Focus on better standards for exports
At least three Government Ministries are working to ensure that local manufacturers and companies seeking to export products to the European Union (EU) under the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) meet the sanitary and phytosanitary standards for export.
That’s according to Minister of Industry, Commerce, International Business and Small Business Development, Donville Inniss. Speaking to the media following a recent tour, he indicated that this effort is being addressed by his Ministry as well as the Ministries of Health and Agriculture and is expected to include changes to legislation, and the setup of laboratory facilities. He said they are at an advanced stage in respect of the latter initiative.
He made the point while contending that more local manufacturers must pay closer attention to adhering to international standards. Using the example of Good Time Snacks, he commended them on their packaging, which not only includes ingredients in English, French and Spanish, but nutritional facts as well. He said this is needed given the issues the country faces with respect to chronic non communicable diseases.
“Companies like these do the right things when they have on their labels the nutritional facts, which allow the enlightened consumers to know what they should consume, the quantities they should consume… so I want to commend Good Time for that, as well as having a label which states the best before date, which is also very critical. It is matters like these which the standards officers in my ministry will be paying much closer attention to. We have a duty to ensure that consumers in Barbados are not just educated, but certainly that they have access to the information on a constant basis in the labelling process,” he said.
The Minister admitted that while in the past they have not confronted the provision of nutritional labelling as “frontally as they should” in terms of locally produced and imported food products, he said it is an areas that is currently being worked on by his Ministry and the Ministry of Health.
“We cannot continue to spend let’s say $400 million a year on chronic non-communicable diseases within the public healthcare setting and at the point of entry into Barbados, continue to allow into the island products that are contributing in a significant manner to our deteriorating health situation,” he said.
As such, Minister Inniss acknowledges the need to step up their vigilance of imports, and to stop the importation of products with labels which are deemed not to be beneficial to Barbadians.
“We cannot just look at what is advantageous to a select few in the merchant classes in Barbados, but look at what is in the best interest of the entire country. And so my Ministry will continue to work with local manufacturers to ensure that their raw materials and their processes and the final product do meet the best possible standards, particularly for consumption by human beings, and to help mitigate against the public health challenges we have; and certainly to work with our importers to ensure that notwithstanding what may transpire in other markets, we are a peculiar market that has unique challenges that must be addressed in a very unique manner in Barbados,” Inniss stated. (JRT)