The need for effective control and monitoring of safety and quality is obvious following the crisis of confidence caused by the recent viral outbreak which sent shockwaves throughout the seafood industry. Test kits allow industry to control the QA process rather than just follow the recommendations of consultants. They also allow industry to decide the type of processing required and the end use of the products being produced. One example is if a processor can determine the amount of bacteria present on seafood and the storage conditions it has been exposed to when delivered by fishers then they can estimate the length of shelf life that the seafood after processing will attain. This information will also indicate what types of product can be produced. It is a waste of time producing seafood at the limit of an importing country's standards if there is going to be further handling before the consumer purchases it. The Australian processor's target should be mush higher than this.

The new statutory requirements for food safety plans and the increasing adoption of formal quality management systems, necessitate the development of quality measures that are relevant and quantifiable.

For industry to implement QA programmes, there is an essential need for tools by which to monitor the systems. Rapid test kits provide these tools, but are they appropriate and effective for the Australian seafood processing environment? This knowledge is crucial to successful adoption of AQ programme initiatives.

There is a special need for this information by existing small and medium sized seafood enterprises, as well as new players entering the market, who do not have the resources not time to assess available methods themselves. Information providers such as AUSEAS can only provide lists of test kits that may be available but they have no funds to ascertain which ones work reliably under Australian conditions. They have stated that they will not recommend anything they have not tested yet this is what industry really wants. Promotional material accompanying test kits usually does not warn of any limitations.

Three areas of need for objective analysis are identified.

Product specification
As QA becomes more widespread, there is a need to specify and quantify the quality parameters so they can be included in product specifications associated with contracts. Those parameters may be Physical (eg size grades), Chemical (eg K values), Bacterial (eg TPC's), or Sensory (eg Demerit scores).

HACCP and Food Safety Plans
To monitor the effectiveness of a QA program such as proposed by SeaQual and SQMI, an objective, reliable measure of quality is needed. There are few universal measurements of quality and many tests require laboratory facilities. A number of rapid test kits have been developed which reduce delays in obtaining essential information required for processing strategies. Not all kits available are effective or suitable. This investigator has appraised some test kits intended for identifying the presence of sulphite on prawns and found them to be very inaccurate. An assessment of test kits in the Australian seafood processing environment is essential to establish their suitability.

Disputes and Loss Assessment
At the Centre officers are sometimes employed by loss assessors to report on the condition of suspect seafood in the distribution chain. We use a combination of bacterial, chemical and sensory techniques. The use of test kits within the processing sector would clarify many of these disputes.

Like many of Australia's primary industries the seafood industry needs to adjust constantly to changing consumer preferences and expectations and changing market conditions. The seafood industry also has to contend with changes in the availability of the resource.

Industry and governments throughout Australia recognise the need to support the continued growth of an internationally competitive sustainable seafood industry in Australia. This need has resulted in a significant increase in the pace and scope of regulatory reform and policy changes (environmental management, food safety, occupational health and safety, training, marketing etc). Thus the operating environment is in a state of constant change as it moves towards one of increased industry self regulation and responsibility.

There are significant challenges in achieving sustainable industry development - one of the most pressing is the need to drive a cultural change which results in an industry following world's best practice in management and operations ensuring that there is maximum return for the resource.

Consumers and therefore governments are increasingly demanding assurance that the food they eat is safe. Regulatory reform in this area is being driven by the Australia New Zealand Food Authority in the development and implementation of the proposed National Food Safety Code. Victoria has already passed their legislation and other States have drafted legislation ready for consideration by their governments.

The international trade environment is also changing rapidly with increased scope for implementation of non tariff barriers to exports - typically relating to food quality and environmental management. The economic crisis in Asia has already negatively affected the levels of Australian seafood exports, a trend which is expected to continue unless there is an increased focus on identifying and meeting the needs of the marketplace.

Developing seafood industry standards (accepted nationally and internationally) incorporating food safety, quality and environmental management elements provides a significant opportunity to ensure change occurs to meet these challenges.

With the operating environment changing so rapidly there is an increasing need for the development and adoption of seafood industry standards (accepted nationally and internationally) incorporating food safety, quality and environmental management elements. The standards development process provides a significant opportunity to ensure that the cultural change required to achieve the vision for the industry will occur.

The capabilities that are proposed to be brought under an "Australian Seafood Centre" (ASC) would provide the impetus to develop and manage the adoption of such standards and would provide coordinated products and services to all stakeholders.. With many industry development initiatives existing at State and National level there are significant opportunities for achieving a bigger and faster impact through better networking and integration. The ASC would provide a focus for post harvest initiatives, creating critical mass for achieving significant outcomes to benefit all stakeholders (government and industry).

The recently released SeaQual strategic plan "The Seafood industry's Strategic Plan for Achieving Seafood Excellence" identifies five key goals and a number of strategies for achieving them. The plan identifies the roles and responsibilities of industry and government stakeholders and recognises that success will depend on commitment from all stakeholders including the allocation of appropriate resources.

At the recent workshop held in Queensland, all States identified the need for work to be done in relation to seafood safety and quality, particularly in the development of agreed and accredited industry guidelines and in the eventual development of agreed industry standards. It was agreed that SeaQual Australia could provide immediate benefits to all States by providing key linkages with agencies with responsibility for food regulation and by networking the State based SeaQual operations.

The proposed development of an “Australian Seafood Centre” initially with seafood safety and quality management capabilities – SeaQual Australia is a major and complex project which will need both a strategic and an operational focus. It will meet the need to manage and review the implementation of the Strategic Plan while achieving the synergies and consequent cost efficiencies through the provision of a “single window” to the seafood industry on food safety and quality issues. It will ultimately do the same for all post harvest activities.

At the third meeting of the Queensland Fishing Industry Development Council (FIDC) on 26 May 1998 it was agreed that greater attention should be given to the development of a strategy to develop the industry for the benefit of all stakeholders through the innovative Foresighting process. This process is widely accepted across the world for many industry sectors. The value of Foresighting was proven through its successful application in the whole of the New Zealand Government.

This has been further highlighted by the recent FRDC funded Fisheries Habitat Review.

FIDC has agreed that the resources of R&D and management work are not currently directed towards an optimised cross sectoral strategy and accordingly this project is seen as being of the highest priority.

The preliminary successes of the Fisheries staff in supporting Foresighting have resulted in an invitation to help drive the process for the whole of QDPI.

This project addresses several QFIRAC priority areas, but is largely focused on industry development, which is demonstrated in Objectives 3 and 7:

Objective 3 this project entails relevant, focused research on specific stock assessment and evaluations of stakeholder impacts on the resource, and,
Objective 7 the methodology of this project offers significant cross-sectoral conflict resolution as all stakeholders are enrolled to contribute to the future building process.