Minister of Agriculture and Lands, Roger Clarke has announced that a new food safety import/export one-stop shop will be established at Newport West in Kingston.

"The major objectives of this one-stop shop are to: serve as a central location to co-ordinate all inspection processes; to standardise inspection procedures to better ensure produce wholesomeness; to improve service delivery to importers; to achieve speedier processing time; and to reduce duplication of inspection functions, thereby ensuring compliance with international standards," Mr. Clarke explained. He was speaking at the opening session of a three-day regional consultation workshop on phytosanitation at Hotel Four Seasons in St. Andrew on Tuesday.

Mr. Clarke said the facility would be established in collaboration with the Ministry of Health; the Ministry of Industry, Technology, Energy and Commerce; the Agricultural Support Services Project (ASSP), and the Cabinet Office.

The Minister said that in support of this initiative, the Plant Quarantine Unit has developed an operations manual detailing document inspection procedures for imports and exports.

Mr. Clarke further noted that following a number of national consultations last year, Jamaica now boasts two first-rate inspection facilities at the Norman Manley and Sangster International Airports.

He said that through the ASSP, these two facilities, which were recently upgraded, provide inspection and certification for all fresh imported agricultural produce, as well as produce exported from the island.