Pork Crisis Highlights Need For Accurate Data

[Cronan McNamara (Creme)]

These are serious times for the Irish Food industry and for the Government agencies that are responsible for regulating it. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland issued a recall of all Irish pork products that were produced from pigs slaughtered in Ireland.

A decision like this is never easy to make, especially under the current economic conditions. These decisions will be discussed and dissected at great length in the media, especially when they result in:

* Millions of euro worth of product being withdrawn from the market
* The EU Commission urging EU states to block Irish pork imports
* Hundreds of jobs being put on protective notice and perhaps being lost before Christmas

The commentary in the media has been on many issues, but has quickly turned to the search for scientific evidence backing the decisions that have been taken.

General consumers in the population are confused. They are asking - has our health been compromised by consuming these products since the 1st of September?

And if not, why is there a total recall of all pork products from the market causing such hardship to workers and the industry?

Commentators from the scientific community have been requesting a quantitative risk assessment which:

* Includes a worst case scenario exposure assessment
* Is based on different scenarios and includes the uncertainty of up to a 200-fold increase in dioxin concentrations in pork.
* Calculates the average exposure of Irish consumers from the 1st of September until the recall date.
* Calculates the exposure of high end consumers from the 1st of September until the recall date
* Is performed for different demographic groups of consumers in the population, especially the more vulnerable groups.
* Should be compared to international health limits such as WHO data.
* Should be performed within 24 hours.

This is a big issue for the Irish Government and Pork Industry, and one that shows the need for the government and industry to be prepared for events such as this.

Fortunately, the Irish Government is extremely well prepared for this issue. The Irish Government has been investing over the years in the systems, science and data which are required under these extreme conditions to support fast and accurate decisions.

For example, the Government has been surveying the Irish population for more than 10 years on a regular basis to gather information on food consumption habits and other relevant details which can be used as the basis of exposure assessments.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland has been using Creme for over three years and has the expertise and databases required to be able to answer all of the above questions with confidence and promptness. This leaves the agency well prepared when a crisis such as this emerges.

Having the support of scientific evidence and best practice allowed the government to provide such a fast response to this crisis.

If this happened to your company or to your country, would you have the data at your fingertips to respond rapidly?