurization as was the case in the Belgian outbreak of verocytoxin producing E. coli O145 and O26 infections associated with the consumption of on farm produced ice cream (De Schrijver et al., 2008). The pathogenic E. coli strains isolated from the contaminated ice cream were also found from the cows and the calves. Direct contamination from infected animals to end product is also possible. This has been shown in a listeriosis outbreak in Sweden due to the consumption of onfarm manufactured fresh goat cheese produced from raw milk of goats with subclinical mastitis excreting L. monocytogenes directly in the milk. On this farm, contamination in the environment caused the cross contamination of the cow milk cheeses produced at the same farm as well (Eilertz et al., 2004). Cross contamination can also occur from animals to fresh plant produce through contaminated irrigation water. The importance of the safety of irrigation water in the primary production is illustrated by the large E. coli O157 outbreak in Sweden with locally produced lettuce in 2005 (Söderström et al., 2008). The implicated lettuce was contaminated by irrigation with water from a small stream which became contaminated with the same strain of the pathogen also present in cattle at a farm upstream from the irrigation point. The importance of the quality of irrigation water in primary production was stressed by the Scientific Committee of the FASFC in the advice Sci Com FASFC The advice identified the risks 36

37 for food safety and formulated qualitative advices and a proposal for microbiological guidelines. The importance of the safety of the processing water was illustrated by the outbreak of campylobacteriosis by the consumption of locally produced and processed peas (Gardner et al., 2011). The peas became contaminated with Campylobacter jejuni by wild birds grazing at the farm s pea fields. Shelled peas, obtained after processing, could have become contaminated due to processing water which was inadequately disinfected. Especially in relation to Campylobacter contamination, all broiler producers have to be aware that a more natural production, with longer breeding periods for chickens, with free range breeding and wild life grazing at the farm is demanding an appropriate food safety control system, based on proper knowledge of the risks and the contamination sources. Campylobacter jejuni contamination of raw milk is an important safety issue in countries (e.g. UK) where there is still a large local raw milk consumption in rural areas. LACK OF FOOD SAFETY KNOWLEDGE In the short chain, the whole production from primary product till end product and distribution, is managed by the same person or the same team in charge. Due to the broad range of tasks, specialization towards food safety management is mostly not possible. As a consequence, most short chain production units are struggling with the complexity of the food safety management rules. The food safety challenges faced at the farmers markets are illustrating the need for adequate food safety knowledge. Farmer s markets often sell their products outdoors and thus potentially exposed to environmental contaminants such as dirt, insects and pollution. Together with this, farmers markets may face challenges in relation to food safety similar to other temporary food service establishments as access to potable water, hand washing facilities, general cleaning and disinfection of surfaces, electricity for refrigeration and sufficient cooling capacity. The problems faced by farmers markets are illustrated by the following studies: Behnke et al. (2012) investigated the behavior of employees in relation to hand washing in farmers markets and their results revealed that proper hand washing between handling different objects including raw and processed products was infrequently practiced. At food markets, in general, many unpackaged food products are handled, very often the same employees are handling food products and money. In many cases proper hand washing facilities are missing. Worsfold et al. (2004) found that almost 25 % of surveyed farmers market vendors were unable to correctly assess the risk associated with their 37

38 wares and that 84 % disagreed with the idea that their products could cause food poisoning. Guzewich and Ross (1999) reviewed the literature and found that 82 % of the reported outbreaks implicated food handlers as the source of infection and that the majority of the outbreaks associated with food handlers involved transmission of the pathogen by the food handlers hand. This is surely the case for noroviruses, responsible for 17.8 % of all foodborne outbreaks in Europe in A good personal hygiene and recognition of the disease at the human level are the basis to limit the transmission to consumers. Other alternative marketing initiatives, elaborated in the short food supply chain such as the use of vending machines and web shopping are leading to a specific set of precautions which have to be taken to guarantee microbiological safety. Concerning the use of vending machines for selling raw milk on farm, specific requirements were elaborated by the FASFC (Anonymous, 2009), stressing the importance of governance of cold temperature and (restricted) holding time of the raw milk in the vending machine. The FASFC Sci Com stressed in its advice , the importance of providing sufficient information to the consumer on the microbiological risks related to the consumption of raw milk, especially for vulnerable groups such as elderly, young children, pregnant woman and immunecompromised persons. HIGH RELATIVE COST FOR MICROBIAL TESTING TO COMPLY TO MICROBIAL CRITERIA OR FOR BASELINE DATA ON MICROBIAL SAFETY Each system for ensuring food safety includes the demand for a number of necessary analyses. The requested microbial testing is relative expensive for an operator in the short food supply chain due to the relative small scale production and the combination of various activities (primary production and processing). As a consequence, the relative costs are high. Guidance and support by public or private networks may help in the elaboration of a dedicated sampling plan (products to be analyzed, along with frequency of analysis and selection of microbial parameters) to verify food safety and provide guarantees for placing safe food on the market. An example of the complexity of microbiological testing is the microbiological criterion defined for the presence of Listeria monocytogenes in end products (Anonymous, 2005). The criterium defines as end product limit <100 cfu L. monocytogenes cells per ml or per g when the producer can proof that L. monocytogenes is not able to grow further in the product. This proof can be delivered on theoretical basis (based on ph and/or aw value, and shelf life). In case there are indications for possible growth, confirmation of no growth by challenge tests has to be delivered (Anonymous, 2008a; Anonymous, 2008b; Sci Com FASFC ). If the theoretical argumentation and/or the challenge 38

39 proof are missing or insufficiently elaborated, the criterion of absence of L. monocytogenes in 25 g or ml of product has to be applied, which is the case for many producers in the short chain. INCREASING CENTRALIZATION AND GLOBALIZATION It has to be taken into account that also in the short food supply chain production, globalization is introduced e.g. due to import of feed, additives, fertilizers and seeds. Examples of possible introduced emerging hazards are: rare Salmonella serotypes (related to feed and fertilizer import (Li et al., 2012; Miles et al., 2009; Smith et al., 1982)), antibiotic resistance genes present in pathogens and commensal bacteria circulating on the farm (Sci Com FASFC , ) and for example pathogenic E. coli introduced by seeds. The latter became clear during the recent outbreak with Escherichia coli O104:H4 in the spring of 2011 in Germany and the related cluster in France, which was traced back to on farm sprout production and the use of contaminated seeds with origin in Egypt. This outbreak stressed the possible drastic effects of seed contamination and thus the role of input materials which are not under direct control of the farmer. Investigation of the outbreak strain showed that we dealt with a new pathogenic E. coli strain (indicated as an entero aggregative enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EAHEC), an EAEC VTEC or an AggVTEC by Buvens and Piérard (2012)), not previously isolated as human foodborne pathogen (Sci Com FASFC ). Recently, specific requirements for hygiene in the production of sprouted seeds were elaborated by the FASFC (Anonymous, 2012). In the short food supply chain of meat, animals are usually slaughtered in a centralized slaughterhouse which makes also the short chain meat production vulnerable for contamination from multiple sources. For animal products, contamination of processing areas and products with multiple pathogenic strains are often encountered in slaughterhouses and meat processing plants for pigs and poultry. Multiple Salmonella strains were detected in several pig slaughterhouses and on pig carcasses (Botteldoorn et al., 2003); the same was also observed in poultry slaughterhouses and broiler carcasses (Heyndrickx et al., 2007). OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES An increasing number of cooperative processing initiatives and new marketing formats are being introduced in the short food supply chain, which give an extra dimension both to the above mentioned strengths and weaknesses. They can be on the one hand regarded as opportunities to improve the specific microbiological safety issue of the short food chain, but they never come without new challenges on the other hand. Cooperative initiatives lead to a larger scale production when it coincides with co processing of products of several primary producers. To guarantee microbiological food safety in these more complex 39

