EU Sanitation Experts Arriving In Philippines

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Uly Israel / 07 Oct) – A five-man team of health and sanitation experts from the European Union are expected to arrive in the Philippines to monitor compliance of processors of fisheries products being exported to European market.

“A five-man technical team from the Food and Veterinary Office (VFO) of EU will be conducting inspection of premises of manufacturers of fisheries products from October 16 to 27,” said Consuelo C. Baltazar, head of Administrative Support and Product Certification Unit of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).

Baltazar said the inspectors will also evaluate BFAR’s food control program and system to implement EU Council Directive pertaining to the production and marketing of fisheries and aquaculture products from the Philippines for export to the EU countries.

The VFO, which is part of EU’s Directorate General Health and Consumer Protection, ensures that European Council legislation on food safety and quality are properly enforced by Third World Countries, like the Philippines.

The technical mission is task to ensure that Third World Countries exporting fisheries’ products to the European market have public health legislation and controls for the fisheries sector which are equivalent to those existing in EU legislation.

She explained that fishing establishments – manufacturers, preprocessing plants, cold storage facilities and other firms involved in fish supply chain will have to undergo a thorough inspection and monitoring to determine compliance to the EU requirements, specifically to the new Food and Feed Hygiene Rule.

She said: “The EU has the highest standards in hygiene and sanitation that is why if local stakeholders are able to pass the stringent requirements they will have easy access to other export markets like US, Canada and Japan.”

At present, she said, there are 23 fish establishments in the country that are EU approved manufacturers of fisheries products.

In Mindanao, there are 11 fish processors (four for Region 9 and eleven for Region 12) which passed the EU requirements.

She said the country previously had 97 fish processors which were authorized to export to EU, but 74 firms had been de-listed. Some processing plants have opted to cater to non-EU countries.

The EU, however, is obliged to extend assistance to exporting countries to help them meet the EU requirements. EU is also providing financial and technical assistance to Filipino manufacturers.

Under the Trade Related Technical Assistance (TRTA), the EU has allocated 3.9 million Euros for technical and financial assistance, which include upgrading of facilities and technical training.

The EU countries have recognized the need to provide assistance to Third World countries to enhance capabilities of manufacturers to comply with the requirements, she said.

In 2004, the country had recorded 2 import alerts in the Rapid Alert System for food and feed of the VFO due to the presence of residue of chloro-amphenicol, nicol and histamine in sardines, she disclosed.

Then in 2005, four alerts were recorded involving one processing company due to the presence of carbon monoxide in tuna; while for this year, one alert was again recorded involving histamine in canned tuna. These alerts, however, have been rectified.

The country is exporting canned tuna, frozen octopus and shrimps and pasteurized shrimp paste to the European Community, she said. (Mindanao Examiner)