THE SEIZURE of a shipment of ackees from Jamaica by the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) last week after it found high levels of the toxin hypoglycin in several cases has caused a great deal of embarrassment to the local regulatory bodies as well as to the agro-processing industry and the exporters association.
The embarrassment must be particularly hurtful considering that the shipment originated from one of the first two local companies to have satisfied the food safety requirements (Hazard Analysis at Critical Control Point) demanded by the USFDA before it lifted the 28-year-long ban on imports of ackees five years ago.
The fact that the executive director of the Jamaica Bureau of Standards actually issued an appeal to processors a week prior to the FDA's action that they should desist from using unripe ackees suggests that far from being an unusual occurrence it had developed into regular practice. We would not be surprised if that warning was what alerted the FDA to conduct its tests on the ill-fated shipment.
If indeed that was the case, then the Bureau of Standards cannot escape some of the blame, as it should have stepped in immediately to put a stop to the dangerous trend.
That failure to take the decisive action indicated has resulted in the belated frantic attempts at damage control by the Ministry of Agriculture, the Jamaica Exporters Association and the bureau itself. Interestingly, it was the unrelenting work of all three bodies in association with the Scientific Research Council in developing a protocol that the FDA would accept that eventually brought the 1972 ban to an end in 2000 and opened up a market of unlimited potential.
All that commendable work could now easily be negated first of all by the reckless greed of those who place profit above standards and secondly by those who fail in their duty to act decisively and promptly when required. But there is a further danger.
While Jamaica has traditionally been the major producer of ackees, several other countries having seen the tremendous and bourgeoning demand for the exotic product, decided to get a piece of the action. As far back as the year 2000 countries like Mexico, Costa Rica, Haiti and the Ivory Coast were either putting in hundreds of hectares or were already supplying the markets.
We risk the danger of losing that market altogether to these countries when we, through greed and negligence, compromise our standards.
An even greater threat has come in the warning issued by the Jamaica Exporters Association to other food producers concerning new compulsory European Union (EU) food handling standards which take effect January 1. Only 12 companies have so far complied with the standards for such exports which are worth up to J$2.75 billion.
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