A Comprehensive Review of Spirit Drink Safety Standards and Regulations from an International Perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 431-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-Na Pang ◽  
Zhao-Jie Li ◽  
Jing-Yu Chen ◽  
Li-Juan Gao ◽  
Bei-Zhong Han

ABSTRACT Standards and regulations related to spirit drinks have been established by different countries and international organizations to ensure the safety and quality of spirits. Here, we introduce the principles of food safety and quality standards for alcoholic beverages and then compare the key indicators used in the distinct standards of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the European Union, the People's Republic of China, the United States, Canada, and Australia. We also discuss in detail the “maximum level” of the following main contaminants of spirit drinks: methanol, higher alcohols, ethyl carbamate, hydrocyanic acid, heavy metals, mycotoxins, phthalates, and aldehydes. Furthermore, the control measures used for potential hazards are introduced. Harmonization of the current requirements based on comprehensive scope analysis and the risk assessment approach will enhance both the trade and quality of distilled spirits. This review article provides valuable information that will enable producers, traders, governments, and researchers to increase their knowledge of spirit drink safety requirements, control measures, and research trends.

Author(s):  
Steven V. Nanney ◽  
Kenneth Y. Lee

Recent pipeline accidents in the United States have highlighted concerns with older vintage natural gas and hazardous liquid pipelines. The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is performing a comprehensive review to determine the fitness for service of vintage pipelines, and if the risks associated with vintage pipelines can be better managed by changes to US pipeline safety standards and regulations. Concerns with vintage pipelines include weld seam manufacturing issues, such as low frequency electric resistance welding (LF-ERW) and submerged arc welding (SAW), cast iron pipe, plastic pipe and certain coatings. This paper presents findings from vintage pipeline failure investigations, recent PHMSA actions, and some approaches to address key vintage pipe concerns. These approaches include knowledge assurance (adequacy and quality of historical data), methods to systematically obtain missing data, and processes and criteria for determining fitness-for-service, including assessment, remediation, and replacement programs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 960-960
Author(s):  
Sara Luck ◽  
Katie Aubrecht

Abstract Nursing home facilities are responsible for providing care for some of the most vulnerable groups in society, including the elderly and those with chronic medical conditions. In times of crisis, such as COVID-19 or other pandemics, the delivery of ‘regular’ care can be significantly impacted. In relation to COVID-19, there is an insufficient supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) to care for residents, as PPE not only protects care staff but also residents. Nursing homes across the United States and Canada have also taken protective measures to maximize the safety of residents by banning visitors, stopping all group activities, and increasing infection control measures. This presentation shares a research protocol and early findings from a study investigating the impact of COVID-19 on quality of care in residential long-term care (LTC) in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. This study used a qualitative description design to explore what contributes to quality of care for residents living in long-term care, and how this could change in times of crisis from the perspective of long-term care staff. Interviews were conducted with a broad range of staff at one LTC home. A semi-structured interview guide and approach to thematic analysis was framed by a social ecological perspective, making it possible to include the individual and proximal social influences as well as community, organizations, and policy influencers. Insights gained will improve the understanding of quality of care, as well as potential barriers and facilitators to care during times of crisis.


2003 ◽  
Vol 4 (7) ◽  
pp. 35-60
Author(s):  
Luis Ernesto Cervera Gómez ◽  
Rodolfo Rubio Salas

This article aims to analyze some basic criteria for a sustainable use of water in an international watershed shared by Mexico and the United States. The study area comprises the region of Ambos Nogales, which is located inside the Upper Santa Cruz River Basin. This portion of the watershed represents the main ecosystem and the main source of water for urban and rural populations located in this region. Following criteria of sustainability the authors revise and adapt to the case of Ambos Nogales, a set of guidelines proposed by the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security. These guidelines include the following elements: basic water requirements needed to maintain quality of life in the population and the health of ecosystems; water quality that meets certain minimum standards; human actions and their impact on long-term renewability of freshwater stocks and flows; collection of data concerning water resources, use and quality of water; institutional mechanisms to prevent and resolve conflicts; and a democratic process of water-planning and decision-making. These twin cities have a long history of cooperation and conflict linked to water resources, which makes available enough information to create a diagnostic about the water management inside a binational arena, and allowing to explore possibilities for a better water resources management under a sustainable regime and from an international perspective. Keywords: Sustainability, binational water management, ambos Nogales region.


