PHARE project No 2004/016-764.08.03
Strengthening the rapid alert system for food safety in Slovakia
On 13 May 2005, a ceremonial closing conference was held at the Governor's Palace on the occasion of the completion of the Phare project "Strengthening the Rapid Alert System Network for Food Safety in the Slovak Republic" /Strengthening of the Rapid Alert System for Food Safety in Slovakia/ with the participation of the Italian Ambassador, representatives of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic, Representation of the EC, Ministry of Finance, Central Financial and Contracting Unit, Government Office of the Slovak Republic, Public Health Office and Italian Partner ARPA-Emilia Romagna.
The final beneficiary was the Public Health Office of the Slovak Republic and some activities (seminars) were also attended by employees of the Slovak State Veterinary and Food Administration. This twinning light project was fully financed by EU funding under the Phare UIBF 2002 pre-accession fund and was implemented in cooperation with the Italian partner ARPA-Emilia Romagna. It ran from November 2004 to May 2005.
The general objective of the project was to improve consumer health protection by preventing their exposure to foods that do not meet health safety requirements or that are incorrectly labelled and thus pose a consumer risk.
The objectives of the project were achieved through intensive training of the professional team RASFF units at the Regional Public Health Offices, the Public Health Office of the Slovak Republic, the State Veterinary and Food Administration of the Slovak Republic and the Regional Veterinary and Food Administrations /i.e. Food Surveillance Authorities, which are connected to RASFF/ and the final seminar led by experts from Italy. An important part of the project was the creation of methodological material for food health risk assessments by experts from ARPA-Emilia Romagna and the Office of Public Health of the Slovak Republic, with which all participants were informed during the final seminar.
The results of the project, the deepening and updating of the knowledge of the responsible food supervisory authorities on the pan-European rapid alert system /RASFF/ and the health risk assessment of food and the relevant aquis community (Regulation 178/2002 and Directive 92/59/EEC) and the establishment of a methodological material for food health risk assessment for food surveillance authorities, with emphasis on the area where EU legislation has not yet been adopted, have been met.
The implementation of the project has contributed to a more effective performance of the tasks under the conditions of implementation of EU legislation through the training of the responsible food surveillance authorities.