Manufacturers must raise their standards

 

THE region’s manufacturers must focus on achieving a greater level of international market access and trade through strengthening food safety methods.
 
Encouraging this group to raise its standards, IICA Representative in Trinidad and Tobago, Gregg Rawlins, said the low level of compliance with food safety regulations and other Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) standards presents a challenge for CARIFORUM exporters of agri-food products from achieving a greater level of international market access and trade.
 
“All countries must comply with SPS measures in order to successfully export their products to international markets,” he said, adding, “Therefore, companies involved in the manufacturing, processing or handling of food products should adopt this system to minimise or eliminate food safety hazards in their product.”
 
He was speaking during the two-day sub-regional workshop entitled ‘Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) Plan Development and Implementation’. The sub-regional HACCP training and the provision of Technical Assistance to Private Sector Companies is the result of one action from the 10th EDF SPS Project ‘Support to the Caribbean Forum of the ACP States in the Implementation of Commitments Undertaken Under the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA): Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures ’.
 
The SPS Project, funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by the Barbados delegation of the Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture (IICA) and its partner agencies, seeks to enable CARIFORUM States to capitalise on international trade opportunities. IICA, as lead implementing agency, seeks to address gaps and deficiencies in three major areas – legislation, co-ordination and capacity building.
 
Rawlins said that the Institute had decided to focus on the private sector with a “timely and important” workshop by contracting the Washington, DC-based Grocery Manufacturers’ Association Science and Education Foundation (GMA SEF) to build HACCP capacity.

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