Retailers boost food safety drive in Asia

Retailers boost food safety drive in Asia

SINGAPORE (AFP): Multinational retailers setting up shop in Asia are demanding premium food from local suppliers and improving hygiene and quality standards in the region, food safety specialists said Thursday.

"These retailers are one of the drivers of change," said Adrian Polhill, global food product manager of Swiss-based SGS Food Services.

"As they need to protect their reputations and ensure that their food is safe, they are telling local food producers that they must comply with a framework of recognized safety standards."

A conference on Asian food and beverages had earlier been told that some food suppliers were taking short cuts because of consumer pressure to keep costs down.

But Polhill told AFP that the retail industry was intent on raising food safety awareness.

The buying power of retailers, who generate close to 40 percent of the food industry's revenue, makes them a major influence in the food supply chain, he said.

As retailers like Britain's Tesco and French-based Carrefour enter markets in Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea and other Asian cities, they are importing expertise like food safety training and supply quality systems.

The advances are part of a growing global awareness of food safety since public health scares such as mad cow disease in Europe and avian influenza in Hong Kong, Polhill told the forum of food retailers and suppliers.

Recent outbreaks of mad cow and foot and mouth diseases led to the killing of thousands of animals in Britain and Europe, while more than one million chickens, pigeons and quail were killed in Hong Kong following an outbreak of avian or bird flu.

Recommendations on food safety measures coming from the forum will be presented at the first Global Food Safety Conference in Geneva.

The September conference aims to develop global food safety standards and an early warning system for retailers and their suppliers.