Traceability and Phytosanitary Standards Training Course

Participants can define traceability events, lot rules and data requirements for a commodity chain.

• One-step-back, one-step-forward traceability requirements and their operational limits
• Defining traceable resource units, lots, batches, and transformation rules
• Event data capture using who, what, when, where, and why fields
• Mass-balance reconciliation for commingling, repacking, processing, and yield loss
• Linking harvest records, input applications, inspections, and dispatch documentation
• Selecting paper registers, spreadsheets, barcodes, QR codes, and ERP interfaces
• Testing data completeness, timeliness, accuracy, and accessibility against audit criteria

Participants can prepare a traceability system design with controlled procedures and records.

• ISO 22005 traceability-system design principles for feed and food chains
• Scope statements defining products, sites, processes, customers, and intended traceability depth
• Traceability plan components: objectives, records, responsibilities, verification, and corrective action
• Document-control procedures using version numbers, approvals, retention periods, and access rights
• Standard operating procedures for lot creation, relabelling, split lots, and merges
• Record-retention schedules aligned with legal, buyer, and product-life requirements
• Internal audit trails from shipment identifiers back to source fields

Participants can interpret the roles of IPPC standards, NPPOs and exporters in phytosanitary compliance.

• IPPC purpose, National Plant Protection Organisation functions, and International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures
• ISPM 1 principles governing necessity, transparency, non-discrimination, and technical justification
• Quarantine pests, regulated non-quarantine pests, and pest-risk categories
• Pest risk analysis stages: initiation, assessment, management, and risk communication
• Importing-country requirements, bilateral protocols, and commodity-specific phytosanitary conditions
• Distinguishing phytosanitary certification from commercial quality and food-safety certification
• NPPO authority boundaries, official controls, and exporter responsibilities

Participants can assess commodity pest pathways and select proportionate risk-management measures.

• ISPM 2 pest risk analysis framework and evidence requirements
• ISPM 11 pest risk analysis for quarantine pests
• Pathway analysis linking commodity, origin, pest biology, and intended use
• Likelihood and consequence ratings using documented scoring criteria
• Risk-management options: treatments, inspection intensity, systems approaches, and prohibitions
• Evidence files combining surveillance data, scientific literature, interception records, and maps
• Communicating uncertainty, assumptions, and residual risk to technical decision-makers

Participants can specify farm and packhouse controls that prevent pest spread and preserve lot integrity.

• Good agricultural practices controlling pest introduction, spread, and contamination pathways
• Field scouting protocols, pest monitoring records, thresholds, and response triggers
• Integrated pest management decisions supported by identification and surveillance evidence
• Pre-harvest inspections, field sanitation, and segregation of suspect lots
• Packhouse hygiene, pest exclusion, cleaning verification, and cull management
• Systems approaches combining production controls, inspections, treatments, and traceability
• Corrective-action records following pest detections, nonconformities, or supplier failures

Participants can plan defensible sampling and inspection processes for export consignments.

• ISPM 31 sampling methods for lot inspection and confidence decisions
• Defining inspection units, sample sizes, acceptance criteria, and inspection frequencies
• Visual examination procedures for insects, symptoms, soil, and plant debris
• Chain-of-custody controls for diagnostic samples and laboratory submissions
• Diagnostic escalation using morphology, microscopy, serology, and molecular testing
• Recording inspection findings, photographs, sample identifiers, and disposition decisions
• Nonconforming-lot actions: hold, recondition, treat, reject, or destroy

Participants can evaluate treatment evidence and control post-treatment phytosanitary risks.

• ISPM 28 treatment standards and treatment schedule validation principles
• ISPM 15 wood packaging material requirements, marks, and compliance controls
• Cold treatment, fumigation, irradiation, and heat treatment suitability criteria
• Treatment records linking facility, schedule, sensors, lot identity, and release
• Monitoring critical parameters, calibration status, deviations, and re-treatment decisions
• Preventing post-treatment infestation through segregation, packaging, and secure transport
• Treatment-provider approval, supervision, and documentation review responsibilities

Participants can prepare and review documentation supporting phytosanitary certificate issuance.

• ISPM 12 phytosanitary certificate content, declarations, and issuance controls
• ISPM 7 export certification systems, authorization, and official oversight
• Preparing commodity descriptions, botanical names, quantities, marks, and means of conveyance
• Additional declarations linked to importing-country pest and treatment requirements
• Electronic phytosanitary certification, ePhyto concepts, and data-consistency checks
• Pre-export verification of identity, treatment evidence, inspection status, and destination conditions
• Managing amendments, replacement certificates, cancellations, and fraud indicators

Participants can test system performance, investigate failures and prioritise corrective actions.

• Mock recall methods tracing a rejected consignment from border notification
• Trace exercises measuring trace-back, trace-forward, reconciliation, and response times
• Root-cause analysis using five whys, fishbone diagrams, and evidence review
• CAPA plans assigning containment, correction, corrective action, owners, and deadlines
• Internal audit checklists for farms, packhouses, treatment providers, and exporters
• Management-review indicators: trace completion, rejection rates, audit findings, and closure
• 90-day implementation plan prioritising controls, records, training, and verification