Andrew Wildes, Gleaner Writer
WHILE LOCAL food producers without the necessary Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) certification will be unable to export to the European Union as of January 1, becoming certified carries a heavy price tag.
According to Andrew Morales, managing director of West Best Foods Ltd., and immediate past president of the Jamaica Agro Processors Association, to get a company HACCP-certified is very expensive. He explained that to get his company certified to export ackee costs over US$330,000 in 2001 when the US dollar was much lower.
"It is a very costly thing to implement HACCP, but it is an investment," said Dr. Denyse Perkins, president of Jamaica Agro Processors Association. The cost was due primarily to all the changes that are required to make an exporter compliant with EU standards.
HACCP is a food safe system, Dr. Perkins explained. It requires intensive documentation of everything, traceability from the farm, through processing to the point where the consumer purchases the good. It demands that all staff be literate and retrained to comply with all necessary requirements. There are also structural changes that may be involved in the certification process. "If you're not a new factory and you have things like wood, your floor slopes, your drainage is bad and electrical things - it can be costly," Dr Perkins explained.
West Best Foods could easily be considered one of the most diverse processing companies within the agro-processing sector group producing over 38 products, and it is only HACCP certified for ackee. Mr. Morales explained that it would mean intensifying efforts to have other products certified.
REVOLVING LOAN ESTABLISHED
There are plans in place to help processors who may be strapped for cash and unable to meet the requirements. Dr. Perkins noted that there was a $40 million revolving loan established for interested processors, but it has thus far been greatly under-utilised.
"Let's face it, Canada will be coming with it shortly, the whole thing is gonna become global, Mr. Mr. Morales said.
The bottom line has to deal with food safety. Every country would want to know that wherever they are importing their products from there is a great degree of safety in the product especially when it's related to canning. Whether we like it or not there's no alternative we have to walk the road," noted Mr. Morales.
