Assessment of the capacities of food safety laboratories in Palestine
Date
2019-12-22
Authors
Adeeb Ismael Amin Nawahda
أديب اسماعيل أمين نواهضة
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Al-Quds University
Abstract
In Palestine, the food industry and agribusiness are growing and expanding in scale and
diversity responding to the continually changing market demands. Thus, to provide
consumers with safe products, laboratories of food safety play a crucial role and form the
basis of the national food control system. The aim of this research was to assess the testing
practices and the compliance of the main food safety laboratories in Palestine (seven
laboratories in West Bank and two laboratories in Gaza Strip) with the internationally
recognized standards and guidelines.
To achieve the purpose of the study, the researcher used questionnaires focusing mainly on
the following aspects; quality assurance and quality control, testing procedure, available
devices and equipment, facilities and premises, personnel, handling of samples, and main
barriers. In addition to that, the researcher used structured interviews with three national
food control authorities, they were conducted to survey their practices related to testing of
food safety and their relationship with local food safety laboratories.
The collected data and information were processed and analyzed using the SPSS program.
Additionally, SWOT analysis was used to get a better understanding of the practices of the
targeted laboratories. Key findings are summarized as follows: (i) Five out of the nine
working laboratories in Palestine were locally accredited by the Ministry of National
Economy (MONE) and the accreditation did not cover all performed food tests. While other
laboratories were providing service without any accreditation. (ii) Most of the assessed
laboratories were not fulfilling adequately the requirements of the recognized international
standards and guidelines such as ISO17025. (iii) No sub-contracting analysis between
laboratories (no parallel integration). (iv)More than half of the laboratories had participated
in national or international inter-laboratory proficiency tests with (66.7%) of agreement. (v)
Only five laboratories had the necessary equipment to perform most of the chemical,
microbiological, and physical food safety tests, while the others performed mainly
microbiological or physical tests. (vi)Most laboratories, in terms of facilities and premises,
were well designed but did not have enough space to facilitate and expand their work. (vii)
Six of the nine laboratories studied suffered from lacking staff with and 5 suffered from lack
of sufficient training for lab staff. (viii) More than half of the laboratories introduced
sampling services following procedures and instructions. (ix) All of the laboratories
performed procedures for traceability of samples from reception until reporting of results,
but only three laboratories used an electronic LIMS (Laboratory Information Management
System) for traceability. (x) The laboratories had faced many gaps due to managerial and
technical reasons, such as: (small scale of businesses, the limited geographical distribution
of laboratories, inability to perform certain food tests, insufficient space, equipment
maintenance difficulties, no periodic maintenance, insufficient lab staff, insufficient
training, insufficient equipment, and no specific turnaround time (TAT) for tests. (xi) The
laboratories faced many external obstacles such as (occupation, frequent closures and access
restrictions, high costs of equipment and materials, unavailability of some materials, power
cuts, no existing international accreditation body, and no licensing authority for food
laboratories). (xii) On the other hand, two out of the three national control authorities did not
have any food safety laboratories. There is a lack of a clear sampling plan specifying the
number of samples and frequency of sampling for food establishments. Also, there was no
data communication or warnings from food safety laboratories about risks and history of
tested food samples in general.
Several recommendations targeting both the food safety laboratories and the national food
control authorities are presented in this thesis. These recommendations focused mainly on
the sustainability of the service, strengthening the testing competence and leveling up the
skills of the laboratory staff.
According to the best knowledge of the researcher, this study is the first of its type in
Palestine and no previous studies have been undertaken to assess the competence of the food
safety laboratories. Thus, this research gives a better understanding of the current situation
and sheds light on the number of emerging concerns related to the national food safety
system.
Keywords: Assessment, Food safety laboratory, Control authority, Food safety tests,
Sampling, Accreditation, Proficiency tests, Managerial gaps, Technical gaps, Capacity.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Nawahda، Adeeb Ismael. (2019). Assessment of the capacities of food safety
laboratories in Palestine [رسالة ماجستير منشورة، جامعة القدس، فلسطين]. المستودع الرقمي لجامعة
القدس. https://arab-scholars.com/bce1ab
Nawahda، Adeeb Ismael. (2019). Assessment of the capacities of food safety laboratories in Palestine [رسالة ماجستير منشورة، جامعة القدس، فلسطين]. المستودع الرقمي لجامعة القدس. https://arab-scholars.com/bce1ab
Nawahda، Adeeb Ismael. (2019). Assessment of the capacities of food safety laboratories in Palestine [رسالة ماجستير منشورة، جامعة القدس، فلسطين]. المستودع الرقمي لجامعة القدس. https://arab-scholars.com/bce1ab