2021 ◽  
Vol 233 ◽  
pp. 01171
Author(s):  
ZHANG Tao ◽  
WU Zai-Qun ◽  
ZHENG Xiao-Yu

With the wide application and development of big data, digital economy has become the innovation power of global economic growth and has an important impact on the development of global social and economic cooperation. From an international perspective, this paper analyzes the development trend and achievements of the United States, the European Union and important international organizations in the field of digital economy. On this basis, this paper analyzes the current situation and challenges of the development of China's digital economy, and puts forward suggestions and measures to promote the development of China's digital economy in view of the digital gap, value assessment, development mode, talent training.


Author(s):  
A. V. Salnikova ◽  
◽  
N. A. Makarenko ◽  

Organizational production of agricultural products is used to preserve the natural environment and to preserve the quality of the products. The development of organic wines in the light of 100 years and over the course of the period has become insane, as for the correct organization of it, you can preserve ecological, social, and commercial transfers. The organizational structure has become a warehouse part of the bio-economy and circular economy, which is a priority for the economic development of the European Union, the USA, Great Britain, the Great Britain, the Republic of Korea, Japan, and the United States of America. For determining the prospects and problems of organic production of agricultural products, general scientific methods were used such as publicity, systematization, analysis, and synthesis, of the scientific literature and normative documents. For an additional analysis of regulatory documents, a procedure for certifying the authorities of the United States, the European Union and Ukraine has been established. Ukraine, in turn, began to take the first steps towards organic production in the late 1990s. It was at this time that she began to grow organic grain and opened export lines for its transportation to other countries, mainly Europe. Ukraine remains a leader in the production and export of organic cereals. Export competitive advantages of national agar products are lower production costs and logistics support. Ukraine continues to increase its organic production capacity - an increasing number of operators are appearing in this sector of agricultural production. As of 2019, the share of organic production of crop products in Ukraine is 1.4% (5th place in the world in terms of growth rate of organic agriculture), which is 467.9 thousand hectares of the total area of agricultural land in 32, 7 million hectares, as well as 470 operators of organic production. The dynamics of changes in organic agricultural production in Ukraine indicates a general trend of increasing their number, but in some periods, there is a decrease due to the economic and political situation in the country and changes in legislation in this area. Ukraine has significant advantages of organic production, which include a high level of soil fertility, favorable climatic conditions, traditional orientation as an agrarian state. Also, the price of Ukrainian products is lower than the minimum price of organic products of European countries. In the organic production of crops use methods that optimize the biological activity of soils, provide a balanced supply of nutrients to plants. At the same time, there are problems in Ukraine that hinder the development of organic production. In particular, the diversity of the territory in terms of the level of pollution of environmental components, lack of practical application of innovations and modern technologies of agricultural production. The lack of state support for organic producers and state certification system (including qualified specialists for its implementation). Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of October 21, 2020, № 1032 "On approval of the Procedure for certification of organic production and / or circulation of organic products and amendments to the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of October 23, 2019, № 970" approved the stages of certification. Was made the comparison of approaches to the certification of agricultural enterprises in Ukraine shows that they meet European and American standards. However, the absence of a state certification body that certifies organic producers and accredits private certification bodies makes it impossible for state control over organic market operators and the functioning of state certification. The current certification system in Ukraine does not cover the issue of soil contamination or other components of environment, which may affect the quality and safety of organic products. In Ukraine, enterprises in various sectors of the economy use outdated technologies, which can cause soil contamination of agricultural lands, and, accordingly, affect the quality of organic products. Currently, the Laws of Ukraine and the Cabinet of Ministers do not require: the location of the organic agricultural enterprise; content of harmful substances in the soil (including the content of radionuclides and pesticide residues); content in the soil of nutrients that can ensure the production of quality agricultural products and confirm the activities of the farm aimed at maintaining soil fertility. To guarantee the quality of organic products, it is advisable in the certification procedure to consider the level of fertility and soil contamination of agricultural lands, as well as the availability of sources of environmental pollution in the location of the organic producer. Given the above, it is advisable to introduce criteria for assessing the compliance of soils with the requirements of organic production. This approach can guarantee the safety and quality of organic products. During the organization of organic production of agricultural products in Ukraine, the issues of criteria for assessing compliance with regulatory requirements, documentation to be kept by the operator of organic production, etc.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 273
Author(s):  
Botasheva L.H. ◽  
Levakova D.A. ◽  
Chupilina T.S.

