Handling Food Safety Issues in Paradise: Part 1—The Caribbean

“In those countries where food safety-based or food industry regulations are lacking, the relevant ministries are in the process of promulgating the requisite legislation to address this gap,” he points out.

Dr. Gordon says some other issues that are of importance to various stakeholders in the Caribbean food industry include 1.) strengthening the capacity of the public sector apparatus to be able to administer food safety-based regulatory systems, including the training of staff, upgrading of inspection systems, and the significant upgrading of analytical support capabilities; 2.) modification of existing or newly implemented legislation and/or regulations to ensure congruence/equivalence with the major trading partners of Caribbean countries, especially the EU, the U.S., and Canada; 3.) strengthening the surveillance and monitoring of the domestic food handling system, inclusive of agricultural production, food service, hospitality, manufacturing for domestic consumption, and manufacturing for export; and 4.) improving technical support capacity to help exporters in meeting importing country technical and analytical requirements.

In the plus column, Dr. Gordon points out, several of the countries of the Caribbean have been very involved in exports to developed country markets for many decades and, as such, have already developed systems to ensure the safety of their food supply. “This covers both food for domestic consumption, as well as for exports,” he says. “Also, because much of the region is dependent on tourism in which visitors, mainly from developed country markets visit and stay in-country, this has provided additional incentives for each country to ensure that the food being offered for sale and/or service to visitors is safe.”

Another important contributor to Caribbean food safety practices, particularly in the manufacturing sector, Dr. Gordon relates, has been the presence in the region for decades of manufacturers such as Nestlé, Unilever, Pepsi, Guinness, Coca Cola, other international brands, and regional brands whose standards set the bar for manufacturing and significantly influenced practices in other companies.

Traditional Methods

Dr. Gordon is quick to point out that the nature of Caribbean cuisine is such that most foods are very well cooked, and where traditional methods are used research has shown these foods to be safe. This is highlighted in several case studies in Food Safety and Quality Systems in Developing Countries, Vol II: Case Studies of Effective Implementation, published by Academic Press (Elsevier), in December 2016, of which Dr. Gordon is an author and the editor.

“The food safety initiatives that have been undertaken in the Caribbean and those which are currently underway have many strengths,” Dr. Gordon boasts. He mentions the following list of what he considers strengths.

1. In many Caribbean countries, regulatory oversight of the food industry for safety is well established through the Ministries of Agriculture, Health, and Trade/Commerce.

2. There are many, detailed and equivalent (in fact, many are more stringent) regulations in place in the region in various territories to govern the production and handling of foods, with Jamaica and the Dominican Republic being the leaders in this area.

3. A regional organization dedicated to food safety, the Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency, has been established.

4. The Caribbean Public Health Agency has had a focused program on food safety monitoring and reporting in place for years that assists with planning and management.

5. The ministries of agriculture have long established proper procedures and programs for the use of fertilizers, pesticides, and other chemicals in agriculture.

6. Analytical support for the food industry is strong in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, and Grenada, and is improving in other territories such as Guyana, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Antigua, Haiti, and Suriname.