management strategies for veterinary medicinal products in aquaculture

Tilapia Health SessionSponsored by MSD Animal Health

Management Strategies for Veterinary Medicinal Products in

Aquaculture

Scott E. Zimmerman MSc., CP-FS Safe Quality Seafood Associates (SQSA), LLC

www.seafoodcertification.com


Majority of Products are NotInspected or Certified

1. On average only 2% of world aquaculture are certified under a third party accredited program (www.sustainablefish.org)

2. This is largely due to the fact that a large segment of production is made up of small scale producers that can not afford 3rd party certification

http://www.sustainablefish.org/


Private/National Certification Schemes

The major production schemes, such as ASC, BAP, and GlobalG.A.P. are based on United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries


Audits- 1st party internal audits: conducted to

determine compliance with a specific standard- 2nd party supplier audits: conducted by buyers

or clients to determine that their processors are compliant with processing and purchasing guidelines. These audits are conducted both on and offsite (desktop).

- 3rd party certification: based on an accredited standard, and conducted by a qualified certification body/auditor who has received training in auditing standards. Most often these audits are based on ISO based QMS


HACCP Perspective for EstablishingVeterinary Health Programs (VHP’s)

1. Form a team

2. Conduct hazard and risk assessments

3. Establish the critical control point’s

4. Establish operational and critical limits

5. Establish monitoring procedures.

6. Establish corrective action

7. VHP must be verified

8. Establish a record keeping practice


Team Building

Who's responsible for:

- training

- updates to documentation and records

- ordering VMP’s

- sampling and testing

- production strategies (i.e., withdrawal periods).


Risk Assessments

In order to assess risk you have to frame questions about the hazard:

– How do we identify the data we may need to collect?

– How do we organize and collect data?

– What are the hazards at each step?

– How do hazards get into our product?


Describe Flow of Production Steps

Determine what

steps are

Critical Control Point’s

Using a FLOW CHART

CCP 1 Receiving

Stocking

Feeding

Grading

CCP 2 Harvesting


Critical Limits

Once we have established a CCP we have to set Critical Limit to control the hazard from entering the farm.

Set Critical Limit

Set Critical Limit


Monitoring Records

Critical Limits must be monitored make sure we maintain controlOver the CCP.

MONITORING


Corrective Action

Corrective actions must be taken if we exceed Critical Limits at our CCP.

Corrective ActionsIF: Drugs Present

THEN: Extend withdraw period

EVIDENCE AND CONTROL


VerificationCCP’s must be Verifiedto ensure that the hazard control plan is working

Monthly and AnnualVerification of:

SOP’sRecords

Equipment


Records Answer Questions!• Mortality: do records prove there was there cause

for treating fish with drugs?

• Actual Diagnosis: when was the critical limit exceeded?

• Prescription: was a calculation done to determine volume per unit?

• Equipment: are scales used to measure drugs are calibrated?

• Verification: is someone responsible for reviewing records?


Register example 1: Purchasing

Purchasing Record

Batch number

Date Name of product QuantityExpiry date

Name of supplier


Register example 2: Administration

Administration Record

Batch number

Treatment start date

Identity of

fish/group

Quantity/bio-mass

VMP Dosage Date

treatementfinished

Date withdrawal

period completed

Harvest date

Employee name


How Do We Trend Progress

• Most 3rd Party standards require auditors to witness the improvements made at farms

EX: data from mortality records should show a decrease in loss over time due to new

biosecurity measures

• Number of treatments and frequencies is also data that can be analyzed for trends


Traceability

1 step back (e.g., seed and feed supplier)

1 step forward (e.g., sale)

RECEIVING

STORAGE

DISTRIBUTION

PRODUCTIONFarm


Recall is Not Traceability!

1. Establish Job Descriptions of the Team

2. Identify adulterated product

3. Inform government, clients (i.e., media release, establish lines of communication)

4. Determine disposition of product


Producers control their future…

• Bad Practices

– Staged audits

– Forged documentation

–Deny access to areas

–No harvest/handling available to witness


Producers control their future…

• Good Practices

- Organized and prepared for audits

- Fluid management

- Confidence of producer (implementation is part of production culture)

- Transparent & Truthful


New Developments: Enhanced Management Practices

• Software management programs


New Developments: More audits!

• 2nd party audits on the rise

– Buyers not trusting of third party audits alone, integrating onsite and/or desktop audits as part of approved supplier program

• 3rd party Surveillance audits

– GFSI now requiring that third party audits include random audits as part of compliance requirements


New Developments: Eco-labels

• Currently There are 500 ecolabels worldwide which signals a willingness to pay

QR codes will be used on

retail packaging to trace

farms and processors to

live certificates


Take Home Message1. If farmed seafood is going to increase, we

need to get serious about improper use of drugs and chemicals.

2. Veterinary Health Programs are critical for managing hazards such as drugs and diseases

3. Audits conducted by accredited Certification Bodies can benefit the seafood industry


THANK YOU!

WWW.SEAFOODCERTIFICATION.COM