UNECE 1 Seminar on the Implementation of UNECE Standards in Trade Vilnius, Lithuania, 29 October 2004 Tom Heilandt United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Implementation of UNECE Standards for Agricultural Products in Trade

UNECE 2 Outline

UNECE 3 Trading in meat is expensive and difficult A Non-standard raw material

UNECE 4 A complicated commodity Meat is a complicated commodity Many different actors are involved Many rules covering meat trade from the stable to the table

UNECE 5 Many rules There are international rules: Codex Alimentarius, OIE, UNECE, ISO, World Customs Organizations etc. There are implementations of international rules and proprietary rules in countries and regional country groupings (e.g. European Union) There are private rules: Global food safety initiative, Eurepgap There are WTO rules about how rules should be made in order to ensure fair trade

UNECE 6 A long distribution chain… farmer with cow transport cattle market transport consumer abattoirs packing plant supermarket factory butcher restaurant abattoirs

UNECE 7 All are customers Households Point of sale Processors Abattoirs Farmers

UNECE 8 “Administrative” Rules Rules about customs procedures Rules about transport and handling Rules about labelling and accompanying documents Etc.

UNECE 9 “Quality rules” for the process and the product The expected properties as broadly defined in ISO 9000:2000: “The totality of features and characteristics of a product, process or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs” "excellence" – something that distinguishes from similar objects that justifies demand.

UNECE 10 Expected properties: Generic quality level of food products Absence of defect, fraud and adulteration (e.g. food safety, quality defects) – regulated in food safety and quality standards Presence of expected properties (e.g nutritional components, external and internal quality aspects) – regulated or starting to be in food quality or labelling standards

UNECE 11 Excellence: Specific quality of food products Added value through: –Forms of production (organic farming, environmental consideration, animal welfare), –Specific production areas (designation of origin) and their associated traditional production methods. High interest in this area: –Operators try to distinguish their products from similar ones to attract customer attention and fidelity –Regulators provide a legal framework.

UNECE 12 Implementation of rules Mandatory rules are implemented because their non-implementation would have severe consequences (legal or financial) Recommendations are implemented because: –it makes sense, –it is demanded by the buyer, –Everybody uses them

UNECE 13 UNECE Standards for Meat UNECE Standards for Meat are Recommendations They define a common trading language for buyers and sellers The more they are used – the more useful they become They are used because they facilitate trade and ensure customer satisfaction and repeat business

UNECE 14 For all species…

UNECE 15 Why do we need a common language? Consider a pork belly boneless & rindless –Denmark 1808 –British –British (Meat Buyers Guide) 314 (only bone in) –USA (NAMP-Meat Buyers Guide) 409 –USA (NPPC) 3620 –Aus 4332 (single ribbed)

UNECE 16 Why do we need a common language? Long distribution chain with critical processes to control Specification is primarily visual Normal communications are non-visual Product is primarily judged on appearance

UNECE 17 Cost of problems Consumer confidence in product performance Buyer and seller interface confidence Increasingly expensive quality control Expensive communications – travel –time & resources

UNECE 18 Agriculture and trade: keys to civilization We all need to eat! We need to get the right quantity of good quality food How we get our food and what we eat determines how we live. Agriculture and trade have given us the time to create the civilization we know today.

UNECE 19 A new system Imagine a system that enables all parties in the distribution chain to have the same unambiguous specification for transactions –the same picture –the same language –the same critical information (weight, colour, texture, cutting lines) –All of this applicable to standard and non-standard requirements

UNECE 20 Added value cross reference to national standards reduces language problems low communication costs speculative market for buyers and sellers product data

UNECE 21 Applications Government and other official bodies Health professionals Meat inspection services Meat purchasing (commercial and official) Meat traders and meat plants Training organisations Veterinary (practice and training)

UNECE 22 The Nutrition Transition

UNECE 23 Modern agriculture: A success story! More people than ever before have enough to eat and pay less for it Our numbers have increased – the percentage of people suffering from hunger and malnutrition has decreased Average life expectancy has increased Science and technology allow us to produce more with less workers There is more choice in food products than ever before and most products are available all year around in many places...

