BFSA - BUSINESS PLAN 2015-2017 Belgian Food Safety Agency

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The BFSA as an organization

Social, economic and administrative context

Stakeholders vision

Strategic and operational objectives 2015-2017

Inspection frequencies

State of affairs of the objectives

STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL OBJECTIVES 2015-2017 Theme 1 : An efficient organization of food chain monitoring with a view to maximally ensure food chain safety Theme 2 : An appropriate legislative framework and supporting measures to improve food chain safety Theme 3 : An agency accepted by food business FFBO’s and recognized by society and the consumers in particular, both nationally and internationally Theme 4 : An optimal level of services rendered to businesses in the framework of food chain safety and to governments concerning the delegation of tasks Theme 5 : An optimal organizational management

Strategic and operational objectives 2015-2017 Printable version   |   Last update on 22.04.2016 The Belgian legislator has entrusted the BFSA with the ambitious mission of monitoring food chain safety and food quality in order to protect the safety of consumers, animals and plants. This mission has to be seen within the framework created by the European General Food Law. This places the primary responsibility for the safety of food and feed with businesses, while the government is responsible for monitoring. To be able to assume these responsibilities, businesses have to implement and maintain efficient self-checking systems and the government has to set up an efficient control system. In the framework of the different operational objectives, the BFSA shall make sure to take into account micro corporations and SMEs, for example by specifically targeting this group in its information policy. The BFSA seeks to engage in constructive consultation with all of its stakeholders. The BFSA has been given a clear and explicit mandate, but as a government agency it also needs to serve the interest of the general public. This entails that the Agency has to organize its work as efficiently and effectively as possible and make sure that sufficient investments are made in activities that promote wellbeing and welfare. The BFSA’s actions and functions needed to attain its goals were solidified in successive business plans, each encompassing a three-year period, the last period of which pertained to the period 2012- 2014. The elaboration of the new business plan coincides with the start of the 5-year term of the new government. Although the business plan only covers a period of 3 years, the strategic objectives can be assumed to apply by and large for the entire duration of the term , insofar as the preconditions remain the same. The governmental agreement announces a number of initiatives which may have an impact on the functioning of the BFSA, but the scope of which is yet unknown. In this respect, specific references are made to the chapters on modernising public administration and the organization of the federal government. The BFSA will actively participate in these activities and adjust its strategic and operational objectives accordingly. The budgetary objectives set by the government will have a considerable impact on the functioning of the BFSA. Generally speaking, in 2015, staff credits and working capital will be reduced by 4% and 20% respectively. In the years to come, there will be 2% additional cutbacks on staff credits and working capital. For the BFSA, these budget cuts are calculated pro rata of the government endowment within the total income. Needless to say, meeting budgetary goals is a general objective for every government organization, which will have to be attained by taking these goals into account for every single strategic objective. In this respect, the following principles will apply: maintaining a maximum number of inspections, limiting the reduction of the sampling and analysis programs as much as possible. the cutbacks will be increased for other programmes and other activities as their direct relevance to the safety of the food chain decreases. In addition, a number of events can take place which may necessitate the strategic and operational objectives to be reviewed in the course of the lifetime of the business plan: further changes in (financial) resources allocated to the BFSA, changes regarding the nature and the scope of the mission, restructuring on the level of the federal government, changes in the legal framework, measures to be taken or to be executed in order to carry out the coalition agreement, the necessity to reconsider the activities that are being carried out internally and externally in order to meet the budgetary objectives. The Business Plan for the period 2015-2017 is centred on 5 strategic themes:   Monitoring the food chain by means of controls while maintaining an optimal level of food chain safety   An appropriate legislative framework and supporting measures to improve food chain safety   An Agency accepted by food business FFBO’s and recognized by society and the consumers in particular, both nationally and internationally   An optimal level of services rendered to companies in the framework of food chain safety and to governments regarding delegated tasks   Optimal organizational management Within the scope of these strategic themes, strategic objectives are defined first, which are subsequently translated into one or multiple operational objectives. Operational objectives are either projects that have to be carried out within the foreseen timeframe or permanent objectives for which critical process indicators have to be met. For each of these operational objectives specific actions can also be defined, as to enable a phased approach. The planning of the operational objectives has to be evaluated annually and has to be reviewed if necessary. The one-year planning is the most detailed and binding one, the multi-annual planning only serves as an indication, although its objectives will have to be met by the end of the lifetime of the business plan. The Business Plan itself is limited to defining the strategic themes and objectives and describing the operational objectives. The detailed elaboration of these objectives will be included in a dashboard, which will be published on the BFSA’s website and which will be updated on a regular basis (at least once a year) and which will be explained in the Advisory Committee. In the run up to, or in the course of the previous business plan, all stakeholders were asked to assess the functioning of the organization and voice their expectations concerning the organization, by means of: a consumer survey, a survey and a SWOT analysis of FFBO’s and members of the Advisory Committee, the input of the Scientific Committee, a survey of the BFSA’s staff on its corporate culture and values. In addition, the results of the previous years and the policy choices that were made in the new government agreement were also taken into account.

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