40 cooperation initiatives and production units with the possibility of multiple inputs and thus potential sources of contamination, a more advanced traceability system and systematic management of food safety based upon HACCP would be recommended. Many short chain meat producers are looking for small scale slaughterhouses, some of them set up as cooperative initiatives. Most producers in the short meat chain are also aiming to limit the transport time of the animals to the slaughterhouse which may reduce the shedding of pathogens such as Salmonella, and provide meat processing after slaughter in the slaughterhouse in their own processing plants. These initiatives may limit the multiple contamination sources found in conventional large scale slaughterhouses and processing plants. The peculiarity of the short chain is offering also some opportunities concerning product quality characteristics as taste, freshness, nutritional value and microbiological food safety. Generally food processing techniques such as heat treatment are applied to ensure microbiological safety and to prolong the shelf life of food products. Due to the direct link between and combination of activities of primary production, processing and selling, the short chain offers opportunities for i) better control of the quality of agricultural products during production, at harvest and postharvest storage; ii) shortening the time period needed between harvest or processing and sale; iii) direct communication and informal transfer of knowledge internally between employees, but also face to face from vendor to consumer on storage, handling and preparation thus enabling the marketing of less intensive processed food products with balanced product quality and microbiological safety; iv) guidance, training and networking for exchanging information provided by either public or private organizations to farmers or businesses in the short food supply chain, which may enhance the capacity to deliver high quality and safe foods to the consumer; and v) simplified rules and control systems to be put in place. This is illustrated by some examples: In the production of processed fruit products as fruit juices, a more limited processing of high quality primary products can lead to an improved preservation of vitamins, anti oxidants and phenol components. The Sci Com advice stressed the microbiological risks of the raw milk consumption mainly due to zoonotic agents carried by the cattle. As major benefit of raw milk and raw milk processed products, the superior taste was identified. The short chain offers opportunities to control the risk of zoonotic agents in the raw milk by careful monitoring of the agents at the cattle level. 40

41 REFERENCES Anonymous Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 of the European parliament and of the council of 29 April 2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs. Anonymous Commission regulation (EC) No 2073/2005 on microbiological criteria for foodstuffs. Anonymous 2008a. Guidance document on Listeria monocytogenes shelf life studies for ready to eat foods, under Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005 of 15 November 2005 on microbiological criteria for foodstuffs, Commission of the European Communities, SANCO/1628/2008 ver. 9.3 ( ). nes_en.pdf. Anonymous 2008b. Technical guidance document on shelf life studies for Listeria monocytogenes in ready to eat foods, CRL for Listeria monocytogenes, version 2 November Anonymous Automaten voor de distributie an rauwe melk: hygiëne eisen. s/ _bijlageomzendbriefeisenmelkautomaten_NL.pdf. Anonymous Omzendbrief betreffende de verplichte specifieke hygiënemaatregelen voor de productie van kiemgroenten. 07_03_Omzendbrief_Kiemgroenten_Versie1_R08_v4_NL_FINAL.pdf. Behnke, C., Seo, S., Miller, K Assessing food safety practices in farmers markets. Food Prot. Trends 32: Botteldoorn, N., M. Heyndrickx, N. Rijpens, K. Grijspeerdt and L. Herman Salmonella on pig carcasses: positive pigs and cross contamination in the slaughterhouse. J. Appl. Microbiol. 95: Buvens, G., Piérard, D Infections with verotoxin producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 and other serotypes, including the outbreak strain O104:H4. Acta Clin Bel 67: De Jonghe, V., Coorevits, A., Van Hoorde, K., Messens, W., Van Landschoot, A., De Vos, P., Heyndrickx, M Influence of storage conditions on the growth of Pseudomonas species in refrigerated raw milk. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 77:

42 De Schrijver, K., Buvens, G., Possé, B., Van den Branden, D., Oosterlynck, O., De Zutter, L., Eilers, K., Piérard, D., Dierick, K., Van Damme Lombaerts, R., Lauwers, C., Jacobs, R Outbreak of verocytoxin producing E. coli O145 and O26 infections associated with the consumption of ice cream produced at a farm, Belgium, Eurosurveillance 13: 1 4. De Reu, K. 2006a. Bacteriological contamination and infection of shell eggs in the production chain. PhD thesis, University of Ghent, 250 p. De Reu, K., Grijspeerdt, K., Heyndrickx, M., Messens, W., Uyttendaele, M., Debevere, J., Herman, L. 2006b. Influence of eggshell condensation on eggshell penetration and whole egg contamination with Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis. J. Food Prot., 69, De Souza Sant Ana, A., Rosenthal, A., de Massaguer, P.R The fate of patulin in apple juice processing: a review. Food Res. Int. 41: Douglas A., Powell, Casey J. Jacob, Benjamin J. Chapman Enhancing food safety culture to reduce rates of foodborne illness Food Control 22, Eilertz, I., Danielsson Tham, M.L., Hammarberg, K. E., Reeves, M. W., Rocourt, J., Seeliger, H. P., Swaminathan, B., Tham, W Isolation of Listeria monocytogenes from goat cheese associated with a case of listeriosis in goat. Foodborne Pathog. Dis. 1: Gardner, T. J., Fitzgerald, C., Xavier, C., Klein, R., Pruckler, J., Stroika, S., McLaughlin, J. B Outbreak of campylobacteriosis associated with consumption of raw peas. CID 53: 26 32SciCom FAVV The contribution of the food chain to the transfer of antibiotic resistance to humans _NL_DOSSIER pdf; _FR_DOSSIER pdf. Griffith, C.J., Livesey, K.M., Clayton, D.A Food safety culture: the evolution of an emerging risk factor? British Food Journal 112, 4, Guzewich, J., M. Ross White paper: evaluation of risks related to microbiological contamination of ready to eat food by food preparation workers and the effectiveness of interventions to minimize those risks. Food And Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. Heyndrickx, M., Herman, L. Vlaes, L., Butzler, J. P., Wildemauwe, C., Godard, C. and De Zutter, L Mutiple typing for the epidemiological study of the contamination of broilers with Salmonella from the hatchery to the slaughterhouse. J. Food Protection 70:

43 Li, X., Bethune, L. A,. Jia, Y., Lovell, R. A., Proescholdt, T.A., Benz, S. A., Schell, T. C., Kaplan, G., McChesney, D. G Surveillance of Salmonella prevalence in animal feeds and characterization of the Salmonella Isolates by serotyping and antimicrobial Susceptibility. Foodborne Pathog. Dis., June 26 in press. Messens, W., Grijspeerdt, K., Herman, L Eggshell penetration of hen s eggs by Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis upon various storage conditions. Br. Poult. Sc. 47: Miles, J.M., Summer, S.S., Boyer, R.R., William, R.C., Latimer, J.G., Mc Kinney, J.M Internalization of Salmonella enterica serovar Montevideo into greenhouse tomato plants through contaminated irrigation water or seed stock. J. Food Prot. 74: SciCom FAVV Scientific evaluation of Guide for the introduction of an autocontrol system in the catering sector pdf; pdf. SciCom FAVV Evaluation of a protocol for challenge tests for Listeria monocytogenes. sci/doc/avis06/advies_ pdf; sci/doc/avis06/avis_ pdf. SicCom FAVV The quality of irrigation water used in primary plant production and food safety _NL_DOSSIER pdf; _FR_DOSSIER pdf. SciCom FAVV Advice on indications for the food related transfer of antibiotic resistance from animals to humans : study of resistance profiles and phage types of Salmonella Typhimurium from pigs and poultry, pork and broiler meat and humans. _ _NL_Dossier pdf; _FR_Dossier pdf. SciCom FAVV Advice on the risk benefit evaluation of raw cow milk consumption and the effect of heat treatment on these risks and benefits _NL_DOSSIER pdf; _FR_DOSSIER pdf. 43