UNECE 24 Modern agriculture: A success story? People are still starving or suffer from malnutrition in some countries In the same countries and elsewhere a growing number of people die from eating too much and inadequate food (too much fat, too much sugar) Small farmers have problems competing Many people complain about the taste of fruit and vegetables Intensive agriculture creates problems with soils and water Intensive agriculture creates new food safety problems...

UNECE 25 Could we do it differently? Good traditional cooking and gastronomy use high quality, natural ingredients and are healthy and tasty Good quality food is not necessarily expensive or difficult to prepare Competition could be based first on quality then on price

UNECE 26 Values and education Problems: Irresponsible profit thinking and missing education Profit thinking can be a source of motivation – it is missing values and responsibility that create problems We need responsible, well informed actors in the food supply chain from the producers to the consumers

UNECE 27 The role of agriculture Agriculture should give all of us: –Enough, affordable, safe, healthy, tasty food –That has been produced in a sustainable way, with respect to our environment and the other creatures with who we share this planet; and Agriculture should give those who work there a fair income and good working conditions

UNECE 28 A good diet – the key to health

UNECE 29 Trade in agricultural products in the ECE region in 1949 Countries use national quality standards to regulate trade within their borders Producers market Growing interest in international trade Existing national regulations become barriers to international trade

UNECE 30 Harmonization of national standards 1949 The Working Party on Agricultural Quality Standards takes up its work at UNECE in Geneva 1954 The Geneva Protocol and Standard Layout are adopted

UNECE 31 Why standards? To define common trading language for all actors in the supply chain To facilitate fair international trade To avoid bad quality products on the markets To guide producers to meet market requirements To build trust and market opportunities To encourage high quality production To improve producers’ profitability To protect consumers’ interests Remove technical barriers to trade

UNECE 32 Aspects of quality: Commercial quality No quality without safety Quality is MORE than safety. Commercial quality is a set of parameters describing internal and external characteristics of the produce, which are necessary to ensure transparency in trade and good eating quality.

UNECE 33 Commercial quality Internal Taste Maturity Nutrition… External Cleanliness Color Freshness Shape Presentation Packing… Aspects of quality: Expected properties of food products

UNECE 34 Evaluation of commercial quality Subjective –Sensorial caracteristics (taste, smell, texture, color…) Objective –Analytical or physical measurements

UNECE 35 UNECE Standard Layout Definition of produce Minimum requirements Maturity requirements (objective) Classification (Extra, class I, class II) Sizing provisions Tolerances (quality, size) Presentation (uniformity, packaging) Marking Annexes: Definitions, Lists of varieties, Testing and Sampling procedures, Definitions

UNECE 36 Principles for the Development of UNECE Standards All relevant actors in the supply chain (buyers, sellers, retailers, producers, consumers etc. through their associations) should participate Cooperation with other international organizations should be sought and any duplication avoided All UN member countries can participate with the same rights Decisions are taken on a consensus basis

UNECE 37 Participation Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Côte d’Ivoire, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Lithuania, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, European Community

UNECE 38 Organizational Structure Working Party on Agricultural Quality Standards Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Dry and Dried Fruit Seed Potatoes Meat Specialized Section on Standardization of Committee for Trade, Industry and Enterprise Development ECOSOC Economic Commission for Europe

UNECE 39 Process of developing a UNECE standard Specialized Section and Working Party agree to create/amend a standard Rapporteur prepares/amends text Specialized Section discusses text in detail Working Party discusses text in general UNECE Recommendation trial period (1-3 years) UNECE Standard

UNECE 40 UNECE Agricultural Standards Fresh fruit and vegetables (49) Eggs and egg products (5) Dry and dried Fruit (17) Potatoes (3) Meat (4) Cut flowers (8) Standards available

