The ongoing progress towards European integration requires Ukraine to master international norms and rules for doing business. Indeed, in the markets of countries within the EU, or for the USA, there is a focus on food safety in addition to that of food quality. Safety is the main principle in the HACCP system, designed to manage risks in the area of food production. 

Developed back in 1959 in the United States for the needs of the space industry, the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system has become one of the key international food safety management systems. The implementation of the HACCP system globally is promoted by the FAO and considered necessary to create a global system of preventive food safety management by participants in economic activities at the key stages of the food chain (small producers and traders at the national and local levels, both in the public and private sectors, through to suppliers). 

Since September 2019, in Ukraine, the implementation of the HACCP system has become mandatory for all participants in the food market. These include all Ukrainian food industry enterprises, in particular those in educational institutions that provide food services, as well as suppliers and carriers of food products. Over the past few years Ukrainian food market players have successfully implemented these HACCP systems. However, there is still a lot of work to be done. 

Cotecna Ukraine supports implementing the HACCP system in the Ukraine; the company's team includes experienced food safety experts and auditors. Also, to meet the growing demand, the company has developed a list of seminars and trainings on food safety. To meet the growing interest in express training, Cotecna experts have developed trainings/seminars on ISO 22000 (HACCP) for enterprises of all types and sizes, aimed at rapid and practical employee training. The seminars are held in the format of constant communication and practice with the opportunity to ask questions. The target audience for Cotecna's HACCP seminars\trainings is a wide range of Ukrainian food and agri industry players, HoReCa segment, school food suppliers, and managers etc. 

The importance of HACCP system implementation in the Ukraine, across all value chains, is very high. On September 17-18th in Odessa (Ukraine), the largest national food safety event was dedicated to the topic of HACCP - the 2nd All-Ukrainian Congress "FOOD SAFETY-2021: test of system efficiency". Tatiana Litvinenko, the auditor for certification of management systems at Cotecna Ukraine, was one of the leading speakers at the event. In her report, she presented on conducting an internal audit of food safety systems and talked about topical issues in implementing the HACCP System and the assessment of suppliers. As Tatiana explained, such events also help give businesses up-to-date knowledge in the context of legal and regulatory requirements and a vast opportunity to exchange experiences. 

According to Arina Korchmaryova, Vice President of the Cotecna Group for the Baltic and Black Seas Region, "in addition to meeting regulatory requirements, certification to the food safety management system gives the industry enterprises tangible competitive advantages - it increases consumer confidence in manufactured products, opens up the opportunity to enter new, international markets, offers additional benefits when participating in important tenders, increases investment attractiveness, and creates a reputation as a manufacturer of high-quality and safe food products". 

As a leading international expert on the quality and safety of agri-food products, and a consultant of the FAO on best international practices and projects, Arina highlights that Ukraine made big progress in the implementation of the HACCP system in recent years. Such measures have helped to increase food safety and improve the country's image as a supplier of quality agriculture and food products. Cotecna Ukraine plans to continue to actively promote and support the development of a safe food market in Ukraine.