THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRODUCT SAFETY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT IN THE CONTEXT OF TRAINING FUTURE BIOTECHNOLOGISTS
Authors: Shelyfist A.Y. , Nakonechna N.M. , Buzduga I.M. 
Published: September 2023

Humanity has been using biotechnologies based on fermentation processes in its daily life since ancient times. Today, their spectrum has become extremely diverse both due to obtaining new, more promising agents of these processes, and due to the appearance of new modern directions of development. One of the most important among these directions is the use of biotechnology in the medical field and using it for creating food products. And though, the question immediately appears around the products safety degree of such use. Regarding this, a base of regulatory documentation is developed and constantly revised and updated, that regulates the functionality of enterprises for achieving the safety of their products and their services.
With the development of world trade, there is an activation of the state institutions in the direction of harmonizing the existing legislative base with international requirements, what is also a characteristic feature of independent Ukraine. The significant efforts in our state are aimed at revising existing standards, developing and implementing new ones and also the products safety confirmation gained on the basis of the use of modern biotechnologies.
During the years of independence, firstly the requirements for mandatory and, if desired, voluntary certification were actively implemented. As a result, this led not only to compliance with the new food safety requirements, but also to a significant improvement in its quality. In parallel, however, another situation turned out – the rapid development of biotechnologies led to the non-compliance of the existing regulatory documentation with the requirements for its production. This was a significant barrier to the development of trade relations, that was especially noticed when the Ukrainian manufacturer entered the international market, since its products were rarely competitive.
Today, the practice of declaring compliance by the manufacturer with the stated requirements for the safety of the food products dominates in the world. Thus, instead of mandatory and voluntary certification, the international market requires a declaration of conformity provided by the manufacturer or a certificate of conformity issued by a certification organization. The professional auditors from this organizations test the products for the conformity, according to the requirements of current standards, in NAAU-accredited testing laboratories. The HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) system is the only one generally accepted scientifically based food safety management system. It identifies, evaluates and controls dangerous factors that determine the safety of food products. Today, its implementation is mandatory at all enterprises of the food industry of Ukraine. The success of the HACCP system implementation significantly depends on the quality of training of young professionals, that is provided by the synthesis of knowledge of theoretical and practical training courses.