The Philippine Food Safety System and

Issues

Presented by :

CHRISTMASITA OBLEPIAS
FDRO III, BFAD
The Philippine Food safety
System is

Lead by two agencies

namely:

BFAD for DOH –Processed

Food

Dept. of Agriculture and its

attached agencies
For animal & animal health,
plant & plant health,
slaughterhouse, sugar,
grains, milk.
Quality and safety of food
- efforts of everyone
involved in the complex
chain of agriculture
production, processing,
transport, food production
and consumption.

The assurance of food

safety is a shared
responsibility from farm to
plate.

Other agencies involved:

DOST, Academe, TWG
Philippine Food Safety Framework initiated by
the DOH Food Safety Committee.

Comprehensive, coordinated, forward-looking

framework that would strengthen the systems
that ensure the safety of the country’'s food
supply.
Philippine Food Safety Framework
 Food Chain
DA

Markets
Wholesalers
Distributors
Trader
Retailers Consumers
Farm Transporter

Processors
Manufacturers
Food Establishments
Air and Sea Ports

DOH
Farm: Agriculture and
Fisheries. Department of
Agriculture and Bureau of
Fisheries and Aquatic
Resources (BFAR)fisheries
and aquatic resources
protection and safety,
Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI),
for plant and plant health;
Fertilizer and Pesticide
Authority (FPA), for safe and
proper use of pesticides; and
the
Bureau of Animal
Industry(BAI), for animals and
animal health
 FOOD INDUSTRY

Slaughterhouse - National
Meat Inspection Service
under the Department of
Agriculture (DA)
Food Processing - BFAD
Food Importation BFAD for
processed food
Raw fish, meat and
poultry DA.
 FOOD SERVICES
Restaurants, and Institutional Food
Services - Schools, Hospitals,
Caterers, Carinderias, Streetfoods
Vendors -Local government
regulators/sanitary inspectors.
Policies - National Center for
Disease Prevention and Contro l-
Environmental Health and Occupational
Office
Ports and Seaports Caterers - Bureau
of Quarantine and International Health
Service of the Department of Health,
Household Food Consumption:
Consumers have the responsibility in
proper handling and storage of food at
home.
Water Safety. National standards for drinking water
and criteria for surface waters are set by the Local
Water Utilities.
Surveillance of Foodborne Diseases National
Epidemiology Center
Research Research Institute of Tropical Medicine
(RITM) the Food and Nutrition Research Institute
(FNRI) of the Department of Science and Technology
(DOST), the Philippine Council for Health Research
and Development (PCHRD).
Food Development Center under the National Food
Authority of the Department of Agriculture is another
government agency that undertakes research work on
food usually serving the industry
BFAD’s jurisdiction
Food processing sector
Regulatory tool
1. cGMP is mandatory to food
industries.
2. Hazard Analysis and Critical
Control Point (HACCP) .
The seafood industry has adopted this
system and is operationalized by a MOA
between BFAR-DA and BFAD-DOH.
FOOD SAFETY ISSUES IN THE PHILIPPINES

1. Pesticides

2. Heavy Metals (Lead)

3. Aflatoxin

4. Histamines

5. Allergy

6. Red Tide

7. Physical Contamination in Processed Food

8. Microbiological Contamination
 Food Industry Consumers

PHILIPPINE FOOD SAFETY FRAMEWORK

Food Scientist Government Regulators

SAFE FOOD FOR ALL

FOOD CONSUMPTION DATA

Usual diet of Filipino households is rice-fish-

vegetable.
Intake of Cereals (364g) constitutes 41.1 % of the
total food consumed per capita per day (886g).
Intake of fish and products is 104g per capita per
day, while it is 81g for meat and poultry and their
products.
Intake of vegetables is 111g per capita per day.
Intake of fruits amounts to 77g per capita per day.
Consumed in small amounts are milk and milk
products (49g), starchy roots and tubers (19g),
sugars (24g), fats and oils (18g) and dried bean.
“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well,
if one has not dined well”.

--Virginia Woolf
Thank you and may we have
a fruitful seminar!