THE BUREAU of Standards Jamaica (BSJ) is developing a scale and colour chart to illustrate the ripening process for ackee.
"We will be using the scale and the colour chart in educating the suppliers, farmers and receivers at the factory, about what to look for to ensure they are accepting or reaping the properly matured fruit," Jennifer Aquart, Standards and Certification Officer, explained.
The move comes on the heels of several cases of processed ackee being rejected recently by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) due to high levels of the toxin hypoglycin found in the product.
EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOP
Ms. Aquart, who was speaking at an ackee educational workshop recently at the Farmer's Training Centre in Twickenham Park, St. Catherine, said the chart should be completed within the next two weeks and then submitted for review and approval by the Agro Processors Association and Dr. Omer Thomas, executive director of the BSJ, before distribution.
The colour chart will show, with corresponding pictures, the stages of ripening for ackees, from blossom to maturity.
Ms. Aquart said that the BSJ would be issuing specific instructions to processors on the ripening of ackees, even though they were aware of the regulations under the 1957 Process Food Act and the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system.
"We are just expanding on it and ensuring that the receival part of the process is monitored carefully," she said.
"All of us have to work together, the farmer, suppliers, the regulatory agencies to ensure that we keep the industry viable and it is a very fragile industry. One of us mess up and everybody suffers," Ms. Aquart stated.
She noted further, that ackee processors must ensure that they receive fruits at the proper stage. She pointed out that the hypoglycin in the fruit was high during the early stage but the levels drop as the fruit matures. However, she said that studies have shown that the hypoglycin content increase just before the ackee cracks open.
"So, we have to be very careful because when you think that just as it is beginning to open, it is safe and could be ripped open, that's a very
dangerous point," Ms. Aquart explained, noting that after the fruit has fully ripened, "the hypoglycin levels drop."