44 Sci Com FAVV Advice on the evaluation of the autocontrol guide for the food safety in collective host community of early childhood _NL_DOSSIER pdf; _FR_DOSSIER pdf. Sci Com FAVV Advice on a project of royal decree on the hygienic conditions related to the direct supply by an animal keeper or by another producer of primary products, or a hunter of small quantities of some foods of animal origin to the final consumer or of wild game to the retail that delivers directly to the final consumer _NL_DOSSIER pdf; _FR_DOSSIER pdf. SciCom FAVV Prevention, detection, fast tracing and management of outbreaks of human pathogenic Verotoxin producing Escherichia coli in the food chain _NL_DOSSIER pdf; _FR_DOSSIER _000.pdf. Sci Com FAVV on the contribution of the food chain to the transfer of antibiotic resistance to humans _NL_DOSSIER pdf; _FR_DOSSIER pdf. Smith, H.W., Tucker, J.F Salmonella organisms in garden fertilizers of animal origin. J. Hyg. 89: Söderström, A., Osterberg, P., Lindqvist, A., Jönsson, B., Lindberg, A., Blide Ulander, S., Welinder Olsson, C., Löfdahl, S., Kaijser, B., De Jong, B., Kühlmann Berenzon, S., Boqvist, S., Eriksson, E., Szanto, E., Andersson, S., Allestam, G., Hedenström, I., Ledet Muller, L., Andersson, Y A large Escherichia coli O157 outbreak in Sweden associated with locally produced lettuce. Foodborne Pathog. Dis. 5: Worsfold, D., P. Worsfold, Griffith, C An Assessment of food hygiene and safety at famers markets. Int. J. Environ. Health Res. 14:

45 CHEMICAL ASPECTS OF FOOD SAFETY AND QUALITY IN THE SHORT SUPPLY CHAINS L. Pussemier*, L. Herman 1,3, X. Van Huffel 2, A. Huyghebaert 3 1 ILVO 2 FASFC 3 Scientific Committee FASFC * Speaker: Dr. ir. Luc Pussemier Operational director CODA CERVA Vice chair of the Scientific Committee of the FASFC E mail: luc.pussemier@coda cerva.be ABSTRACT Many chemicals may impact food quality and safety during the progress of the ingredients throughout the food chain. Some of those chemicals are undesirable in food but they can enter the food chain at several critical steps whilst, on the other hand, some useful or beneficial chemicals can be lost during some specific steps of the food chain. Those two phenomena can lead to potential negative impacts on public health. The first group of hazardous chemicals is made of i) environmental pollutants (POPs, heavy metals), ii) agricultural inputs (pesticides, veterinary drugs, fertilizers), iii) toxic compounds of which the entry in the food chain depends on some specific crop management practices or weather conditions (mycotoxins, toxic weeds or seeds), iv) contaminants that are specific to the process used for food preparation (acrylamide, benzene) or contaminants that are released from technological aid agents (dioxins, metals), and v) contaminants that can be released from several materials in contact with food (plasticizers, heavy metals, chemical constituents released by several packing materials). On the other hand the beneficial food (micro )constituents that can be lost belong to the group of vitamins, essential elements, plant antioxidants, etc. Local foods stemming from the short food supply chains may differ from their long chain counterparts in several ways that will be analyzed in more detail in this presentation. INTRODUCTION When dealing with food safety and food quality, it is important to present a whole picture and not focus or restrict ourselves to some particular hazards or traits. First of all, it is necessary to look at all parameters able to influence the presence (or absence) of harmful (or beneficial) chemicals from stable to table by looking successively at the production environment, the mode of crop production (conventional, organic, etc.) as well as at the chemicals originated (or destroyed) during food processing, storage and packaging. In addition, it is also important to 45

46 be able to discriminate relevant from non relevant traits and to critically analyze what are the real consequences on food safety and on food quality. Also, knowing what is good or less good, it may be very useful to adapt our behavior and habits in order to extract the best from each situation and avoid the worst cases. Finally, it also worth considering that health is not only determined by negative or positive determinants such as contaminants and micro nutrients but also by the way of living including the well being and physical activity, for instance. HARMFUL AND BENEFICIAL CHEMICALS THROUGHOUT THE FOOD CHAIN Local food and feed are produced in the local production environment. In some cases, the quality of the local environment can be bad for several reasons including the quality of soil, air and water used for crop production or animal rearing. Hence, Heavy Metals (HMs) and Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) can accumulate in the food chain. A well known example is cadmium in vegetables and some animal products (kidneys from bovines) near non ferrous metal production sites in the Campine region (Vromman et al., 2008; Waegeneers et al., 2009). On the contrary, the local environment (soils) in Western Europe can be relatively poor in some useful nutrients such as selenium so that the exclusive intake of local food could be somewhat low compared to recommended dietary allowance values (SHC, 2009). The bad environmental quality of water and sediments from local rivers can lead to contamination of wild fish such as eels (Belpaire and Goemans, 2007). The contamination of some animal products by environmental contaminants can also be influenced by the mode of production as it can be seen from the contamination of eggs when the hens are reared in free range systems (Sci Com advice 2002/35). Agricultural inputs will be used in a different way according to the mode of production. Organic crops will contain less synthetic pesticides residues and sometimes also less nitrates (Pussemier et al., 2006). Food processing and cooking will, on the other hand, contribute to pesticide residues dissipation, hence reducing the human intake of those chemicals (Claeys et al., 2011). The crop production management associated to bad weather conditions can in turn lead to other kinds of contaminations. Hence, at harvest, cereals can be contaminated by several Fusarium toxins, especially under non plough conditions, in some crop rotation favoring cereals, and when rainy conditions occur during and after the flowering of wheat, for example. Non effective sorting of apples in order to discard the rotten fruits is also a very dangerous practice leading to the production of apple juice contaminated by patulin (Baert et al., 2006; Gillard et al., 2009). A bad management of crop production may also result in the presence of undesirable weeds rich in toxic compounds that will indirectly or accidently contaminate the crop, and so the food or feed to be produced with such raw materials. A last example is the greening of potatoes (and their 46

47 subsequent contamination by solanine) when the tubers are not thoroughly covered by a soil layer during the growing of the crop. When the harvest is done, there are still some other occasions that can lead to further alterations of the chemical composition. First of all, the longer the fresh produce will be stored or processed the higher will be the depletion or losses of vitamins and other useful micro nutrients. On the other hand some other contaminants can appear during storage, processing and cooking. One can mention ochratoxin A (bad storage conditions), additives (to extend the preservation), chemical contaminants such as benzene and acrylamide (process contaminants) (Sci Com, 2010; Sci Com, 2008). Last but not least, the packaging of food ingredients and foodstuffs as well as other materials which can come in contact with food (kitchen utensils) can further lead to contamination. Special care must be taken with the short chains because the probability that non food grade materials will be used is higher here. For example, recycled paper or cardboard may pose problems as well as the use of handicraft made recipients (ceramics, for example). IN WHICH WAY DO LOCAL FOOD AND SHORT SUPPLY CHAINS INFLUENCE THE CONTAMINATION RISKS BY CHEMICAL CONTAMINANTS? The impact of local food on the occurrence of specific harmful effects has been illustrated in some limited cases. The problems linked to the presence of POPs (dioxins, PCBs, etc.) are well documented for eggs (free range hens belonging to private owners; Goeyens et al., 2008), wild fish (especially eels; Belpaire and Goemans, 2007), heavy metals (especially cadmium in vegetables and in kidneys of bovines; Vromman et al, 2008, Waegeneers et al., 2009). As far as mycotoxins are concerned, the case of patulin in apple juice (handicraft made and organic) is well documented (Baert et al., 2006; Gillard, 2009). As to the cereal mycotoxins (Fusarium toxins), it seems that the picture is much more complex and that the situation can vary dramatically from one year to another and from one location to another (Larondelle et al., 2005; Pussemier et al., 2006). Pesticides and nitrates, whilst generally the most feared by the consumers, do actually not represent an important health risk since the levels of residues left at harvest are very low (Claeys et al., 2008) and also since those residues levels will further decrease after food processing (Claeys et al., 2011). No clear cut information is available on the other kinds of contaminants. IN WHICH WAY DO LOCAL FOOD AND SHORT SUPPLY CHAINS INFLUENCE THE CONTENT OF BENEFICIAL ORGANIC MICRO CONSTITUENT AND ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS? Some of the short food supply chains are characterized by the fact that fruits, vegetables, bread and animal products (milk, cheese, meat) are made from fresh 47

48 ingredients or are minimal processed so that they are rich in vitamins, antioxidants, fibers and essential elements. Those properties can even be slightly more present when the food products originate from the organic production system (Food Standards Agency, 2009; Pussemier et al., 2006). A TENTATIVE BALANCE OF DELETERIOUS AND BENEFICIAL EFFECTS Taking into consideration the best documented cases described in the literature, it is possible to provide a global picture of the situation as illustrated in Figure 1. The way by which the local food and the short supply chains will influence this global picture depends on each specific situation. A historical pollution of the local environment will impact more specifically situations illustrated by arrows a) and b). The presence of toxins, on the other hand, will depend on crop management practices as well as on weather conditions during the summer whilst pesticide residues will be under control if good agricultural practices are respected and, more especially, if the organic production mode is implemented. For the short supply chains products that are sold fresh or after minimal processing, the situations represented by the arrows d f) will be less encountered, which is a clear argument for the promotion of these production and distribution chains. 48

49 49 49 Examples of well documented cases with potential significant health impact are indicated with arrows a b, f (i.e. contamination of vegetables by cadmium in polluted areas (a), dioxins in eggs from free range hens (b) and acrylamide in chips, coffee and biscuits (f)). Examples of well documented cases with no clear health impact are indicated with arrows c e and g (i.e. patulin in handicraft made apple juice (c), phthalates in canned food (d), bisphenol A in polycarbonate bottles (e), and loss of vitamins and other organic micro nutrients in vegetables stored at room temperature (g)). Figure 1: Chemical changes in food according to the position in the food chain.

