International Services

Countries that want to export meat and poultry products to the United States (U.S.), must have an operational inspection program in place that provides an equivalent level of food safety protection to the domestic meat and poultry products inspection program conducted by the U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

The concept of food safety equivalence was introduced in the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement) and became effective in January 1995 with the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The SPS Agreement requires an importing WTO member country to accept the sanitary measures of an exporting WTO member country as equivalent to its own if the exporting country demonstrates that its sanitary measures attain the same level of protection.

Equivalence is based upon an inter-relationship between sanitary measures, regulatory objectives, and levels of protection. Cumulatively, these components provide a framework to evaluate the equivalence of different food regulatory systems, parts of systems, or individual sanitary measures. The burden for demonstrating equivalence lies with the exporting country.

The HACCP Consulting Group assists both government inspection agencies and industry establishments to achieve and/or maintain eligibility to export to the United States by providing a complete range of services to meet all U.S. requirements for an equivalent meat and poultry inspection system. Countries which are approved to export to the U.S., will meet import requirements of nearly all the WTO member countries and may significantly expand the export markets for their products.

Food Safety Assessments

The HACCP Consulting Group professionals conducts FSIS-type audits of all or any part of an exporting country’s entire meat or poultry inspection system to determine areas of difference with the U.S. requirements. This includes:

• Inspection laws and regulations.

• Organizational structure.

• Government staffing and training of inspection personnel.

• Ability to take regulatory actions.

• Supervisory oversight.

• National residue control program for animal drugs and pesticides.

• Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOP).

• Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP).

• Humane slaughter reviews of country certified plants to ensure compliance with FSIS regulations.

• Provide assistance in preparing for an FSIS audit of an exporting country's meat and poultry inspection programs.

Program Development

• Provide detailed guidance on how to develop equivalent procedures when significant differences exist between an exporting country’s requirements and the U.S. requirements.

• Assist with development of inspection and enforcement programs to meet U.S. requirements.

• Assist with the development of government oversight procedures of SSOP and HACCP plans.

• Provide assistance in developing a national residue control program.

• Provide assistance with developing a comprehensive microbiological testing program.

Training

HACCP Consulting Group (HCG) professionals are accredited by the International HACCP Alliance as lead instructors and train-the-trainers to meet the intent of the Food Safety and Inspection (FSIS) HACCP training requirements. They provide training to government inspection officials and industry personnel on:

• U.S. model for inspection and enforcement.

• Accredited Basic and Advanced HACCP Training (English and Spanish) and Auditing.

• Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs).

• Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOPs) training.

• Food regulatory inspection training for verification of plant's compliance with FSIS, Pathogen Reduction/HACCP regulations.

• On-site verification of the food regulatory agency's food safety systems for equivalence prior to FSIS reviews.

• In-plant audits of country certified plants to ensure compliance with the FSIS Pathogen Reduction/HACCP regulations.

• The equivalence process used by FSIS.

Regulatory Assistance

• Assist with FSIS regulatory issues.

• Assist with responding to the findings of U.S. auditors.

• Answer questions regarding U.S. laws and regulations.

Equivalence Evaluations

• Assistance in the development of documentation for FSIS equivalence questionnaire.

• Assistance with development of an operational plan to guide countries through the equivalence determination process in the most expeditious and cost effective manner possible.

• Facilitation, on behalf of the foreign regulatory agency, of the equivalence review process with FSIS.

Other Assistance

• Customized services and training to meet the specific needs of the client.

The HACCP Consulting Group personnel are food safety experts with more than 125 years of combined experience with the U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service and the Food and Drug Administration. In addition, our staff includes former FSIS officials who had responsibility for conducting equivalence assessments of the meat and poultry inspection programs of countries that export to the U.S. We have provided food safety and other related services to both the food industry and regulatory officials in United States, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Chile, Trinidad, Denmark, Dominican Republic,  Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Columbia, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Italy, Spain, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Russia, Poland, Finland, England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Iceland, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Korea. Philippines, China, Australia, Venezuela, Scotland, Western Samoa.