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

7. The region has several university level and private programs that have significantly improved the knowledge and competence of the food production and handling value chain in food safety.

8. Universities and colleges have been producing graduates at the degree and diploma level trained in areas within the field, and colleges that target the hospitality sector also have specific programs on food safety as a part of their curriculum.

9. Since 1996 there has been a presence in the Caribbean of a Better Process Control School based at the University of the West Indies (UWI) at Mona, a collaboration initially between the Bureau of Standards Jamaica, UWI, the University of Maryland, the FDA and Dr. Gordon. This school was the first of its type outside of the continental U.S. and has made low-acid canned food (LACF), acidified food, and aseptic processing training available in the region since then.

10. There is a presence in the Caribbean region of process authorities that can help firms establish credible, safe thermal processes. The primary source in the region since about 2000 has been TSL, which has done many processes for exporters from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados that have been filed with the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition’s LACF division, according to FDA guidelines.

11. Because of their export and trade, particularly with the U.K., the EU, Canada, and the U.S. for decades, many private Caribbean companies already had good quality systems in place since the 1980s. Some of these systems were upgraded to include food safety systems in the mid-late 1990s to early 2000s, with TSL and internationally funded programs (through USAID, the EU, and Canada) being the drivers. “As a result, many companies throughout the region have been aware of and have been implementing Good Manufacturing Practices and HACCP since the early to mid-2000s,” Dr. Gordon relates.

12. In Jamaica and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) in particular, there has been a push to implement food safety systems since 1999-2000 in response to market access imperatives (into the EU for seafood and the U.S. for ackees (see Food Safety and Quality Systems in Developing Countries, Vol I: Market Challenges and Implementation Strategies).

13. The major breakthrough of working closely with the FDA to get Jamaican ackees back into the U.S. market in 2000 led to a transformation of Jamaican, and then regional regulations, to become food safety-based (rather than quality systems based only).

14. Microbiological and chemical testing of food for domestic consumption and export has been routine in Jamaica for decades and is increasing in the Dominican Republic, the OECS, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, and others.

15. The roles of the bureaus of standards on the various islands and in the Caribbean Community, the EU-funded Caribbean Export Development Agency, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and other regional and international development partners in supporting the drive towards a region-wide food safety trust should not be under estimated.

16. The roles of the bureaus of standards on the various islands and throughout the Caribbean Community, the EU-funded Caribbean Export Development Agency, and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB)-funded programs on food safety have augmented those previously done by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and other regional and international development partners. “Collectively these have supported the drive towards a region-wide food safety imperative that should not be under estimated,” Dr. Gordon emphasizes.

Caribbean Food Defense

“In the area of food defense, many of the requirements are already met by Caribbean firms as a part of their own security and brand protection systems,” Dr. Gordon says. “For example, for most major manufacturers/suppliers, numerous features are a part of their food security/defense systems.”