US food safety laws closing in
-non-compliance could cost Guyana big
Failure to comply with the regulations set out in the 2011 United States Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) could result in Guyana losing a US market for fresh and processed foods worth more than $1.4 billion, including spices and condiments worth in excess of US$1.4 million dollars.
The eventuality, according to Managing Director of the Jamaican company, Technology Solutions Ltd (TSL), Food Technologist, Dr. Andre Gordon, could result from delinquency in the productive sector with regard to compliance with the FSMA.
In an exclusive interview with the Stabroek Business on Wednesday, Dr. Gordon named seafoods, fresh fruit, vegetables, agro-processed condiments and alcoholic beverages as being among locally produced items originating in Guyana that could find themselves shut out of the US market through failure to comply with the provisions of the Act.
A former President of the Jamaica Exporters’ Association, Dr. Gordon is in Guyana to help deliver, in collaboration with the local Government Analyst-Food & Drug Department (GA-FDD), a two-day (September 2728) programme designed to certify individuals from the public and private sectors as Preventive Control Qualified Individuals (PSQI’s) competent to oversee the effective implementation of the provisions associated with the FSMA. Apart from technical officers employed with the Food and Drug Department responsible for overseeing the entities, the two-day Seminar is being attended by representatives of a number of local private sector companies including Banks DIH Ltd, Demerara Distillers Ltd, Sterling Products, Ricks & Sari, Jets Enterprise and Edward B. Beharry, among others.
In a presentation at the opening session, Dr. Gordon had told the participants that a point was being reached where it was becoming increasingly difficult for small importers to slip in “a couple of pallets” of goods into the USA undetected. He said that companies in the region were now contacting TSL after having received entry prohibition notification for intended imports into the USA or also actually having their goods held up at ports of entry.
The Government of Guyana, since the passage of the FSMA legislation under the Obama administration, has been largely indifferent to the need to create an enabling environment in which valuable US markets for food exports can be effectively protected. A case in point has