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Fisheries Products:
Support to Competent Authorities
in Fiji, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands
Various donors – Strengthening Fisheries Products (SFP) EC programme, DEVFISH/Forum Fisheries Agency, EU-TRTA2
Third Countries (those outside the EU) face many problems in getting their food products into EU markets and one of the biggest barriers to access is the formidable task of complying with EU legislation on food safety. Thousands of pages of legislation have to be dealt with and, as the legislation is updated regularly, Third Country industry and regulatory authorities face a constant struggle to keep up with the latest changes. The sheer volume of the legislation and its complexity create a real challenge for exporters and for the Competent Authorities which have to certify products as complying with EU legislative requirements. Fisheries products are an important source of export revenue for many countries and especially for island states. Direct export of fishery products offers developing countries the opportunity to obtain greater value from their fishery resources as compared to indirect exports through fishery access agreements. As well as giving higher export revenue, the onshore processing of fishery products creates many jobs, often in locations where alternative employment is very limited. Ian Watson has been working with the Competent Authorities in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Philippines and Samoa to help them to improve and strengthen their regulatory frameworks and inspection systems to meet the increasingly strict requirements of the EU. The work has been a combination of mentoring, consultancy and training for the Competent Authorities mostly delivered "on the job" at the premises of fishery products exporters. Consultancy and mentoring has also been given to the processors on improving their production processes and particularly their food safety systems. Ian Watson has also carried training to Competent Authorities to enable them to carry out inspection, audit and sampling more effectively. This has included risk-based sampling for Competent Authorities and for food business operators. Work has included the assessment of residue monitoring plans for aquaculture products. |
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| Processing fresh fish for export. High levels of cleanliness are essential |
Packing fresh fish for export. Considerable care is taken to ensure the product arrives in best condition |
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| Offloading frozen tuna from a carrier vessel. EU food safety regulations apply even at sea |
Unloading fresh tuna from a long-liner. |
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| Canned fish is a major export market for some developing countries. Cooked tuna loins are prepared for canning |
After every shift, the entire canning line must be cleaned. Factories must meet high standards of cleanliness if they are to pass EU inspections |
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| A trainee learns how to take swab samples to check the effectiveness of cleaning and sanitation procedures |
Trainees checking plate counts from the swab samples |
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| Trainees practicing the use of contact plates for checking cleaning and sanitation procedures |
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Page last updated December 27, 2010 |