In food safety regulation, control of the checks for compliance with legal requirements plays an important role in increasing the level of food safety, by identifying non-compliances and defining the necessary remedial measures. In addition, understanding the situations and problems on-site is important for reviewing the effectiveness of the current measures and for considering the next steps.
In Japan, issues such as how the official control system is arranged and what type of system is required have, to date, not been sufficiently discussed.In this article, I have identified the following problems in the Japanese food safety control system. First, the present system is not adequate for ensuring the effectiveness and reliability of control activities. Second, the framework for the selection of food businesses and sampling has not been clearly identified at the national level. Third, the results of some controls at the local government level have not been collated at the national level in such a way that identifies problems.
In contrast, the European Union has reformed the food safety control system and has introduced a risk-based control system, in which control is enforced in proportion to the risk. In this article, I focus on the German system and clarify how the above three problems are addressed. In Germany, 16 states are responsible for enforcing control. Regarding the aforementioned first point, although there is some variation among states, there is an audit system for veterinary offices, which enforces control regarding food safety. With respect to the second point, a common framework for the selection of food businesses has been established among states. According to this, each food business is assessed and the frequency of inspection is decided. Regarding the third point, the results of controls at the local level are transmitted and aggregated at the national level so that it is possible to understand which problem occurs at which stage in the food chain. With reference to these points, it is necessary to discuss how to develop the food safety control system in Japan.