50 CONCLUSIONS In terms of food safety and food quality, there can be some slight differences between the foodstuffs distributed via the conventional (long) chains and the food which can be directly obtained from the local producers. Sometimes this can lead to less safe situations (presence of environmental contaminants or toxins stemming for non appropriate crop management techniques) but this is mostly an exception that can be avoided by a good education of the producer and of the consumers. On the other hand, contaminants stemming from more complex processes and long term storage of the foodstuffs will generally be less present in the short supply chain (especially in the organic production) if appropriate foodgrade materials (utensils, packaging) are selected to handle the food. In addition, by buying fresh and less processed products, the consumer will improve the nutritional quality of its food. Last but not least, self production of vegetables and fruit will be even better for the health of the consumer thanks to some extra physical activity required for their production. REFERENCES Baert et al. (2006) Occurrence of Patulin in organic, conventional, and handcrafted apple juices marketed in Belgium. J. of Food Protec. 69(6): Belpaire and Goemans (2007) Eels: contaminant cocktails pinpointing environmental contamination. ICES journal of Marine Science, 64(7): Gillard et al. (2009) Quantification of patulin in Belgian handicraft made apple juices. World Mycotoxin Journal. 2(1): Goeyens et al. (2008) Contaminatie van eieren afkomstig van kippen gehouden bij particulieren. Report of the CONTEGG study published by Contractueel onderzoek FOD Volksgezondheid, Veiligheid van de Voedselketen en leefmilieu, Brussel (58p). Claeys et al. (2008) Exposure assessment of the Belgian population through fruit and vegetable consumption. Food Additives & Contaminants, 25 (7) Claeys et al. (2011) Exposure of several Belgian consumer groups to pesticide residues through freshfruit and vegetable consumption. Food Control 22: Food Standards Agency (2009) Organic review published (available at Pussemier et al. (2006) Chemical safety of conventionally and organically produced foodstuffs (2006)

51 Sci Com (2008) Advice of the Scientific Committee of the FASFC on acrylamide. Exposure of the Belgian population, contribution of different foodstuff and methodology for defining action limits (dossier Sci Com 2007/37). Sci Com (2010) Advice of the Scientific Committee of the FASFC on carcinogenic and/or genotoxic risks in food: process related contaminants (dossier Sci Com 2007/09bis). SHC (Superior Health Council) (2009). Nutritional Recommendations for Belgium, n Vromman et al. (2008) Cadmium in the food chain near non ferrous metal production sites. FAC (part A) 25: Waegeneers et al. (2009) The European maximum level for Cd in bovine kidneys is in Belgium only realistic for cattle up to 2 years of age. FAC 26(9):

52 CONTROL OF THE FOOD SAFETY OF THE SHORT CIRCUITS: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE CELL QUALITY OF FARM PRODUCTS (CQPF) SUPPORTING THE PRODUCERS IN WALLONIA Prof. ir. Marianne Sindic Prof. University of Liège / Gembloux Agro Bio Tech E mail: [email protected] INTRODUCTION In 1993, the European Union, in order to guarantee food hygiene and safety, proposed to standardize food legislations of all Member States. All foodstuffs in free movement in Europe were concerned, regardless their production phase. The Council Directive 93/43/EEC on the hygiene of foodstuffs was adopted, it replaced the analysis on finished products (slowness, sampling, cost) by a more preventive approach. This new approach is based on the application of Good Hygienic Practices and the HACCP principles. Their aim is to reduce potential health risks by identifying hazards and defining critical control points at the different steps of production. Its transposition into Belgian law may create difficulties for many small and medium enterprises because it involves policy and behavior change, and requires a different approach to production. Aware of the potential consequences that this regulation may produce on the viability of these enterprises, the Department of food technology of the Gembloux Agricultural University took the lead and launched in 1995, with the support of the Walloon Region, the French Speaking Community and the Federal funds, some projects in order to help artisans and farmers to comply with this legislation. Since 2003, farmers have been obliged to comply with new infrastructure requirements and to implement procedures based on the HACCP principles. Hazard analysis and assessment of associated risk in their own farms require methodological and technical knowledge and investigations that farmers cannot achieve easily. In reaction to this situation that may endanger the survival of many farms, the Gembloux Agro Bio Tech offers concrete and practical support in order to adapt the method to the reality of the field. BACKGROUND OF THE CQPF PROJECT With these different projects implemented to support farmers in various aspects such as dairy technology, administrative assistance and implementation of HACCP programs, the Walloon Region wanted to put together the different skills 52

53 within a common project in order to optimize support to farmers. This led to the creation of the «Cellule Qualité Produits fermiers» (CQPF) in This project provides a one stop shop package of services for farmers who want to diversify their activities by transforming their raw materials. On this basis, this project is addressed to every single actor who works in the field of transformation and valorization of raw materials from the Walloon agriculture. MISSION AND TYPE OF SUPPORT Providing local self made products represents a good means to improve the profitability of the farms by increasing the added value of raw materials. In addition, producers consider it as a way to claw back a part of the profit margin that is currently obtained by food processing and distribution industries. The project supports those already in business and those who are considering a diversification activity or retraining. On the other hand, many economic development stakeholders in Wallonia (GAL, ADL, Créa Job,...) also benefit from the expertise acquired by the actors of the CQPF project. The mission of the Cellule Qualité des Produits fermiers is defined in a framework convention signed by the Walloon Minister of Agriculture. Which aim is to help producers/processors on the farm to bring the quality of their products into compliance with legal and/or market requirements. Food safety is considered as a priority. The action of the project must allow a one stop shop approach: in other words to allow the farmer to find in one single place the answers to any type of question: about his diversification activity, or about starting such an activity, or about sustainability/development of such an existing activity. The support to diversification projects is divided in 3 poles of activity: Food safety/hygiene support, provided by the ULg GxABT A technological support, provided by CARAH and EPASC An economic support, provided by ACW Saveurs Paysannes, also partner of the CQPF project, conducts special studies related to short marketing circuits. The coordination of the project is provided within the ULg GxABT (Laboratory Quality and Safety of Food Products) by Professor Marianne Sindic. The originality of the project lies in the strong interactions between the different expert teams, related to the problems encountered. For example, a hygienic problem on a dairy product can be linked to a lack of technological mastery of the process. The technological team is needed to solve the problem, in addition to the food safety/hygiene team. More generally, the direct or indirect involvement of 53

54 multiple partners is a real asset to provide the farmer an integrated support that covers the majority of required actions. FOOD SAFETY SUPPORT Concerning Food safety, different services are proposed through different phases: Design phase of a diversification project: Advice concerning design of food premises (advice and verification of hygienic measures, verification of the compliance with regulation); Information and training to basics of food hygiene; Information about food safety assurance systems (interpretation of legislation, product specifications, product label, ). Diversification project start up: Support for administrative actions (to obtain FASFC authorizations); Implementation of self control involving basic hygiene measures, HACCP and traceability system. This support is realized during several meetings; Information linked to self control of food safety assurance systems (interpretation of legislation, product specifications, product label, ). Follow up: Microbiological and chemical testing (outsourced service); Interpretation of testing results; Microbiological contamination problems solving; Updating the documentation related to Food safety assurance system. Since its creation in 2006, the CQPF has informed and supported more than 1000 producers. For example, in the year 2011, the different follow ups realized by the Food safety team are divided as follows: The Dairy sector represented 68 % of interventions: cheese, butter, yogurt, ice cream, etc.; Meat sector (11 %): butcher on the farm, small slaughterhouses, cutting plants, preparation of packages of meat; Vegetable sector (12 %): fruits and vegetables processing (canned soups, jams, wine, oil, juice,...); Catering sector (2 %) restaurants on the farm, making meals. 54

