Based on the Division of Continuous Professional Development of the State Research Institute for Laboratory Diagnostics and Veterinary and Sanitary Expertise, online training on a special short-term training program on “Peculiarities of state control measures at food production and/or processing establishments” was held. It was developed and implemented in cooperation with experts of the Swiss-Ukrainian program “Higher Value Added Trade in the Organic and Dairy Sectors of Ukraine”.

The event was attended by 379 participants, including representatives of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine (MAPF), heads and specialists of the central office and main departments of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection (SSUFSCP) in the regions and Kyiv, authorized veterinarians from state hospitals of veterinary medicine from all over Ukraine. Such a large number of participants demonstrates the importance of this topic, as the implementation of an effective control system will facilitate the production and circulation of safe food products.

The purpose of this training was to develop and improve the level of professional knowledge and competencies of the participants in the implementation of state control measures at food production and/or processing establishments, in particular, the specifics of preparing and conducting inspections of dairy processing establishments for compliance with EU and national legislation.

Igor Lotskin, Director of the Department of Food Safety and Veterinary Medicine of SSUFSCP, in his welcoming remarks thanked Switzerland and QFTP experts for their continued support in harmonizing approaches to state control of compliance of milk and dairy business operators with EU requirements. He noted that the training is a great opportunity for regional specialists to gain knowledge, experience and get answers to questions that arise during state control measures at food production and/or processing establishments.

Thus, Nataliia Shchyrova, Head of the Food Safety Division of the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Directorate of the Department of State Policy in the Field of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and Food Security of the MAPF, highlighted the current state of adaptation of national legislation to EU requirements.

Anatoliy Gamza, Deputy Head of the Directorate – Head of the State Control Division of the State Control and Business Operators Accounting Directorate of the Department of Food Safety and Veterinary Medicine of SSUFSCP, presented the peculiarities of planning and implementation of planned/unplanned state control measures at food production and/or processing establishments in accordance with changes in legislation and taking into account the peculiarities of the martial law period.

Dmytro Unguryan, Head of the Directorate of Animal Health and Welfare, Organization of Anti-Epizootic Measures of the Department of Food Safety and Veterinary Medicine of SSUFSCP, explained the detailed procedure for state veterinary inspectors to approve the establishments of a business operator engaged in the production and/or storage of food products for export to EU member states in accordance with the standard operating procedure for including the business operator’s establishments in the list of food exporters.

Tetiana Garkavenko, Senior Advisor of the Dairy Sector Component, QFTP, highlighted in detail the requirements of EU and Ukrainian legislation on the safety and quality of milk and dairy products, in particular, the acceptable levels of criteria for raw milk and milk immediately before processing, requirements for the process of collection, transportation of raw milk, modes of heat treatment of milk and control of its effectiveness, implementation of permanent procedures based on the principles of the system of hazard analysis and control at critical points, requirements for milk packaging.

Vitaliy Bashynskyi, Consultant of Dairy Sector Component, QFTP emphasized the importance of proper preparation for the inspection of dairy processing establishments for compliance with EU requirements and explained the main aspects to be checked during the inspection, which is the basis for including the business operator’s establishments in the list of food exporters to EU member states.

The legislative basis, basic principles and benefits of risk-based inspection of business operators’ compliance with food legislation were presented by Viktoriia Lets, Senior Advisor of the Dairy Sector component, QFTP.

At the end of the training, Vitaliy Bashynskyi explained the difference between the approaches to the preparation and implementation of inspections of dairy processing establishments for compliance with EU requirements and compliance with national requirements by business operators, and explained in detail the stages of preparation, implementation and completion of risk-based inspections of milk and dairy products business operators for compliance with national requirements.

During the Q&A sessions, the participants were extremely active, asking questions and lively discussing aspects that are important for their daily work. All participants who successfully pass the final test will receive certificates.

The training materials and video records of the training will be uploaded to the SSUFSCP e-learning platform to update the relevant courses in the Self-Education section and to create new courses. The next step will be to conduct a training of trainers on “Peculiarities of state control measures of dairy processing establishments for compliance with EU and national legislation” with simulated inspections for practical assimilation of theoretical knowledge gained during this event.

This event was supported by Switzerland within the framework of the Swiss-Ukrainian Program “Higher Value Added Trade from the Organic and Dairy Sector in Ukraine” (QFTP), implemented by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL, Switzerland) in partnership with SAFOSO AG (Switzerland), www.qftp.org.