Making food safe, from cultivation to final preparation

Food safety is a major concern of all. Unfortunately, food safety is often taken for granted by most consumers who mistakenly believe that their food is "clean" and "safe" because it has been washed and cooked.

According to Pinky Tobiano, president of Qualibet Testing Services Corp., bacteria is present in almost all stages of the food process – from cultivation of vegetable produce, farming of marine products, raising of pork and poultry up to the final preparation of food in our homes.

Qualibet is a food, water, pharmaceutical and veterinary testing facility accredited by various government agencies such as the Department of Health (DOH), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Agriculture (DA) and its attached agencies including the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR). Qualibet is also a member of the American Association of Analytical Chemists.

Food safety, Tobiano points out, should start even before cultivation – specifically in assessing the safety of animal feeds and aquafeeds, the antibiotics used and even the quality of water used to raise marine products.

Tobiano, a cancer survivor who has made it her advocacy to ensure food safety for all and not just for the privileged few, has been actively working with the DA, led by Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, BFAR Director Malcolm Sarmiento and Bureau of Animal Industry’s Davinio Catbagan.

Yap agrees with Tobiano that food safety is of utmost importance especially at this time when the Philippines is enjoying an enviable status as being free from avian influenza (AI) or bird flu and foot and mouth disease (FMD).

The Philippines, along with Brunei and Singapore, remain among a few countries in the Asian region that have not been infected by the dreaded H5N1 virus.

Likewise, the Philippines is also enjoying an FMD-free status compared to its neighbor Malaysia which, because it is not a pork consuming nation, is a big exporter of pork products.

The Philippines can take advantage of its AI and FMD-free status to expand the export market for its chicken and pork products, Yap pointed out.

Along with exports of chicken and pork, the Philippines is also an exporter of various marine products that include carageenan from seaweed and farm-grown bangus, tilapia and prawns.

To capture the export market though, Yap stressed that Philippine food products must meet all the necessary phytosanitary and quality tests of importing countries.

Yap warns that opening up the market alone is not enough to ensure exports. Making sure that the food products are safe for human consumption is also part of the hurdle, Yap emphasized.

While the government has existing facilities to test most products, Yap welcomes the services of such firms as Qualibet to assist the government ensure the safety of Philippine agricultural and animal products.

"Every peso we save on testing," Yap said, "allows us to spend it on other expenditures such as farm to market roads."

The BFAR has recently accredited Qualibet Testing Services as one of several laboratories allowed to test marine products for anti-biotic residues and other harmful chemicals such as chloramphenicol and nitrofuran and several other tests that include checking for e-coli and salmonella and other potentially hazardous contaminants.

Sarmiento stressed the need to ensure the export quality of such aquaculture products as bangus which is a big export earner for the country.

Countries such as the United States, the European Union and Japan, Sarmiento pointed out, have very strict food safety and quality standards.

"So far we have not encountered any problems," Sarmiento said. On the other hand, the Philippines just recently passed the EU’s rigorous hazard analysis test which would pave the way for Philippine exports of tuna, bangus and prawns to Europe, he added.

Sarmiento said BFAR has its own laboratory facilities to check food products. At times, however, he said the bureau gets swamped and has to rely on third party laboratories such as Qualibet, Adamson Lab and SGS.

Tobiano pointed out, though, that compared to SGS, Qualibet’s charges are 20 to 30 percent lower. She said Qualibet charges only for the test and does not impose a preparation or testing fee.

In fact, even for ordinary households that may want to test the quality of their drinking water, Tobiano offers to make the test for as little as P500.

She explains that because of her own experience with cancer and the realization of how important it is to ensure food safety, "I want it to be my legacy for my children to make a difference to create a safe Philippines."

Tobiano has been relentless in her campaign. She has even engaged the cooperation of no less than House Speaker Jose de Venecia and his wife, Gina de Venecia to endorse safety not only in food, water, and pharmaceutics but even in cosmetics.

Qualibet, Tobiano explains, also test cosmetics which she warns may also contain harmful substances.