55 SOME PECULIARITIES OF LOCAL FOOD PRODUCTION IN A CONTEXT OF SHORT MARKETING CIRCUIT Transformation for a short marketing circuit is mainly characterized by the following elements: A craft production system, with limited production volumes (no production automation, nor automatic cleaning system, nor aseptic lines,...); A desire to distance from standardized industrial products. In the dairy sector, the products are mostly made with raw milk; The number of employees working in the farm on this type of projects is limited. It rarely exceeds the legal limits allowing flexibility in the implementation of the food safety assurance system; A farmer producer/processor has limited financial resources to manage its system: he has no QA manager, nor own laboratory performing the analyzes at a lower cost than outsourcing,...; The implementation of a food safety assurance program has been mandatory since 2003 on a farm, while the production of farm products is ancestral. With these programs new constraints appear which causes producers misunderstanding; A direct relationship with the consumer is a key factor in the production of a quality product, both from an organoleptic and hygienic point of view; Production volumes significantly lower than those encountered in the food industry; Transforming raw materials, with a few or no intermediaries. The production chain is therefore shortened and the traceability less complex. MICROBIOLOGICAL TEST RESULTS The Food safety and hygiene team of the CQPF ensures, as mentioned above, the Implementation of basic hygiene measures, HACCP and traceability system in accordance with the EU and the Belgian food legislation. The EU Regulation 853/2004 lays down specific hygiene rules for food of animal origin and the EU Regulation 2073/2005 gives the microbiological criteria for foodstuffs. These regulations state that microbiological tests have to be carried out regularly to ensure products safety. Microbiological results accumulated over a period of 6 years will be presented. These results were obtained during the follow up of farmers producing raw milk products, for three dairy products: cheese, butter and yoghurt. Results concerning meat products will also be presented. We compared the results with safety standards set by the European legislation. All the tests have been performed in accredited laboratory. 55

56 DIFFICULTIES Diversification of activities in the agricultural world reflects the need to improve farm incomes, to increase its profitability, but also to ensure its viability considering the increase of production costs. Transformation of primary production can generate higher margins than those of the sale of raw materials, and can therefore generate additional income. We should identify, however, the difficulties encountered on the ground by distinguishing old and new processors. Concerning the older ones, many farms have been producing raw milk butter for years. The arrival of new legal constraints (HACCP and hygiene programs and requirements), the necessity to upgrade or even rebuilt their facilities as well as the obligation to perform microbiological tests have scared and discouraged a lot of small producers. Concepts such as mandatory notification and possible product recall also raised doubt in the minds of many producers who, through direct sales, are much more exposed to their customers and to their reactions. Concerning new diversification projects, the investments to be made are more and more important, and so it becomes more and more difficult to recoup their investment. In addition to the costs and the time required to obtain access to some professions or skills, the cost of the tests and of the implementation of HACCP programs have to be considered. All this, before they get any financial return. Regulation is also complex and multiple when a diversification project is to be launched: building permits, environmental permits, upgrading premises, tax obligations, This requires an important human and financial investment and adequate and appropriate support. CONCLUSIONS Thanks to the presence on the field and to the availability of engineers involved in the project Cellule Qualité des Produits fermiers, they succeeded in supporting farmers who were motivated and eager to reach the legal food safety standards and to produce high quality products. Hundreds of small scale producers have been supported, more than half belong to the dairy sector. This action has been recognized both nationally and internationally (Prix économique de la Province de Namur, drafting of guides for the application of HACCP principles,...) it represents an innovative way to support artisans. In order to support these structures there are still a lot of needs. We have observed a growing demand of farmers: training basics of food hygiene (legislations, hygienic measures, HACCP principles, ), implementation of HACCP programs, food technology, design of production facilities, microbiological 56

57 problems solving. The expressed needs on the ground show the usefulness of CQPF every day. The ultimate purpose of this project is to allow producers to make the traditional and local products durable and maintain their organoleptic characteristics. This is the reason why traditional production techniques should be maintained, ensuring, at the same time, food safety. The sustainability of the project combining hygienic, technological and economic support lies more than ever in the agenda. We hope that the support provided by the Walloon Region will continue in the interest of our producers. 57

58 SESSION 3. THE SHORT SUPPLY CHAIN AND THE SOCIETY 58

59 SHORT CHANNELS IN FRANCE: DO THEY MEAT CONSUMERS CONCERNS? Prof. dr. Pierre Sans Prof. National Veterinary School of Toulouse (France) E mail: [email protected] INTRODUCTION Short circuits are undergoing a significant development in France: the forms of exchange between producers and consumers diversify and trading volumes grow. This communication aims: 1. to clarify what we consider as a short circuit in France and to give an updated overview of their place in French agriculture; 2. to identify the expectations of consumers who use this mode of supply; 3. to highlight adaptations of sanitary regulations in case of SC. DEFINITION AND IMPORTANCE OF SHORT CHANNELS IN FRANCE DEFINITION The short chain (SC) is defined as "a way to market agricultural products either through direct sales from producer to consumer, or by indirect sales provided that there is only one intermediate" (Collective, 2009). Therefore, this recent definition defines the SC in terms of close relationships (interaction between producers and consumers). However, it is often accompanied by geographic proximity (proximity or local short channels), the distance chosen between 50 and 100 km depending on authors (Aubry and Chiffoleau, 2009). This last dimension is taken into account by safety regulations regarding SC (see below). There is a wide variety of selling forms within the SC (Figure 1 and 2). 59

60 Figure 1. Direct sale. Figure 2. One intermediary sale. IMPORTANCE Data from the last French census of agriculture (2010) are useful to view the importance of SC in the agricultural landscape: 21 % of farmers sold through SC in 2010 (against 16 % in 2005 and 15 % in 2000). Vegetable and honey producers are most engaged in this type of distribution (approximately 50 % of them). The importance of SC varies by region (Figure 3 and 4): Farmers in South Eastern France more often use this type of sale than the national average. 60

61 Figure 3. Number of farms selling at least one product through short channels by region. Source: General Census of Agriculture, 2010 Figure 4. Share of farms selling at least one product through short channels by department. Source: General Census of Agriculture, 2010 Finally, within the different selling forms trough SC, farm selling is the most popular (Table 1). 61

62 Table 1. Relative importance of SC selling forms (except wine; ranking regarding turnover). Type Selling form % of farms involved 1 st rank* 2 nd ** 3 rd ** Direct Farm 50 % 31 % 23 % Direct Open market 19 % 19 % 10 % One intermediary Retailer 13 % 16 % 18 % Direct Round selling 6 % 7 % 7 % Producers collective Direct store 5 % 8 % 8 % One intermediary Supermarket 4 % 5 % 7 % Direct Box schemes 2 % 4 % 5 % Direct Fair 1 % 4 % 7 % One intermediary Restaurants 1 % 4 % 8 % Direct Mail order 0.5 % 2 % 4 % One intermediary Catering 0.3 % 1 % 3 % * : ranking by turnover ** : percentage of farms selling more than one product in short channels Source: General Census of Agriculture, 2010 WHY DO FRENCH CONSUMERS BUY IN SHORT CHANNELS? Thanks in particular to consumer focused research, conducted in the context of programs dedicated to SC 1, we better identify consumer motivations to buy in SC. Merle and Piotrowski (2012) propose three main reasons: Looking for tasty and authentic products. Consumers associate this special taste with the freshness of the products, particular production systems and the respect of seasonality production; Reducing safety hazards: recent food crises have heightened consumer sensitivity to food safety hazards. Buying local products is seen by some consumers as a way to reduce the risk by assuming that production methods are less intensive and guarantee safer products; 1 See for example, projects Coxinel ( coxinel.fr/spip.php?rubrique64) or Liproco ( circuits courts.com/). 62

