IUFoST Scientific Roundtable on Supporting

the Resilience of the Food Production

Sector During the COVID19 Pandemic

Nuri Gras
Executive Secretary
Chilean Food Safety and Quality Agency, ACHIPIA
Latin America might be turning into
the epicenter of the pandemic
 Highest number of cases in
Latin America:
Brazil: 374.898
Perú: 123.979
Chile: 73.997
México: 71.105
Ecuador: 37.355

As of May 24th.

Source: John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center

 Social unrest

Food security in Decelera/ng economic growth

LAC is at a high risk Commodities shock prices

of becoming a
bigger issue COVID-19

Climate change: floods, droughts,

hurricanes
In Chile, Food safety during COVID-19 Information generated
by ACHIPIA on your cell
phone, by entering the
“COVID-19” button in
the Agency´s application.
Making sure food is
safe is needed to avoid ‘’There is no food security Download it from playstore
(Android)
a rise in food-borne without food safety’’ Or Appstore (Iphone)

diseases.

ACHIPIA has It is key avoiding an overload of the health

continued working system with food-borne diseases, so it can
so food is safe for stay focused on COVID-19. Communication,
working with private sector, guidelines for
consumption.
industry and consumers.

A coordinated National
Food Control System The NFCS must adapt to the
(NFSC) is needed current and post COVID-19
scenarios.
 Cooperation will be
key
• Chile has lead some initiatives to
make sure America is connected and
open and direct communication
channels are in place to solve
problems.
• Work in the region is being
coordinated by FAO, WHO/PAHO
and IICA.
Thank you
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Estrategias de la cadena agroalimentaria frente al COVID-19

ACHIPIA has kept working remotely

• Chile in Codex Alimentarius

• Regional advicing committees
• Food safety culture webinars
• Provision of information on a demand basis (example: raisin exports to
china)
• Communication of the efect of SARS-CoV-2 in food products:
• Communication with experts from EFSA, BfR, WHO. FDA, among others.
• Available information is constantly reviewed.
• Continuous communication with stakeholders of the national food
safety system.
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Estrategias de la cadena agroalimentaria frente al COVID-19

2. Making sure the food chain continues to provide food

ACHIPIA has made its professional capacity available to

support efforts focused on preven2ng people who are
key to the opera2on of the food chain from becoming ill
and further strengthening safety measures for both
producers, distributors and consumers.

Most of the work associated with food produc2on

and marke2ng cannot be done remotely.
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Estrategias de la cadena agroalimentaria frente al COVID-19

Aportes desde ACHIPIA al Ministerio

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Estrategias de la cadena agroalimentaria frente al COVID-19

Chilean Agriculture Ministry

website specialized in COVID-19
https://covid19.minagri.gob.cl/
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Estrategias de la cadena agroalimentaria frente al COVID-19
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Estrategias de la cadena agroalimentaria frente al COVID-19

3. Contributions to the One Health Approach

‘’One Health’’ is an approach to design and implement programs, policies, legislation and research in which multiple
sectors communicate and work together to achieve better public health results

FOOD SAFETY AND BIOSAFETY Objec&ves:

RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR
COVID-19 IN STREET MARKETS Minimize risks due to the possible introduc&on,
exposure and spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the
different stages of the opera&on of free fairs.

Minimize risks due to microbiological hazards in primary

foods (fruits, vegetables, vegetables and seafood) sold
at free fairs.
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Estrategias de la cadena agroalimentaria frente al COVID-19

4. New times, nuenew services

WEBINAR
Estrategias de la cadena agroalimentaria frente al COVID-19
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Estrategias de la cadena agroalimentaria frente al COVID-19

Communica:onal ac:ons: process, products and results

Research, compila:on and Crea:ve development for New platforms for
development of work by be?er visualiza:on and dissemination and use
technical teams understanding of messages of established channels

Insumos fundamentales

Insumos fundamentales
24 technical documents Infographics
• Achipia.cl/COVID-19
Post social • Appchipia
7 manuals and documents 119 piezas networks • Mailing
with international Guidelines • Social networks
gráficas
reference • Webinars
9 Scientific evidence Protocols
Recomendations
bulletins

The work carried out has been directed to the entire National Food Control System

Working groups, Review Campaign: hygiene our best Learning and

committees, flow for procedures protection development, trial and
Cross-sectional review (all ACHIPIA) error
Products differen7ated by stakeholder

Primary
Producers

Distributors and
supply chains

Food handlers
Products differentiated by stakeholder

Scientific
community

Other
government
institutions

Consumers
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Estrategias de la cadena agroalimentaria frente al COVID-19

www.achipia.cl/covid-19
 • Bolivia: opening of markets in the mornings only
and restric4ons on the movement of people,
markets have not completely resumed normal
opera4ons
Relevant • Brazil: Wholesale markets are opera4ng throughout
issues for the the country, ac4vi4es and price fluctua4ons are
monitored daily. Some markets have reduced
agrifood opera4ng 4mes and established measures to control
flow of people.
sector in the • Chile: A Supply Commi@ee was set up to oversee
chain logis4cs, by applying safety measures and
Americas, protocols in the different markets. The food supply
chain has been opera4ng rela4vely smoothly. There
Markets have been price increases for some products, but for
the moment the situa4on has stabilized.
 • Brazil: Estimates for the country’s second corn crop
have been reduced due to dryer climate conditions
than normal
Relevant issues • Colombia: agriculture sector records 6.8%
interannual growth in the first quarter
for the • United States: USDA establishes Coronavirus
agrifood sector payments for corn, soy and wheat
• El Salvador: handover of agricultural packages
in the resumes, it was temporarily suspended after the
announcement of the special home quarantine
Americas, measures.

Production • Dominican Republic: agriculture is one of the

sectors that contributed the most to the GDP
 • Chile: China reopens its market to Chilean citrus
fruits a4er 20 years
• Chile and Peru stand out as the leading global
suppliers of table grapes, Chile #1, Perú #4.
Relevant • Argen0na and Brazil hold a new mee0ng to
issues for the address the drop in the water level of the Paraná
and Iguazú rivers: The drop in the River's water
agrifood level has generated numerous logisGcal issues.
EsGmates say the situaGon could generate losses of
sector in the US$244 million in exports during the first four
months of the year.
Americas, • Costa Rica has yet to reach an agreement with the
transport sector: the country is defending the
Trade health monitoring measures implemenGng for
truckers entering the country, which have been
criGcized by Central America's transport and trade
sectors, leading countries like Nicaragua and
Panama to close their borders with Costa Rica.
 • Agroindustry: Argentina’s sole source of
foreign currency: According to the most recent
Exchange Balance published by Argentina´s
Relevant Central Bank, the agroindustry sector is the only
issues for the source of foreign currency that allows for
guaranteeing operations and employment in
agrifood most sectors throughout the country.
sector in the • Brazil: if current trends persist, exports for
Soybean in May could set a record.
Americas, • Mexico launches platform to support MSMEs:
Supply The Government and various technology
companies presented a initiative to assist micro,
small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in
boosting their e-commerce sales.