Tag: Regulatory & Govt. Policy

Saudi Arabia privatizes barley imports and distribution business

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SAUDI ARABIA – The Saudi Arabian government has complemented the full privatization of barley imports and distribution business in line with its November 2020 decree.  The decision was implemented when the Saudi Grains Organization (SAGO) sold 1.84 million metric tons (MMT) of barley through an open and competitive bidding process to local grain traders. The quantity was made up of 1.42 MMT of barley stored at 22 packing terminals (mostly contract packers) and seven vessel loads of barley sailing to Saudi seaports carrying 60,000 MT each for a total of…

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European Union allows commercialization of dried yellow mealworm

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EUROPE  – The European Union has approved the commercialization of of dried yellow mealworm and derived products across in its market following a novel food application submitted by the French insect producer Agronutris. With the approval, Agronutris now becomes the first European insect producer officially authorized to sell insects as human food in the EU. Additionally, this authorization will also benefit companies which intend to incorporate the ingredients produced or commercialized by Agronutris into insect-based products. This approval by the EU  follows a recent publication by the European Food Safety…

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India’s food safety authority issues SOPs for licensing and registration of fortified food products

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INDIA – The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued provisions for licensing and registration of fortified food products in its Food Safety and Compliance System. The provisions cover processed food products categories, including milk, edible oil, fortified fruit juices, rice, wheat flour and maida1 (refined flour), fortified cereal products, fortified bakery ware, and salt. As per FSSAI-issued standard operating procedures, food business operators (FBOs) are required to upload test reports showing levels of fortificants in the fortified food product. Results must be obtained from the FSSAI…

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Kenya adopts new standards to govern fast-growing food additives market

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KENYA – Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), the government standards agency has approved five new standards aimed to boost the safety and quality of food additives in the market. The adopted guidelines are aimed to provide a basis to ascertain the quality, purity, and safety of the food additives, which according to KEBS Managing Director, Ltd. Col. (Rtd) Bernard Njiraini, it’s the first step to ensure safe use as guided by the General Standard for Food additives. “As a matter of fact, the use of food additives in food processing…

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Food safety certification for indoor-grown leafy greens launched

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GLOBAL – A new food safety certification program specifically designed for leafy greens grown using controlled environment agriculture (CEA) has been launched by the CEA Food Safety Coalition (CEA FSC). According to a press statement, the CEA FSC’s Leafy Green Module uses science-based standards to assess an operation’s food safety practices in areas including water and pesticide use, site control and hazard analysis. CEA FSC’s module will assess hazards associated with water, nutrients, growing media, seeds, inputs, site control and more. Systems using recirculating water will require continuing hazard analyses…

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US Court orders slowing down of pork line speeds citing worker safety

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US – A federal judge in the United States has ruled that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s removal of processing speed limits did not adequately take worker safety into consideration and ordered the reinstatement of the speed limits.   The federal judge has further directed the USDA to rework regulations around pork processing speeds in the next 90 days— until the end of June. “Line speeds are a risk factor that will increase the already hazardous conditions faced by workers,” U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen wrote in the ruling. “These…

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TBS trains rice stakeholders on recommended standards as production in MY 2020/21 is projected to rise by 13.6%

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TANZANIA – Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) has embarked on disseminating information pertaining to the organization, better production principles, standards and recommended operation procedures, to the rice stakeholders in the country. To this end, the regulatory body has urged entrepreneurs dealing with processing, packaging and selling of rice to take into account standards, quality and safety of their products as way to increase productivity. The call was made by the TBS Training and Research Manager Hamisi Mwanasala while training entrepreneurs from Mwanza Region. The entrepreneurs were also guided on to…

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Sesame becomes ninth food allergen requiring plain-language labelling in the US

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US – Sesame has become the ninth food allergen for which the US Food and Drug Administration requires plain-language labelling following the signing of a new law by US President Joseph Biden. With the new law, food manufacturing companies making foods formulated with Sesame will be required to clearly label Sesame as an allergen from 1 January 2023. The legislative milestone marks the first time since 2004 that a new allergen has been added to the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act. Sesame will join peanuts, tree nuts, fish,…

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Kenyan dairy processors to be liable of product recalls from retail stores

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KENYA – Kenyan retailers are a happy lot following the government directing dairy processors to foot the cost of recalling unsafe milk and other dairy products from supermarket shelves and shops, as stipulated under the new Dairy Industry (Traceability and Recall), 2021 Regulations. The new requirement, will for the first time shift the cost of withdrawing the unfit products from retailers to the producers, reports Business Daily. Supermarkets and wholesale shops had, before the publication of the new regulations, taken the responsibility for withdrawing unsafe dairy products from their shelves…

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Kenya’s fast-growing food manufacturer Mjengo Limited obtains FSSC 22000 Certification

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KENYA – Malbros Group, trading as Mjengo Limited, has announced that its operations have been certified by Bureau Veritas, receiving the Food Safety System Certification 22000 (FSSC 22000). Bureau Veritas is a company specialized in the testing, inspection and certification founded in 1828. It operates in a variety of sectors, including Building & Infrastructure, Agri-food & Commodities, Marine & Offshore, Industry, Certification and Consumer Products. The FSSC 22000 certification meets the Global Food Safety Initiative’s (GFSI) specification, by providing an audit of the Food Safety Management Systems (FSMS) to certify…

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