63 Making sense by the way of civic engagement and creating social links. The purchase of products and SC is motivated by the desire to support local agriculture (and/or small farms), to defend production practices but also to interact with the producer on his job. It is a way to promote sustainable agriculture regarding its three dimensions: environmental, economic and social. Hedonism and citizen commitment are therefore strong forces to purchase SC products. The creation of geographical and/or relational proximity (Praly et al., 2009; Herault Fournier et al., 2012) generates and maintains confidence in the products (and their production system) purchased by consumers (Vincq et al., 2010). It overcomes the constraints that this type of supply chain can have (narrow range of products, distance, restricted opening hours, contractual engagement, sometimes higher prices,...). SHORT CHANNELS AND FOOD SAFETY As a foodstuffs producer, a farmer selling through SC has to comply with European Commission (EC) regulation on foodstuffs hygiene (especially regulations (EC) No 852/2004 & 853/2004). However, due to the characteristics of these operators, French food safety authorities implemented special rules for their approval. In case of direct delivery to consumer (no intermediary), a simple registration (instead of approval), managed by the Department public authority, is required. Producers that process primary products before selling them must comply with the recommendations of Good Practice for Hygiene guidelines. Specific rules regarding transport have to be respected. For example, in the case of meat products, an isotherm vehicle can be used for sale if the distance between farm and market place does not pass 80 km (as the crow flies). Beyond this distance, it is necessary to be equipped with a refrigerated vehicle. In the case of a sale to an intermediary, producer is considered as a retailer. Regarding animal products, he shall not operate unless the competent authority has approved his establishment with the exception of those carrying out only: (a) primary production; (b) transport operations; (c) the storage of products not requiring temperature controlled storage conditions; or (d) some retail operations. Nevertheless, even for meat products, derogation to approval can be delivered by French authority if sale to an intermediary is a marginal, localized and restricted activity. Concretely, 3 conditions are imposed: the maximum amount for each category of product sold to other retail establishments does not exceed a fixed quantity; for each product category, this quantity does not represent more than 30 % of the total production of the establishment (for this category); 63

64 the distance between seller and purchaser establishments does not exceed 80 km (as the crow flies). The French competent authority has made some effort to consider the specific characteristics of SC. Information and farmers training programs are carried out in recent years. They aim to promote the development of SC business through new areas (catering for example) guaranteeing a high level of food safety to consumer. CONCLUSION Short channels are undergoing a significant development in France. Due to their diversity and specific characteristics, they meet the needs of a growing segment of the population seeking proximity with producers and authenticity. Thanks to updated and more complete data coming from the recent General Census of agriculture, it should be possible to have a better view of the economic reality of these channels and to continue supporting producers involved in SC marketing on important topics (logistics, processing plant approval, marketing tools,...). By strengthening the activity and skills of producers, SC should improve their ability to meet consumers demand. REFERENCES Aubry C. et Chiffoleau Y. (2009) Le développement des circuits courts et l agriculture périurbaine : histoire, évolution en cours et questions actuelles. Innovations Agronomiques, 5, Chaffotte L. et Chiffoleau Y. (2007) Vente directe et circuits courts : évaluations, définitions et typologie, Cahier de l Observatoire n 1, INRA, Montpellier, fév. 2007, 8p. Collectif (2009) Rapport du groupe de travail «Circuits courts de commercialisation». Rapport au Ministre de l agriculture, 24 p. Disponible au: Delpal F. et Hatchuel G. (2007) La consommation engagée s affirme comme une tendance durable. Credoc Consommation et modes de vie, n 201. Herault Fournier C., Merle A. et Prigent Simonin A.H. (2012) Comment les consommateurs perçoivent ils la proximité à l égard d un circuit court alimentaire. Management & Avenir, n 53, p Journal Officiel de la République Française (JORF) Arrêté du 27 avril 2007 modifiant l arrêté du 8 juin 2006 relatif à l agrément des établissements mettant sur le marché des produits d origine animale ou des denrées contenant des produits d origine animale. 64

65 Journal officiel de l Union européenne (JOCE) Règlement (CE) N 853/2004 du Parlement Européen et du Conseil du 29 avril 2004 fixant des règles spécifiques d'hygiène applicables aux denrées alimentaires d'origine animale. Merle A. et Piotrowski M. (2012) Consommer des produits alimentaires locaux : comment et pourquoi? Décisions Marketing, 67 (à paraître). Praly C., Chazoule C., Delfosse C., Bon N. et Cornée M. (2009) La notion de «proximité» pour analyser les circuits courts. XLVIème colloque de l ASRDLF, Clermont Ferrand, 17 p. Vincq J.L., Mondy B. et Fontorbes J.P. (2010) La construction de la qualité fiable dans les réseaux alimentaires de proximité. Economie rurale, n , p

66 DIRECT MARKETING FROM PRODUCERS TO CONSUMERS: ECONOMIC ASPECTS AND KEY SUCCES FACTORS E. Wauters*, K. Mondelaers 1, M. Crivits 1 1 ILVO * Speaker: Dr. Erwin Wauters Researcher ILVO L&M Guest Prof. Antwerp University E mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT This paper presents a theoretical exploration of the farm economics of direct marketing channels, taking into account both income and risk. It summarizes the available empirical literature on the farm economic impact of selling through an alternative marketing channel. Its major conclusion is that the question if and to what extent direct marketing improves farmers income and income stability is an empirical one. Empirical evidence is mixed, but confirms the conclusions from our theoretical elaboration, where we show the importance of (1) considering marketing costs, especially fixed marketing costs, associated with different marketing channels, as they might be substantial and offset the higher price and (2) the importance of scale of sales as marketing costs are incurred for all products supplied, regardless of whether they are sold and unsold products might shift farmers from being exposed to price risks to severe market risks, with comparable results on income. Good managers with the required skills and passion, though, should be able to exploit direct marketing channels in a profitable manner. INTRODUCTION Direct marketing from producers to consumers has received considerable attention in recent years. Surprisingly, whereas direct marketing started as a reaction of, mostly, small scale farmers to the increasing price squeeze (difference between prices and costs) and the market power of retailers and merchants in conventional marketing channels, most attention in the last decade was going to the socio ecological aspects of direct marketing. Direct marketing channels have been associated with ecological benefits such as a reduction in carbon emission, a reduction in energy and pesticide use. The fact that a large share of direct marketing farms produce under an organic or other ecological label has probably contributed to this. Socially, direct marketing channels are thought to benefit farmers pride, enhance the development of social capital, reinforce producer consumer bonds and build up trust and image. Further, direct marketing channels fill up structural holes (Burt, 1992) of the conventional 66

67 channels. These structural holes in conventional channels are formed when certain producer and consumer demands with respect to, for instance, authenticity, social contact, diversity, taste, become unfulfilled, in part due to the tendency of conventional marketing channels towards efficiency and uniformity (Van der Ploeg, 2011). Recently, attention has shifted again to the potential of alternative marketing channels to provide an additional source of income, to protect small farmers from the forces of the conventional market, to increase margins over costs and to protect farmers from volatile international commodity markets. This paper presents the economics of alternative marketing channels from a theoretical ad empirical point of view. Whereas some of the theoretical considerations are based on general farm economics, most of the elements specifically related to alternative marketing channels are based on foreign literature. To the best of our knowledge, economic analyses of alternative marketing with the exception of the analysis by De Regt et al. (2010) have yet to be carried out in Belgium. Vecchio (2009) also notes that, while there is a lot of literature from the U.S. (see Brown, 2002), economic studies on European farmers markets is very limited. ECONOMICS OF DIRECT MARKETING: THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS IMPACT ON INCOME We first present a simple theoretical model reflecting the choice between a direct (d) and conventional (c) marketing channel, for the very simple case of one product with total production Q and two marketing channels, the direct and the conventional channel:, Where NR is net return, Pd and Pc output price in the direct and conventional channel, Qd and Qc output allocated to the direct and conventional channel, Cc and Cd marketing costs per unit product for both channels and C all other production costs (independent of the choice of channel). Marketing costs comprise not only pure costs of marketing the product, but all production costs that are implied by choosing a particular channel. Solving the first order conditions yields 67

