SYSTEMS are to be developed, by the Food and Drugs Analyst Department, to accredit the implementation of the internationally demanded Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), a food safety management tool, because international accreditation is expensive. Director of the Department, Mrs. Marilyn Collins, who made the disclosure, said, by year end, several small and medium size food processors should have implemented HACCP.
“We are working with the agencies to implement a model that we gave them to work with. They can use it to draft their own system and we will have supervision,” she said.
Collins explained that HACCP is pro-active and has become the global norm for food safety assurance.
It is very comprehensive, rational in the way it is done and the final outcome is to ensure safety and the right quality, she elaborated.
Collins said the HACCP concept has been around since the 1990s but there was never much focus on it but regulatory food control authorities in many countries now require its implementation to assure hygienic practices and safe products.
“In Guyana, the seafood industry is the only sector requiring mandatory HACCP as demanded by international trade, in particular with the European Union,” she said.
However, Collins said, because of the increased insistence on HACCP, a training session was conducted, with the aim of enhancing understanding of its application among small and medium size food processors and it was successful.
She said the two-day course, in early March, at Regency Suites Hotel, Hadfield Street, Georgetown, found the majority of the target group in agreement with the fact that implementing HACCP is a step in the right direction, in light of international trade demands.
“Even before the end of 2011, because international trade partners are demanding it, we are expecting food processors to come on board and have HACCP implemented,” Collis said.
She said many of the larger establishments have been forced to implement HACCP in various process lines as the stimulus for it was a direct demand from export markets and trading partners.
Importance
Collins said many large industries recognise its importance for allowing them to gain access to foreign markets, protect their reputation and satisfy customer demand.
She said the advantage of using the HACCP lies in the constant control it provides over food safety in the processing plant, from the receipt of raw materials to shipping the final products.
“HACCP is now applied to milk, fresh fruits, pasteurised juice and vegetables as well as meat, poultry and seafood. All countries need adequate food control programmes to ensure that the nations’ food supply is safe, of the required quality and available in adequate amounts at reasonable prices,” Collins pointed out.
Making the link between food control and improvement in health and well-being of the population, she said the potential of a country’s economic development and reduction in spoilage and waste of food is also dependent on the HACCP, because food-borne diseases remain causes of morbidity, regionally and internationally, with negative effects on a country’s socio-economy.
However, Collins said eliminating hazards and maintaining them within levels which are consistent with safe consumption is a responsibility that rests, largely, with producers and government authorities, resulting in the advancement of the HACCP by her department.
“The HACCP approach can be used by all segments of the food production continuum and tailored to any individual product or process line,” she advised.