Fish exports
An initiative to implement food safety measures will enable Caribbean countries to meet stringent requirements and increase exports to the EU.
Caribbean countries currently export about €355 million of fish and seafood each year to global markets. However, the EU proves a tough market due to its rigorous standards, which requires countries to have sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) systems in place to ensure that exports are not only safe for consumption but also free from harmful pests and pathogens.
Since Belize introduced such measures after the Belize Agricultural Health Authority was established in 2002, exports have increased three-fold and the country currently exports seafood to more than 30 markets, including shrimp to the EU. During 2016, Belize will also start exporting conch for the first time, states Endhir Sosa, Belize’s senior food safety inspector. “SPS could also stand for ‘safe and profitable seafood,” said Sosa at an SPS training held for the Caribbean countries in Iceland in May 2016. “It is a series of procedures and requirements that need to be implemented to prove that our products are safe. SPS is about establishing confidence in our exports.”
The region-wide EU funded initiative to implement internationally recognised SPS standards for seafood will be implemented by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture and the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism. The Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago will be part of the co-ordinated approach to meet SPS requirements and broaden the gateway to new regional and international markets.