68 where and are the marginal marketing costs (cost for one unit of additional output sold) for the direct and conventional channel. This shows that the economic desirability of selling through direct marketing channels depends on the price differences and on differences in marketing costs. Often the advantages with respect to price are highlighted, while the differences in marketing costs are neglected. Several aspects might cause marketing costs per unit of sold product to be substantial. First of all, labor requirements can vary considerably across channels. Producers often times fail to account for labor costs associated with several types of direct marketing channels. Farmers market or staffed farm shops often require significant labor hours. Second, whereas marginal costs normally tend to decrease as the volume increases, several marketing costs have a fixed nature, i.e. they do not change when sales through that particular channel change. Costs such as promotion, sanitary requirement, taxes, market entry fees, shop maintenance are all costs that remain unchanged when the level of sales decrease. Hence, when sales are low, average and marginal marketing costs per unit sold are high, potentially offsetting the higher price received at direct marketing channels. A certain scale of sales is necessary to cover the fixed marketing costs, which is contrary to one of the often mentioned advantages of direct marketing, that direct farming may allow farmers to begin farming at volumes that might otherwise be too small for conventional outlets. Whereas this simple theoretical model clearly shows the importance to consider not only the difference in price received but also the difference in marketing costs, it is deficient for a full detailed analysis for three reasons. First, the model fails to account for the fact that Qd is highly uncertain (not all products supplied to the direct marketing channels are sold), which, combined with the perishable nature of many of the products typically marketed through short circuit channels, may impose high additional costs, as marketing costs are incurred for all products supplied, regardless of whether they re actually sold. In a case study by Hardesty (2007), up to 20 % of the products supplied to a farmers market was left unsold, a major marketing cost of this particular channel. Second, the model fails to account for factors such as the producer s level of risk aversion, lifestyle preferences and other attributes that may alter the optimal choice. However, as we deal with the mere economic aspects, this is beyond the scope of this paper. Third, the model also neglects potential impact of choosing a different marketing channel on C, the cost of production considered independent of the choice of marketing channel. C consists of normal production costs such as labor, seeds, pesticides, feed, fertilizer, energy, etc. While the model considered these costs independent of the choice of marketing channel, changes might occur. The necessity to maintain a large diversity of products, for instance, can decrease the 68

69 efficiency of each individual product through a failure to profit from economies of scale. Further, the very same necessity might cause the farmer to be obliged to maintain diverse production infrastructure, which increases the farms fixed costs. In comparison to conventional sales channels, the type of transaction in direct sales channels differs substantially, as there is a shift from business to business to business to consumer transaction. According to Williamson (1985), transactions differ in the degree to which relation specific assets are involved, the amount of uncertainty about the future and about other parties involved, the complexity of trading arrangements and the frequency with which transactions occur. In the case of direct selling, relation specific assets are more important, as they need to be developed between the direct selling farmer and each individual customer. The uncertainty also differs considerably, as elaborated in the next paragraph. The complexity of the trading arrangements increases with the number of products supplied. Typically, direct sales channels offer more products compared to their conventional counterparts. For the same amount of products sold, the frequency of transactions also has to increase considerably, as conventional products are sold in bulk to buyers, in contrast to the direct sales channel where only small amounts are purchased. As a consequence, transaction costs, which are costs relating to the search for information, negotiation, monitoring and enforcement of the transaction, increase significantly. Learning effects can cause marketing costs to decrease over time, as producers gain more experience, e.g. they can reduce labor costs related to staffing a farm shop when learning about peak times in sales. DIRECT MARKETING AS A RISK MANAGEMENT STRATEGY Uematsu and Mishra (2011) note that, even if direct marketing has a potential negative impact on income, farmers may still choose to continue their direct marketing strategies because it is a potential risk management instrument that protects farmers from unexpected decreases in output prices and diversifies their income. Indeed, farmers who sell their products through direct marketing channels have much more control over the price of their products. However, it must be noted that, through direct marketing, farmers are shifting from price risk to market risk. Indeed, several circumstances may cause farmers to sell much less than they anticipated, effectively causing incomes to decrease, just as would be the case with price risks. Using conventional marketing channels, prices for most outputs and inputs are highly uncertain and production (yield) is uncertain as well (due to for instance weather conditions and pests). Sales, however, are in most cases certain; conventional marketing channels will, normally, buy all produce. In direct marketing channels, the relative certainty of output price is often considered the only difference. However, an equally important difference is the uncertainty of sales. When prices are certain, but sales are highly uncertain, gross revenue might be equally risky in direct marketing channels (Figure 1). 69

70 In addition, in direct selling, the farmer applies an individual risk management strategy, in contrast to farmers selling in the conventional channels, often applying a collective risk management strategy. In direct selling, a shock in one product category (e.g. a bad harvest) is absorbed by offering different product categories to the customer, spreading the risk across different products. Second, the risk of losing a single buyer is spread across many other buyers. In conventional sales channels, only one product is marketed by many suppliers. Shocks are hence absorbed collectively through the price mechanism. Production Production Sales Price/unit Sales Price/unit Gross revenue Gross revenue Costs Costs Profitability Profitability Figure 1. Price risk in conventional marketing channels (left) versus market risk in direct marketing channels. Another mechanism that alters the nature of the risk involved is trust. The way trust is achieved in direct marketing is also fundamentally different compared to conventional sales channels. Given the increasing distance in conventional channels between producers and buyers, eventually consumers, public and private institutions such as certification, traceability and labeling needed to be devised to create the necessary trust. In direct marketing, these institutions are replaced by the farmer, who materializes the trust in persona. The short distance between producer and customer creates trust, which is seen as one of the cornerstones of direct selling. Given the absence of more objective measures of trust (such as a certificate issued) compared to the conventional channel, the direct selling farmer is however very susceptible to changes in this trust. A single shock (for example a food scare) can destroy the trust base of the customers. As this is the cornerstone of direct selling, the adverse effects on profitability can be substantial. In conclusion, the theoretical farm level impact of direct marketing is unclear. The analysis, however, clearly shows the importance of (1) considering marketing costs for each channel, especially fixed marketing costs; (2) considering the scale of sales, as supplied products that are left unsold represent 70

71 a major marketing cost and induces a shift from price risk to market risk, rather than reducing risk. ECONOMIC IMPACT OF DIRECT MARKETING: THE FACTS All theoretical considerations regarded, the question if and to what extent direct marketing contributes to farm profitability remains an empirical one. Good managers under good circumstances should be able to develop a profitable direct marketing business. In this section, we summarize the available empirical literature on the economic impact of direct marketing. It must be noted that farm economic analyses of the impact of direct marketing are scarce. Several studies have investigated the specific marketing costs associated with different channels. A major conclusion from most of these studies is the importance of marketing labor costs. Significant costs of direct marketing and onfarm processing, especially those related to time and labor, can present obstacles to expansion of local food sales (Biermacher et al., 2007; Lawless et al., 1999). Interviews with farmers in New York (LeRoux et al., 2010; Uva, 2002) and California (Hardesty, 2008; Kambara and Shelley, 2002) indicated that shortage of labor related specifically to marketing activities is consistently reported by farmers as being a barrier to direct marketing. In Belgium, this finding was confirmed by De Regt et al. (2010) who found that, when a value on own unpaid labor was set, net profit of farm processing was negative. Verhaegen and van Huylenbroeck (2001) performed a qualitative analysis of costs and benefits of participation in direct sale channels, and found that all costs were compensated for by higher price, revenue and reduced uncertainty. Tegtmeier and Duffy (2005) surveyed a large number of community supported farms and found that net returns to land were much higher than for conventional soy, corn and wheat growers. However, over half of the surveyed population responded negatively to the question whether CSA provided them with a fair wage. KEY FACTORS FOR ECONOMIC SUCCESS Based on the theoretical considerations and the evaluation of the empirical literature, a number of key factors for economic profitability may be identified. Here, we concentrate on internal key factors, or key factors that can be controlled by the farm manager: (1) type of direct marketing; (2) scale of sales; (3) managerial ability; (4) passion, attitude and effort. DIVERSIFICATION OF MARKETING CHANNELS Several authors (e.g. Hardesty, 2007; Hardesty and Leff, s.a.) show that marketing costs, and hence the profitability of direct marketing may vary a lot across 71

