To advertise public-private collaboration in finishing up audits within the manufacturing sector and exhibit the advantages to producers, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) organized a workshop in Honduras that introduced collectively key actors in agricultural and meals security assurance methods from the host nation and Belize.
Held in Tegucigalpa, the occasion introduced collectively greater than 55 representatives from the recent vegetable, farmed shrimp, cereal, and different chains. The contributors included representatives of the Belize Bureau of Requirements (BBS), the Honduran Requirements Group (OHN), the International Meals Security Initiative (GFSI), native GFSI teams similar to Mexico’s International Requirements, Argentina’s La Anónima, Colombia’s MasControl Consultores, and certification our bodies similar to Kiwa and LSQA.
The workshop is a part of the mission “Piloting using Voluntary Third-party Assurance Packages in Central America (Belize and Honduras) to enhance meals security for public well being and commerce,” applied by IICA with funding from the Requirements and Commerce Growth Facility (STDF).
A voluntary third-party assurance (vTPA) program is a software that meals business operators use to ensure meals security. These applications are non-compulsory however beneficial, and contain an exterior unbiased entity that critiques and certifies the controls and procedures that operators make use of of their institutions. The target is to cut back dangers within the provide chain and be certain that foodstuffs adjust to security laws.
The purpose of the IICA mission is to allow Honduras’ Nationwide Agrifood Well being and Security Service (SENASA) and the Belize Agricultural Well being Authority (BAHA) to optimize their controls and scale back the variety of duplicated inspections in licensed institutions.
Initiatives of this type strengthen risk-based inspection fashions, focusing as they do on points such because the definition of the frequency of inspections and the combination of vTPA into the regulatory setup.
The workshop concerned discussions on the software’s integration into nationwide meals management methods and the adoption of risk-based inspection fashions, in addition to non-public sector views, the implementation of certification schemes, and the significance of vTPA for aquaculture product security.
The occasion included workout routines and sensible discipline visits at Honduproduce, a enterprise primarily based in Comayagua, with a simulated audit strategy facilitated by the certifier Kiwa and involving inspectors from SENASA, BAHA, BBS and the Ministry of Well being and Wellness of Belize.
Key mission contributors took half, together with Mirian Bueno, Technical Director of Meals Security at SENASA; Kenrick Witty, Deputy Technical Director and Animal and Plant Well being Contact Level on the Belize Agricultural Well being Authority (BAHA); Fernando Sampedro, from the College of Minnesota; and Daniela Apú, an IICA specialist with the Agricultural Well being, Security and High quality (AHFS) program. The IICA Delegation in Honduras offered logistical assist.
The workshop offered a helpful alternative to strengthen meals security methods by means of a collaborative dedication with sector operators, selling meals security requirements within the area.
