The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

A Cabinet Minister said yesterday that the Government was “at the finish line” on modernising the Bahamas’ legislative regime for food safety, and was working on the necessary infrastructure to support it.

Addressing a national workshop promoting dialogue between the proposed Bahamas Bureau of Standards and the agriculture sector, Ryan Pinder, minister of financial services, said it was “imperative” for the Bahamas to develop and implement quality infrastructure if it wants to remain on the cutting edge of global developments.

“A national quality infrastructure network must be geared to international requirements. These are required in order for international commodity trading and the exchange of services,” said Mr Pinder.

“Quality infrastructure refers to all aspects of metrology, standardisation, testing, quality management, certification and accreditation that have a bearing on conformity assessment. This includes both public and private institutions and the regulatory framework within which they operate.”

Mr Pinder added: “In the case of a national quality infrastructure, the Bahamas Bureau of Standards will, at the very least, guarantee access to international standards and technical regulations, assure consistent and trustworthy measurements of food products, and build a system that will allow accreditation of its testing and certification facilities in such a way that is internationally accepted.

“Maybe more important, as we develop our agriculture capacity domestically, a national quality infrastructure will be able to support local agricultural industries and consumers.

“The Bureau of Standards will partner with agricultural regulatory agencies to enforce standards and technical regulations that conform to international requirements. For instance, when exporting agricultural and food products, it is necessary as a minimum to demonstrate compliance with international sanitary, phytosanitary and safety standards. Other specifications must also be met, such as those related, for example, to packaging and labelling of food products.”

Mr Pinder said producers in developing countries who wish to export their products must meet the demands of the target market in terms of quality, safety, reliability, environmental compatibility and hygiene.

“This is essentially true for all agricultural products. To satisfy these obligations, a quality infrastructure that meets international standards must exist that monitors and certifies the production chains,” the Minister added.

“If this infrastructure is not in place or if it is underdeveloped, the lack of acceptable proof can constitute a technical barrier to trade. With this in mind, the Bahamas, must, with haste, implement an infrastructure that measures up to at least the bare minimum systems’ requirements of standardisation, metrology and conformity assessment.

“We have been working very hard to modernise our legislative regime in this regard, and I think we are at the finish line to bring a modernised legislative regime to food safety. We are working on how we can bring the infrastructure to support that.”