UNECE 41 Standards for Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Annonas Apples Apricots Artichokes Asparagus Aubergines Avocados Beans Bilberries and Blueberries Broccoli Brussels sprouts Headed Cabbages Carrots Cauliflowers Chinese Cabbages Cherries Citrus fruit Cucumbers Courgettes Cultivated mushrooms Edible sweet chestnuts Fennel Fresh figs Garlic Horse-radish Kiwifruit Leeks Lettuce and endives Mangoes Melons Onions Peaches and Nectarines Pears Peas Pineapples Plums Radishes Raspberries Ribbed celery Rhubarb Scorzonera Spinach Strawberries Sweet peppers Table grapes Tomatoes Watermelons Witloof chicory

UNECE 42 Current and future work in Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Internal quality Maturity requirements Harmonized Produce coding Promoting trade in Fresh Fruit and Vegetables to contribute to a WHO strategy on Diet, Health and Physical Activity New standards for Shallots, Truffles and Ceps

UNECE 43 UNECE standards for dry and dried produce Apples, dried Apricots, dried Cashew kernels Dates, whole Figs, dried Grapes, dried Hazelnuts, inshell Hazelnut kernels Pears, dried Pine nuts, decorticated peeled Pistachio kernels, decorticated and decorticated peeled Pistachio kernels, unshelled Prunes, sweet Almonds, decorticated Sweet almonds, unshelled Walnut kernels Walnuts, inshell

UNECE 44 Current and Future work in Dried Produce Revision of standards for pistachios and almonds New standards for Dried Peaches, Pecan nuts, Macademia nuts, Dried Peppers, Dried Tomatoes, Peanuts

UNECE 45 Colour gauge for walnut kernels “Extra” Class: Uniformly light- coloured kernels with practically no dark straw and/or lemon yellow and with no dark brown. Class I: Kernels of a colour not darker than light brown. Class II: Kernels of a colour not darker than dark brown. Darker kernels may be marketed in this class, provided the colour is indicated on the package

UNECE 46 UNECE Standards for Meat Porcine Meat - Carcases and Cuts currently being revised Bovine Meat - Carcases and Cuts Ovine Meat - Carcases and Cuts Chicken Meat - Carcases and Parts – 2004 Llama/Alpaca Meat Other standards planned: Goat, Turkey, Veal

UNECE 47 Example: Bovine Coding (01) Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) (3102) Net Weight, kilograms (7002) UN/ECE Meat Carcasses and Cuts Code (13) Slaughter/Packaging Date (10) 123ABC- Batch Number

UNECE 48 UNECE Standard European Commission Codex Alimentarius Commission Regulation Codex Standard Explanatory Brochure OECD Scheme Government National Standard Implementation of standards 1

UNECE 49 Implementation of standards 2 To create a quality control service To train actors in the supply chain in quality standards (production, wholesale, import/export) To implement control schedules To get international accreditation for national quality controls (in case of the EU this has been implemented for Cyprus, Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Israel, Morocco, Slovakia, South Africa and Switzerland)

UNECE 50 The situation today Consumers market - Consumers concerned about quality and safety Complex international supply chains Big retailers operate globally More countries enter the international markets Trade creates their own strict standards New technologies allow new types of quality testing Problems as mentioned in the introduction

UNECE 51 Future work Private and public standard setting and implementation bodies work together, complementing each other Definition of parameters and values for internal quality of produce and use new technologies for testing Encourage good quality and good farming practices by giving recognition to those who farm in a sustainable way Support the trade of organic produce by basing the definition of quality less on external appearance and more on internal parameters Codify standards to be used in electronic commerce Develop training packages to assist countries in the implementation of standards

UNECE 52 Why participate in standardization? To be integrated in the international trading system (to contribute and decide) To propose standards for local products for which international standards do not exist To network, exchange experiences, learn from others

UNECE 53 Products with future High quality products which can command a high price Promotion of “brand awareness” for local products (controlled origin labels) Organic produce

UNECE 54 UNECE standards and meeting information on the internet