TOLERANCE LIMITS AND METHODOLOGY - EFFECT ON INTERNATIONAL-TRADE

Microbiological contamination of foods with Listeria monocytogenes, Sa lmonella spp., Campylobacter spp., and other pathogens and toxins and chemical and environmental contaminants can cause serious health and t rade problems in the international trade of foods. Consequently, a sys tem of monitoring and surveillance of the quality and safety of import ed foods can have a significant impact on food trade between two or mo re countries. The World Trade Organization (WTO) provides a framework for ensuring fair trade and harmonizing standards and import requireme nts on foods traded, through the Agreements on Sanitary and Phytosanit ary Measures and Technical Barriers to Trade. Countries are required t o base their standards on science, to base programs on risk analysis m ethodologies, and to develop ways of achieving equivalence between met hods of inspection, analysis, and certification between trading countr ies. To facilitate the harmonization of standards the WTO recommends t he use of standards, guidelines, and recommendations developed by the Coder Alimentarius. Other international cooperative measures with the objective of assisting trade include the accreditation of laboratories that conform to international standards and the work of the Coder Com mittee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification on equiv alency and harmonization.