72 different marketing channels. LeRoux et al. (2010), using a case study approach in the U.S., provided a ranking of alternative marketing channels. Community supported agriculture ranked first followed by selling to local restaurants and groceries; farmers markets ranked last. This does imply that farmers should choose the best marketing channel for their business; rather and especially given the perishable nature of most crops and the uncertainty of farm sales farmers should adopt a feasible mixture of alternative marketing channels. Diversification in marketing channels one of which may include the conventional channel may offer the largest return, taking into account associated risk. SCALE OF SALES Marketing costs (all costs associated with a particular marketing channel) can be substantial and a lot of these cost items included in marketing costs (e.g. labor, sanitary and hygiene requirements, promotion, building maintenance, market stand, entry fees to markets) have a fixed character (they do not vary with varying sales), so maintaining a minimum scale of sales is crucial for the profitability of direct marketing. MANAGERIAL ABILITY As in all sectors, economic performance of alternative marketing varies a lot with managerial ability. Decisions have to be made based on reliable budgets, risks have to be managed and farmers should have an idea on minimum sales. Further, to market farm products directly to consumers, farmers need a whole array of new skills previously not needed, such as selling, marketing and social skills (Jervell, 2003). FARM CHARACTERISTICS Farm characteristics have their impact on the profitability of direct marketing through an indirect impact on the size of marketing costs. The location of an individual farm, for instance, greatly determines costs, such as transportation, promotion, associated with direct marketing. PASSION, ATTITUDE AND EFFORT When comparing the economic performance of farms, and trying to explain these difference using whole series of farm and farmer characteristics, there is always some share of the difference left unexplained. Scholars agree that some of that share is attributable to a mere difference in passion, attitude and effort. We believe that is definitely the case for the farm level economic impact of alternative marketing. Labor requirement are significant such that the impact of reduced effort can be substantial. 72

73 CONCLUSION Direct marketing has the potential to increase farmers profitability and allow smaller farmers to maintain their farm business. However, success is not guaranteed and direct marketing may impose high additional costs to the farm business. The question whether direct marketing is profitable is an empirical one and has to be solved by each individual farmer separately. The limited available evidence suggests profitability is dependent on the choice of marketing channel, farm characteristics, scale of sales, managerial ability and passion. REFERENCES Biermacher, J.T, Upson, S., Miller, D.C., Pittman, D Economic Challenges of Small Scale Vegetable Production and Retailing in Rural Communities: An Example from Rural Oklahoma. Journal of Food Distribution Research 38, Brown, A Farmers' market research : An inventory and review., American Journal of Alternative Agriculture 17 (4), Brown, C., Miller, S The impacts of local markets: a review of research on farmers markets and community supported agriculture (CSA). American Journal of Agricultural Economics 90 (5), Burt, R. S Structural Holes: The Social Structure of Competition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. De Regt E., Deuninck J. & D hooghe J Economische rendabiliteit van hoeveproductie: een verkenning, Beleidsdomein Landbouw en Visserij, afdeling Monitoring en Studie, Brussel. Jervell, A.M Adding value through direct marketing management dimensions of different marketing channels. Farm management. Proceedings of NJF seminar No. 345, October 2 4, Hardesty, S Producer returns in alternative marketing channels. Small Farms Program, Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics. University of California Davis. Hardesty, S.D The Growing Role of Local Food Markets. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 90, Hardesty, S., Leff, P. s.a. Determining marketing costs and returns in alternative marketing channels. Kambara, K.M., and C.L. Shelley The California Agricultural Direct Marketing Study, California Institute of Rural Studies, Davis, CA. 73

74 Lawless, G., Stevenson, G.W., Hendrickson, J., Cropp, R The Farmer Food Buyer Dialogue Project, UWCC Occasional Paper No. 13, University of Wisconsin Madison Center for Cooperatives, Madison, WI. Leroux, M.N., Schmit, T.M, Roth, M., Streeter, D.H Evaluating marketing channel options for small scale fruit and vegetable producers. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 25 (1), Tegtmeier, E., Duffy, M Community Supported agriculture (CSA) in the United States: a regional characterization. Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. Uva, W.L An Analysis of Vegetable Farms Direct Marketing Activities in New York State. Journal of Food Distribution Research 33, Van der Ploeg, J.D Newly emerging nested markets: a theoretical framework. Presentation at the III Colloquium on family farming and rural development, Porto Alegre, Brazil, November 17, Vecchio, R European and United States farmers markets: similarities, differences and potential developments. Paper presented at the 113th EAAE Seminar A resilient European food industry and food chain in a challenging world, Chania, Crete, Greece, September 3 6, Verhaegen, I., Van Huylenbroeck G Costs and benefits for farmers participating in innovative marketing channels for quality food products. Journal of Rural Studies 17, Williamson, O.E The economic institutions of capitalism. New York, NY: Free Press. 74

75 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS A. Huyghebaert*, X. Van Huffel 1, C. Verraes 1, L. Pussemier 2,3 1 Staff direction for risk assessment FASFC 2 CODA CERVA 3 Scientific Committee FASFC * Speaker: Prof. em. dr. ir. André Huyghebaert Chair of the Scientific Committee of the FASFC Prof. em. Ghent University E mail: [email protected] Food choices are, in addition to food safety and nutritional value, also influenced by other quality attributes such as freshness, sensorial properties, minimal processing, authenticity, sustainability, animal welfare, ethical value and others. The perception of the quality or the image, is to a large extend determining for the preference for a particular food. However, it is evident that economical factors also play a very important role. In an environment where food security is not one of the first concerns of consumers, perception of the quality plays a role in the developments that were reviewed in the symposium of today. For some years there is growing interest in local food production and in the local short supply chain. Consumers are looking for authentic and sustainable food products, associated with a better safety and with other recognized quality factors. The short supply chain has also a better image in terms of social contacts with local producers, ecological benefits such as a reduction in carbon emission, energy expenditure and use of pesticides and fertilizers. For farmers, the short supply chain provides additional income. This particular system is also beneficial for the image of agriculture, especially in an urban context. A direct contact between the local producer and the consumer is a typical characteristic of this distribution system. The marketing of the local food is very often accompanied by an exchange of information about the product and its way of production. The short supply chain is supported by many authorities and is becoming more and more popular. However it is striking that food safety aspects were almost never debated. For this particular reason the Scientific Committee was organizing this symposium with the objective to contribute to a better information of consumers, producers and policy makers. When debating about the short supply chain or about local food production it is important to clearly define the subject. Depending upon the context of the debate, 75

76 a range of definitions has been proposed. For the purpose of this symposium the short supply chain was defined as direct sale of food products to the consumer with no or limited intermediate steps. Producers, as well as for the conventional market as for the short supply chain, have to comply with European and national legislation, based upon the principles of GAP, GMP, GHP and HACCP. However some flexibility is foreseen for member states to implement the European regulations in regard to the short supply chain. In Belgium, food sold via the short supply chain is subjected to the same legal safety standards as products from the conventional chain. No particular control actions are organized for the short supply chain. From a scientific point of view, it is generally accepted that the short supply chain is somewhat vulnerable to food safety problems. Very often one person is in charge of several tasks including the food safety requirements. Regional initiatives have been taken in order to comply with the relevant legislation: Steunpunt Hoeveproducten in Flanders and Cellule Qualité des Produits fermiers in Wallonia. In the Netherlands, the NVWA commissioned a research project to control and support producers. In France there are special rules for short supply producers. As for other food supply systems, the short supply chain is faced with, in terms of food safety and quality, particular threats and opportunities. The short storage time, in addition to the small volume, is considered as an advantage with regard to microbiological hazards. There is however a particular risk due to the possibility of cross contamination as production is usually combined with distribution. A similar observation applies for chemical hazards. The quality of the local environment and the agricultural practices play a determinant role. It can however be expected that the short chain and the minimal processing favor the nutritional quality. The short chain offers definite possibilities for a better income for the producer. Properties of the products like freshness, taste, image and ethical values are of utmost importance. It is however in the interest of consumers and of producers of short supply chain foods to maintain and to further optimize the safety of the foodstuffs in order to preserve the excellent image of the foods concerned. 76

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