JEA predicts lost market share under new US food law
Published:Friday | July 22, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Jamaican exporters say the new Food Safety Modernisation Act (FSMA), which calls for more rigid scrutiny of food products entering the United States, pose a great threat to the sector, and are already counting potential losses of up to J$7 billion per year.
Under the FSMA, which became law in January, exporters are now required to meet increased disclosure requirements such as the development of a food-safety plan, as well as a tracking system to include backward and forward linkages.
And they are required to develop a written plan for hazard analysis, preventive controls and corrective measure, which must be updated every three years.
The FSMA was the Food and Drug Administration's response to food-borne diseases on the rise in the US. It marks a shift in strategy, with the FDA now refocusing from responding to incidents of contamination to preventing or mitigating their occurrence.
But the Jamaica Exporters' Association (JEA) says the new standards would be difficult to meet over the one-year timeline allowed.
"There was no such requirement before," said Dr André Gordon, vice-president of the Jamaica Exporters Association, speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday, even while urging exporters to comply.
"If all exporters of all type of food products to the US don't ensure that they meet these requirements, within the next 12 months you could find many of our exporters out of the US markets. The implications are earnings in excess of between US$70 million and US$80 million in annual exports lost, if exporters are unable to meet the requirements and are barred," he said. The potential export loss referenced converts to J$6 billion to J$6.9 billion at current exchange rates.
JEA director Michael Ming also said the HACCP facility could cost companies between US$30,000 and US$800,000 (J$2.6m to J$68.8m), depending on the size and the type of programme implemented.
Gordon said firms will now have to handle, plan, test and document food-safety control.
And while many exporters do have some system in place, he said, many do not have the rigorous procedures that FSMA requires.
"Essentially, it requires firms to identify what are the potential hazards with products and implement systems to mitigate these - implement HACCP," said Gordon, a food technologist.
The plan, he said, has to be updated every three years and changes every time an exporter changes a supplier, processes or any ingredients; and must be available to the FDA on request.
The new rules also require exporters to implement acceptable traceability and recall procedures to prevent intentional contamination of food.
Previously, exporters were only required to be able to trace the food items to the person receiving it - one step forward; and the person immediately supplying it - one step back.
Gordon said that, in reality, firms were not always able to do the backward trace, for example, in the situation where farmers supplied their plants.
The new act now mandates that exporters "implement a product-tracing system to receive information and improve their capacity to effectively and rapidly track and trace food that is in the US or offered for import into the US."
The implication of this requirement, said Gordon, is that firms will need to significantly enhance their tracking and tracing capability of shipments to facilitate a speedy product recall, if required.
The FSMA will be implemented in phases starting in 2012 when Jamaica will be subjected to 50 audits or inspection on a range of exported food products to the US.