2015 International Food Safety Conference Speech by H.E. Aart Jacobi, Ambassador of the Netherlands June 15, 2015, Capital Hotel, Beijing, China DRAFT (SPOKEN WORD COUNTS) _____________________________________________________________

Ladies and Gentlemen, After the United States, the Netherlands is the second largest exporter of agricultural products in the world. That is quite an accomplishment, considering that the Netherlands is a small country; we are only two and a half times the size of Beijing. The success of our agricultural sector is partly explained by a very strong national agri-cluster. In this cluster there is a close cooperation between farmers, the government and universities. Innovations at an academic level quickly find their way to application in the field, and I mention Wageningen University as one of the leading agricultural universities in the world. And of course an open attitude towards international trade also explains the success of the agri sector in Holland. During his state visit to the Netherlands in March last year, China’s president Xi Jinping showed great interest in the performance of this sector. He was impressed by the information he received and underlined the importance of further collaboration between China and the Netherlands. This would be to the benefit of rural development and food security. Let me now focus on the topic of today: Food Safety.

Food Safety is a hot topic, not only in China, but everywhere. People rightfully insist on safe food, and they demand that the government and professionals in the sector guarantee food safety. And of course in every country the authorities do their utmost to improve food safety. But is is not so easy to keep satisfying public demand, because here the so called Maslow pyramid comes into play. Consumers are asking ever more from the authorities. To give you an example, some food products claim to actively contribute to your health, and consumers would like the relevant authorities to check if that is indeed the case….Does a certain drink prolong life and prevent cancer? Maybe in these cases we should appeal to the common sense of the consumer. Another example is that the consumer would like to see the guarantee that the food he consumes is produced in an animal friendly and environmentally sustainable way. Free range eggs etc. No or little pesticides no antibiotics and hormone injections in feedstock etc. There are limits to what the government can do and in many cases the sector itself will have to develop a supervisory system. It is not possible to talk about food safety in Europe without mentioning the European Union.The last decades the role of the European Union increased strongly in the field of food safety. This was a result of the goal to create one internal market without borders in Europe. Food safety standards were harmonized in many fields. After the BSE (Mad Cow Disease) and dioxin crises, we developed a coherent and far reaching strategy to strengthen food safety. The main goals were regaining consumer confidence and stimulating international markets. Modern food regulations were developed. On a national level an important principle of our food safety legislation is the personal responsibility of the food producer to produce safe food. The government creates a framework for food safety (through a system of rules,

inspections and controls), but the food company remains primarily responsible for the safety of its products. Just as it is the case in other industries. We expect a car company to produce a car that is safe and the same goes for the agricultural sector. Trust is good, but control is better and thus we need an effective system of enforcement. In the Netherlands several government organisations in the field of food safety were brought together in 2003 in the Food and Consumer Products Safety Authority. This single organization is responsible for the governmental supervision in the entire food chain. We think it’s more effective that one single organisation is responsible for the enforcement in the entire chain. Increasingly the roles of the Food Safety Authority are to ensure that food producers develop their own particular systems for food controls and to verify that these systems work and are applied appropriately. This gives this organization the opportunity to focus and concentrate its efforts on those food producers that do not perform up to the standards yet. Risk assessment and focussed control are the fundamentals for an efficient and effective supervising system. A few more words about risk. Due to certain incidents with food, we have learned that often there is a gap between the real danger and the risk as perceived by the consumer. How to close this gap? Just saying that there is scientifically no risk is certainly not enough. A lot of discussion, unrest and questions remain. Especially in a modern day open society where all the information is transparent and new social media can distribute information rapidly.

Simply tightening standards and increasing interventions by government does not work well either. It leads to high costs for companies and government and strengthens the impression that there was a big risk at hand. The key seems to be communication. Communicate quickly, honestly and be consistent. Be open about what is being done. Then it is transparent to the people what government and the involved companies do to take away the possible risks. Let me give you an example, of a personal experience. I have a customer card for my supermarket in Holland. When I start my shopping I scan the card first, and consequently data of everything I buy is stored in a database. The other day I received an e-mail from the super market with the following text: “Recently you purchased salmon and we have found out that this salmon does not fulfil our quality requirements. I you have not consumed this product yet we advise you to dispose of it”. This is quality control and customer care in one. It gives me the confidence that my super market is on top of it, and acts honestly and in my best interest by acknowledging a mistake on their part. Allow me to touch upon one more issue, animal protein. The global consumption of animal protein is increasing rapidly. With this increasing consumer demand the livestock sector faces a huge challenge. Feeding the world in a sustainable way! Prevention of animal diseases is the most crucial factor for a sustainable production system. Animal health is fundamental to food security and food safety. And the consumer is also increasingly demanding animal welfare.

A good animal health policy requires effective tracking and tracing systems by mandatory registration of all animals and an early warning system to react faster in case of emergency. For the prevention of animal diseases the entire food chain is important. From farm to fork! The production of safe food is a matter of shared responsibilities. Clear agreements on the responsibilities of the different actors are important. And of course effective control, monitoring and sanction legislation to provide the necessary guarantees. One of the issues on our current agenda is the use of antibiotics in livestock farming. Food safety, animal health and human health are all interacting in this issue. For many years the use of antibiotics has been the accepted tool in the curation and prevention of animal diseases. This resulted in the application of vast quantities of antibiotics instead of a structural improvement of production factors. Antibiotics represent a cheap, short term and mostly very effective answer to animal disease risks. However, the risks of such a large scale usage of antibiotics lay beyond the field of animal health. Human health can be affected. Issues like antimicrobial resistance in bacteria found in the veterinary domain are to be taken seriously. There is always the fear that they spill over into the public domain. From the perspective of sustainability there is a need for long term solutions that respect the interest of human health, meet the demands of livestock for a healthy environment and are economically feasible. These solutions should focus on animal husbandry and management tools that will optimize animal health and minimize the need for antibiotics. This so called One Health Approach is fundamental to the Dutch Approach as our antimicrobial reduction plan is already called. I will try to explain the key success factors of this approach.

In 2010 the Dutch Government has set the goal of a 20% reduction in the use of antibiotics by 2011, and a 50% reduction in 2013, compared to the year 2009. The preventive use of antibiotics was no longer allowed from 2011 onwards. The 50% reduction target was already met in 2012. The reduction target is now set at 70% by the end of 2015. The responsibility to implement these targets into daily practise was attributed to the sector. Farmers, veterinarians and food processors were given the task to reduce the use of antibiotics to a responsible level. Looking back at the last few years, I am proud to say that sector and government have worked hard to realize this unique cooperation, which is now called – as I already said – the Dutch Approach. The Netherlands is very much engaged to promote this One Health Approach in the EU, with compulsory reduction targets in the use of antibiotics for the entire EU. The dangers of bacteria becoming resistant are real and serious. We should join forces to retain a range of effective antibiotics.

Ladies and gentlemen, International cooperation, exchange of knowledge and experiences have resulted in enormous steps forward towards offering healthy food for people all over the world. Science based evidence and accepted procedures are the best guarantees for increasing consumer confidence in the safety of their food!

With this in mind I would like to conclude by congratulating China on its revised Food Safety Law that will come into force on 1 October 2015. If properly implemented this Food Safety Law has the power to restore consumer’s confidence in Chinese food industry and farming products. This would be a great step forward, and I hope fervently and I expect – that it will not create new barriers to international trade in high quality foods. Thank you for your attention.