AFSIS was founded in 2002 as a response to new demands from consumers on the food quality and safety professional, whether in industry, government or private practice.
Role and Remit
The new role and remit of the food professional community encompasses the entire
production-consumption continuum - from farm
to fork. The public in the developed world is highly sensitive to the safety,
quality and traceability of the food and drink they consume, especially food
of animal origin.
For the veterinarian, animal health and food professional, this is a major shift in emphasis, which comes at a time when the molecular biology revolution is also turning the science upside down.
The AFSIS Portal
The arrival of affordable broadband internet makes the use of AFSIS on CD-ROM
increasing questionable. Things change so fast that the system risks
being out of date all the time. As a result, while we will produce
AFSIS CDs on demand, from January 1, 2007 the primary publication
channel for AFSIS is the internet. AFSIS is being upgraded to a
full service, subscription based portal. Content is under continual review
and new material is added all the time. If you subscribe for a year,
all new material is made available at no additional charge for the duration
of your subscription. Special rates are available for educational institutions
and charitable organisations. Contact Malika Moussaid
AFSIS covers the whole scope of the food professional community, but focused on animal production processing, distribution and consumption. This helps clarify and define the role and remit, and offers practical tools and authoritative reference materials, for those in the front line.
Food-borne Disease
Some of the new challenges concern existing "acute" problems such
as salmonella, campylobacteriosis, E.coli or unspecified "food poisoning".
The US
Centers For Disease Control (CDC) estimates in America alone over 70 million
cases a year of sickness or disease caused by food, in a population of some
280 million. There are no comparable figures for the European Union, but it
is unlikely that the situation is much different. That would mean pro
rata
nearly 90 million incidents a year in the 23 EU member countries, going all
the way from ''loose stool'' to death cases.
AFSIS, through its specialist consulting arm EBTE Consultants, can help producers, processors, distributors, points of sale and consumers reduce, or ideally eliminate, the risks of such incidents. Work with AFSIS on HACCP and other techniques to create a secure, profitable supply chain.
Zoonoses
Public confidence in the safety of the animal production industry was undermined
by the BSE epidemic. While this is now largely under control, where rigorous
surveillance programs are in place, there are still many uncertainities in the
aetiology and epidemiology of the disease, to the extent that a single incident
in the United States caused huge media attention.
At the same time, SARS and Avian Influenza are reminding us, almost daily, that new and reemerging diseases of animal origin not only cause concern worldwide, putting large populations at risk, but also have huge economic impact, both directly in terms of animal production losses, but also in tourism and other travel-related industries.
AFSIS works closely with the world's veterinary public health community, and with the AVIS College, to develop long-term strategies for zoonotic disease prevention and control.
Obesity
But there are other problems to face, in the developed world, caused, for the
first time in history, by plenty rather than scarcity. The new public health
enemy number one is obesity. Expert opinion is near unaninous that by 2006,
obesity will overtake tobacco use as the leading underlying cause of disease
an death in developed countries.
AFSIS takes a "one medicine" view of the new public health agenda. We need to find a better balance between the rights and interests of humans and their animals, one that is both ethically transparent and economically viable. We need to be attentive to animal welfare and rights in producing safe food. We also need to find new approaches to diet and nutrition that encourages those facing the obesity problem to take a positive, and supportive, way forward, rather than one that simply draws attention to the risks.
AFSIS lays special emphasis on the merits of the Mediterranean diet as a simple, well-tested means of fostering better health through a better lifestyle.
Biosecurity and Bioterrorism
For AFSIS, biosecurity is both a goal and a process. We need to continue to
safeguard the huge gains of the twentieth century in quality and length of life,
based on the availability of inexpensive, wholesome food. But the overall problems
of quality and safe food supply to the world's population as a whole have not
been resolved. Besides these food security problems, a new shadow is cast over
our security by the threat of bioterrorism. AFSIS principals have direct experience
in the biosecurity arena.