In the new commercial reality in which customers value food free of any virus or bacteria, producers and international distribution chains are forced to reinforce their safety systems to reduce the risk of selling contaminated products.
Months ago, it was reported that in China, processed and frozen meat products arriving from abroad were detected with the presence of the coronavirus.
The rules for food companies and producers, on the management of food allergens, were approved. These rules can be adopted by the legislation of each country and thus harmonize the requirements of trading partners.
The standards, which will apply to cereals containing gluten, crustaceans and their products, eggs and egg products, fish and fishery products, peanuts, soybeans and their products, milk and milk products, and nuts and their derivatives, were approved by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC43), the body responsible for all actions related to the implementation of the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme and which focus on protecting the health of consumers and ensuring fair practices in their marketing, reported the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce (MEIC).
Using technology to measure the flow of visitors, reducing the furniture available in the food courts and implementing product deliveries in the parking area are part of the changes that the region's shopping centers must apply in this new reality.
Because of the threat of the spread of covid-19, since mid-March in Central America, the authorities agreed to close the shopping centers.
Guatemalan producers say the Honduran authorities refuse to inspect their plants, preventing them from exporting milk to that market, so they ask the Guatemalan Ministry of Economy to apply reciprocal measures.
According to the directors of the Dairy Development Association (Asodel) and the Chamber of Dairy Producers of Guatemala, with the aim of authorizing sanitary permits, a year ago they waited for the National Agrifood Health and Safety Service (Senasa) of Honduras to visit the production plants, but the Honduran authorities refused to do so.
The protocol allowing Guatemalan companies to sell live cattle in the neighboring country will come into effect on December 15, 2019.
After the negotiation process between Mexican and Guatemalan authorities has concluded and the sanitary regulations for the entry of animals have been approved, the Central American country has the green light to start selling live cattle.
Exporters are preparing for the new regulation that will be implemented from 2020 in the U.S. market, among which is the application of a new table of nutritional data in packaged products.
Representatives of the Guatemalan Association of Exporters (Agexport) reported that both U.S. and foreign companies exporting to the U.S., must comply with new food labeling standards.
Because Guatemalan authorities have not yet completed the health control program, local producers cannot export live cattle to Mexico, where they could sell between 10,000 and 15,000 head a month.
For Guatemalan cattle ranchers, Southern Mexico is an attractive market, because there is interest on the part of Mexican businessmen to buy standing cattle at better prices than those quoted in Guatemala.
The Guatemalan health authorities recommend not authorizing the import and marketing of meat from the South American country, arguing that there have been cases of foot-and-mouth disease.
At the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food (Maga) issued an opinion on the possibility of commercializing in the local market meat and its derivatives, of Argentine origin.
The FDA has organized, for October 14, a webinar on production requirements for animal feed required under the new health standards.
From a statement issued by the FDA:
OnOctober 14, the FDA Foods and Veterinary Program will hold a webinarto discuss FDA’s recent announcement of the FSMA draft guidances for current good manufacturing practices requirements forfood for animalsand thehuman food by-products for use as animal food, which became available for public comment on August 25, 2016. These draft guidances are meant to assist domestic and foreign companies in complying with Current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) requirements and with human food by-product requirements under theFSMA Preventive Controls for Animal Food Rule.
Following the government's self declaration, negotiations with trading partners have been announced to resume the export of live pigs, pork products and by-products, especially to Central America.
From a statement issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food in Guatemala:
Guatemala, August 11, 2016.Ministerial Agreement 141-2016 officially establishes the self declaration of the country as being stable and free of Classical Swine Fever (CSF).This will allow for resumption of negotiations with trading partners and resumption of exports of live pigs, products and byproducts, mainly to Central America.This will have a positive impact on the economy as these items are estimated to be worth close to $10 million.
Sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, rules of origin and competition rules were defined and progress was made on issues of tariff reduction.
From a statement issued by the Ministry of Economy in Guatemala:
The teams negotiating the FTA between Central America and South Korea ended the V round of negotiations with conclusions to four chapters of the treaty and progress made on two other issues.
A new web platform belonging to the SIECA aims to simplify and harmonize procedures for the sanitary registration of processed foods and beverages in Central America.
A statement issued by the Sieca explains that"...TheRegional Integration System for Health Records(SIRRS) is a regional automated system for the recognition of medical records to be administered by SIECA and aims to simplify, harmonize and automate procedures for sanitary registration of processed foods and beverages in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. "
From December 2016 the Asian country will prevent the entry of agricultural products containing any residues of agrochemicals.
From a statement issued by the State Phytosanitary Service in Costa Rica:
SFE authorities have communicated to exporters of unprocessed plant products destined for Korea, that this nation has established a new legislation on Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) of pesticides.
Food entering the European Union will now be overseen by a new system of health inspections to verify compliance.
From a statement issued by the Foreign Trade Office of Costa Rica:
On November 17, a new system comes into force to control health alerts according to Decision 2015/1918 of the European Commission, published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) on 24 October.
The new National Bovine Health Program creates a control system and health information service to improve diagnosis and epidemiological surveillance in the livestock sector.
The National Bovine Health Program (PROSABO) "... creates a health information system for receiving reports of outbreaks, cases and establish indicators, attack rates, morbidity and mortality, among other things.
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