The article explores Russian and international experience of AML / CFT regulation in companies. It analyzes the regulatory framework of the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Japan, Italy and other countries, identifies the characteristic features of counteracting the legalization of proceeds from crime. The study of analytical reports of the leading global consulting companies for 2014-2016 shows changes in the applied AML/CFT enforcement measures in the organizations: it emphasizes the quality of data of control measures for transactions, focuses on the formation of a systematic approach to AML/CFT, specifies the KYC requirements. The comparison of established international and national requirements allows to assess the level of AML / CFT provision in Russia and propose innovations in the regulatory framework for AML / CFT regulation of Russian companies to improve its effectiveness: changing penalties, increasing the effectiveness of law-enforcement authorities cooperation, implementing the principle "know your customer", ensuring the regular training of all staff, and other methods. Keywords: AML/CFT, legal framework, FATF. 


Author(s):  
Morgan Fahey

There remains a challenge to improve worldwide, the medical response, and the ground safety response to the disaster of an aircraft crash. Statistically more survive all crashes than perish, and if an aircraft crashes with survivors, in most cases there will be more survivors than dead.The challenge of survival is to ensure that if an aircraft does crash, the medical and rescue response to this disaster must be immediate, competent, technically skilled and adequately equipped to save the maximum number of lives possible, and to help preserve the quality of life for all who survive. Improving safety standards has been stimulated by the excellent work of the Flight Safety Foundation, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the United States Air Line Pilots Association — in particular by Captain John Stefanski and by the World Association for Emergency and Disaster Medicine.Many will recall that at the meeting of the Club of Mainz Association held in Monaco in 1979, a committee was appointed to investigate aircraft crash management at 100 international airports. The task of the Airport Disaster Workshop was to develop a model of emergency care for large and smaller airports, in order to produce a standard for the various groups of airports. The Club of Mainz Association has been concerned with the poor standard of medical response that has been shown at recent flight disasters. As a member of this consultant committee, it was obvious even from very early days of my research that the medical response to aircraft crash in some countries with high air traffic flows is incompetent, inadequate, and demonstrates little awareness of advances in resuscitation and on-site care of aircraft crash survivors.


Author(s):  
Jean-Marie Robine ◽  
Carol Jagger

In its first section, this chapter describes the ongoing adult longevity revolution, which is now the main reason for assessing the quality of years lived and to complete the calculation of life expectancy by those of health expectancies. Then, it introduces the main health expectancies used in the United States of America (US) to monitor Healthy People 2020, the national health agenda, in Japan to monitor Health Japan 21, the health promotion plan, and in Europe to monitor the social and health targets of Europe 2020, the current strategy of the European Union. Finally, this chapter summarizes recent trends in health expectancies observed in the US, Japan, and Europe, as well as in other parts of the world, and discusses these observations in relation to the theories on population health which have been proposed since the 1980s.


2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mara Cameran ◽  
Jere R. Francis ◽  
Antonio Marra ◽  
Angela Pettinicchio

SUMMARY Mandatory auditor rotation was recently proposed for the European Union and is also under consideration in the United States. There has been little research into either the benefits or costs of rotation in a true mandatory setting that could inform intelligent policy making. Our paper helps fill this gap by examining Italy, where mandatory rotation of auditors has been required since 1975. We find that outgoing auditors do not shirk on effort (or quality), but final-year fees are 7 percent higher than normal, which may indicate opportunistic pricing. The fees of incoming auditors are discounted by 16 percent even though they have abnormally higher engagement hours in the first year (17 percent), which is suggestive of lowballing. However, subsequent fees are abnormally higher and exceed the initial fee discount. Thus, the costs of mandatory rotation are nontrivial. Higher costs could be acceptable if rotation improves audit quality, but we find evidence of the opposite. Namely, the quality of audited earnings is lower in the first three years following rotation, relative to later years of auditor tenure. Since rotation is costly and earnings quality improves with longer auditor tenure, the evidence from Italy does not support the case for mandatory rotation.


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