Strength

Weakness

Abuse of storage temperature

Provided temperatures at which chill (1˚C to 8˚C) and frozen (−18˚C or below) food should be kept.

No provision of the temperature at which warm food should be kept.

Allowed chilled food to be kept between 5˚C and 8˚C.

Personal hygiene

Provided personal hygiene standards for food handlers.

Food handlers should undergo training and medical screening prior to starting to handle food.

Training of food handlers was neither continuous nor assessed, and was not targeted.

Undercooking

The law was silent on the minimum temperature/time combination at which food of animal origin must be cooked.

Cross-contamination

Stipulated measures, at all levels, to prevent cross-contamination.

Measures were mainly prescriptive, without any risk-based method of food safety management.

Unsafe sources of food

Extensive provisions, such as, traceability, sampling and testing to ensure safety of food sources.

Safety of food was based on end product assessment, sampling and conventional testing.

No explicit provision for field-testing methods.