New US Bio-terror regulations loom
Help available for exporters
Stabroek News
November 21, 2003
As the December 12 deadline for compliance with the US Bio-terrorism legislation looms, the New Guyana Mar-keting Corporation (NGMC) says it is ready to assist exporters to become registered with US authorities.
Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks the US has moved to ensure the safety of its food supplies with the passage of the Public Health Security and Bio-Terrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 (The Bio-terrorism Act.)
This law requires all persons exporting food products, including processed food, to the US along with the importer to register with the US Food and Drug Depart-ment (USFDA) as part of an effort to determine from where products originate.
The NGMC has at its disposal a core of trained personnel ready to assist exporters to complete their online registration, General Manager, Nazim Hassan told Stabroek News yesterday.
Guyana, along with several other Caribbean countries exporting agricultural and marine produce, are required to submit to the new regulations by December 12. Only Jamaica was granted an extension and has been given a 2004 deadline.
According to Hassan, quite a few exporters have completed their registration.
He could not say whether the majority of exporters were complying since some had their own facilities.
Meanwhile the NGMC, with the assistance of the US Agency for International Development's (USAID) Guyana Economic Opportu-nities (GEO) Project, has developed an information bulletin to assist agro-processors and exporters to complete their registration.
The bulletin, a release from the NGMC says, is intended to assist companies to understand the process and requirements as well as to provide guidance in registering their firms.
Registration can be done either over the Internet or by international mail with the bulletin available free of charge at NGMC offices in Robb Street or from the GEO Project office at 12 Earl's Avenue, Subryanville.
The Act covers a wide range of food products but for Guyana's purposes the main areas are fruits, vegetables and seafood.
The bulletin lists those who need to be registered including owners, operators or agents in charge of a domestic or foreign facility that manufactures or processes, packs or holds food for human or animal consumption in the US, or an individual authorised by one of the above.
All exporters for the purpose of registration are requir-ed to designate a US agent or broker who lives or maintains a place of business in the US.
However, not all facilities need to register and among those exempted from such activity are those transport vehicles holding food only in the usual course of their business as carriers as well as farms and fishing vessels that harvest and transport catches. It is only those involved in downstream processing and exporting which are required to be registered.
If facilities that manufacture/process, pack or hold food send it to another foreign facility for further manufacturing/processing or packaging before it reaches the US, then only the second company would be required to register.
It is only in the instance where the first facility performed the bulk of the tasks and the second merely applied labels that both would be required to be registered.
Companies or individuals registering are only required to undertake this process once but they are reminded of the need to make timely updates if there are changes to the information presented initially.
Once facilities are registered they would be equipped with a registration number signifying that the owner has complied with the FDA rules rather than its approval or endorsement of its facility or products. Registration is done free of charge.
The USFDA is encouraging the use of Internet registration, which it has deemed cheaper and more efficient. Facilities using this type of registration will be processed and have their registration numbers confirmed immediately when all required information has been entered into the system.
Each registration is required to include the name and address and telephone number of the facility and its parent company if applicable along with the same information for the owner, operator or agent in charge.
Foreign facilities must also provide the name, address and telephone number of its US agent including its emergency contact number unless another person has been designated to serve as emergency contact.
A one-day sensitisation was held on November 12 at the Ministry of Health Annex, Liliendaal to brief small and medium seafood processors to the changing landscape in international trade.
According to a release from the Government Analyst Food and Drug Department, the session examined requirements of the European Union Directive for Seafood Quality and Safety along with the US Bio-terrorism Act.
The session focused on the need to implement good sanitation practices and highlighted the difference between cleaning and sanitising.
Issues like the design and hygienic layout of the factory floor to prevent cross-contamination and good practices from the seafood landing through transportation, processing, inspection and certification were looked at.
Water quality was deemed to be a critical element in the entire sanitation requirement including the final safety of the seafood product, along with the importance of frozen storage.
Small and medium scale operators were encouraged to upgrade their operations incrementally as a means of meeting a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) Food Safety Management System as demanded by international trade. (Oscar P. Clarke)