Millions affected by food-related diseases

FOOD-related diseases affect tens of millions of people and cause billions of dollars in healthcare-related and industry costs yearly. Food scarcity and regular recalls, including high-profile cases such as tainted dairy products and contaminated beef, underline the potential increased danger of food-borne threats. So said corporate secretary of the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (Cariri) Meghnath Gosein, speaking at a conference on Friday at Cariri’s headquarters in Freeport. Gosein said the institute recognises that food and safety is a growing concern which affects both people and businesses worldwide.

CEO of the Bulgarian chapter of Good Agricultural Practices Dr Kliment Petrov was invited to the food safety training programme by Cariri. Petrov has started a series of programmes in the areas of food safety system certification and global good agricultural practices (GAP) at CARIRI. “More and more, there are requests and demands from stakeholders such as retailers, wholesalers, importers and exporters for farmers to produce top quality products,” Petrov said, and his aim is to ensure that products in TT meet the ISSO 22000 standard.

Gosein said the institute is on a drive for TT to have a GAP system. “Food safety and good agricultural practices are becoming more and more important worldwide because the global markets are changing.”

Details of the GAP programme were given yesterday when officials from Cariri, Namdevco and the Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences (IICA) met at the media conference.

The programme began on Monday (March 11) at Cariri, where Petrov addressed farmers, auditors, inspectors, experts and professionals from the food industry and agricultural sector.

Cariri’s human resource manager Denise Ferguson said the institute continues to build capacity to add to the competitive advantage of the food and beverage sector. “We were able to provide three sessions sensitising over 300 persons in the industry in food safety.” Trainees, she said, will be certified in ISO 22000 as well as global GAP certification.

IICA representative Gregg Rawlins said his company is actively supporting several Caribbean countries, including TT, in establishing links in promoting health and food safety.Rawlins said, “The focus is now on the area of legislation and policy to promote co-ordination among national institutions.

The coming together of the various agriculture-based companies will serve as a platform for policy and the public sector. This is a bid to establish a framework in the best interest of farmers and agro-processors and consumers in TT.”

Nirmala Debysingh-Persad, CEO of Namdevco, also addressed this meeting.