Food Safety Trainings – Emergency

Preparedness and Response

Spec.Sanit.Eco.Ing. Vladimir Surčinski,
Quality Austria Center Belgrade - Serbia.

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 Vladimir Surčinski
• Specialist in Sanitary and Environmental
engineering
• >500 audits - Delhaize Serbia / Food safety
operations - auditing of food safety in more than
400 retail stores in three countries - Serbia,
Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.
• Project Manager in Quality Austria Center
• >120 audits - Auditor (ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO
18001, FSSC 22000, ISO 22000, HACCP)
• >1000 people trained - Trainer for food safety
standards

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Quality Austria/Quality Austria Center
• Quality Austria was founded as a limited company for training,
certification and evaluation in 2004.
• Close relationship with the partner organizations IQNet, EOQ and
EFQM.
• 50 partner and member organizations - own offices and exclusive
partners, Quality Austria is also represented onsite in Eastern and South
Eastern and South Europe, Asia as well as in South and Central America.
• Quality Austria Center is regional partner located in Belgrade, Serbia,
responsible also for countries Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro,
Croatia and Bulgaria.
• Quality Austria covers the three business areas of certification,
evaluation and validation, provides training and individuals’
certification as well as information, expert knowledge and service.
• More than 1,000 auditors, trainers and assessors and technical experts
• 12,000 clients from all sectors..

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 Emergency Preparedness and
Response
• Emergency situations
• Internal and external risks
• Data from certified organizations
• Consider more emergency situations
• How to prepare for one
• What to do after one

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Superstorm Sandy Earthquake in Japan

What they have in common?

Hurricane Katrin Flood in Serbia

Tornadoes accros the

world

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 Additional risks for food safety
• Internal • External

Improper storing
Lack of electricity

Inadequate
Inability of cooking - a
equipment lack of fuel

Diseased employees
Poor sanitation

Lack of clean drinking
water

Lack of toilets

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 Main questions...
...of all included in the food chain
is how to:
• protect my inventory?
• continue to work?
• continue to serve safe food?
• keep a business after all?

The best way to address these questions is

before the emergency situation.
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 What we have concluded so far:
Organization certified according to food safety standards

5%

Organizations that have created

manuals for emergency situation.

Organizations without manual for

emergency situations.
95%

Data from V QA Forum in Belgrade, 2014, Certified organization for food standards

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 What we have concluded so far:
Organizations that have created manuals for emergency
situation

14% Those who know that there is

a manual and are familiar
35% with the content.
Those who know that there is
a manual but are not familiar
with the content.
51% Those who do not know that
there is manual, but they
have it.

Data from V QA Forum in Belgrade, 2014, Certified organization for food standards

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 What we have concluded so far:
Organizations that have created manuals for emergency
situation
Those who have passed the
training with topics
7% concerning emergencies
13%
Those who have passed the
training with topics
emergencies involving food
safety
80%
Those who have not gone
through the training with
topics emergencies

Data from V QA Forum in Belgrade, 2014, Certified organization for food standards

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 What is included in the manuals:
• Fires
• Floods
• Snow storms
• Earthquakes
• Power cut (cooling equipment)
• Warfare

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 What could also be included:
• Poisoning caused by food
- a large number of persons
- publicly announced complaint
- procedures covers general information on how to prevent it

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 What could also be included:
• Inadequate raw material in the manufacturing
process
- altered final product
- changes in production of supplier (specification)
- inadequate control at the reception
- procedures covers generaly information on what to do with
nonconforming product made during production

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 What could also be included:
• Inadequate packaging of product
- food contact materials
- bad informations on packaging (supplier, marketing)
- bad packaging (noticed on shelf )
- procedures covers general information on how to prevent it

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 What could also be included:
• Pest infestation
- procedures covers general information on how to prevent it,
or how to react (principles of hygiene rules)
- never happened before
- management with damaged products
- control spread of the disease

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 What could also be included:
• Defects and damage to equipment and
infrastructure (the cold chain)
- procedures covers general information on how to prevent it,
or how to react (preventive maintenance)
- never happened before
- management with products

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 What could also be included:
• Bioterrorism / vandalism / Food security
- define what could happened
- management with products
- who would be involved/engaged

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 How to prepare:
• Good cooperation with relevant inspections
and other emergency services.

• The inclusion of a larger circle (suppliers,

service partners, "food bank" ...).

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 How to prepare:
• Procedures adapted to the characteristics of
production (location, infrastructure, information,
alternative energy sources ...).

• Internal training, getting to know the procedure,

simulation, external training, awareness raising,
training ...

• The use of social networks (Facebook, Twitter ...)

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 Training for emergency:
• Internal training
- Getting to know the procedure
- Awareness raising
- Developed for every work group or place
- Time intervals and refreshments
- Simulations

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 Training for emergency:
• External training
- External organizations/specialists in emergency trainings
- Trainings of customers
- Trainings of suppliers for materials
- Trainings of suppliers for services

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 Activities after the emergency:
• Activation of human resources

• Establish basic systems - hygiene, a source of

electricity, water supply, mechanisms for
maintaining the cold chain.
• Management of waste materials

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 Activities after the emergency:
• Procedures of storage and distribution

• Sending the necessary notifications

• Checking the functionality of the system and

defining further steps

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 The main answer is:
• to deal with the emergency situation before it
happens

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