Technical Assistance II
Ensuring food safety is now inevitable for business operators in the food industry, including agri-food and fishery. The spices industry is no exception. It is not only to protect consumers from the risk of foodborne diseases but also to protect food processing establishments from product recalls, which result in financial losses and possible lawsuits due to unsafe products.
HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) is a food safety system designed to identify and control hazards, including microbiology, chemical, physical and allergens that may occur in food production. Implementation of HACCP systems is now an important component of safety assurances for food in international trade, especially since it was internationally introduced by the United Nations' food standards body, the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), in 1993.
Against the backdrop, the Ministry of Trade, in collaboration with the Ministry of Industry and with support from ARISE+ Indonesia, organised a capacity-building workshop on HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) System Implementation and Certification.
The four-day workshop was divided into two batches. Almost 200 functional officers at the Directorate of Export Development for Primary Products and the Directorate of Standardization and Quality Control, the Ministry of Trade, and business operators, members of the food and beverages producers association (GAPMMI) participated online and in person in the first batch conducted on 31 October - 1 November 2022.
The second batch, 2-3 November 2022, participated online and in person by more than 200 functional officers of industry and trade at the Ministry of Industry and the SMEs facilitators at the National Standardization Agency (BSN).
Officially opening the first batch of the workshop, the Director of Export Development for Primary Products, the Ministry of Trade, Ms Merry Maryati, encouraged the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to implement the HACCP to improve quality assurance and facilitate spices product acceptance in the export destination countries.
"Implementing HACCP may be costly in the beginning, but surely it will be beneficial in the long run," Ms Merry said.
In his opening remarks for the 2nd batch of the workshop, the Head of the Centre for Human Resources Development at the Ministry of Industry, Dadi Marhadi, said, "This workshop is very important to assist our MSMEs and enable them to participate in the global trade."
ARISE+ Indonesia Food Safety and Quality Assurance Senior Expert Nurdiansyah Yusup facilitated the training, assisted by ARISE+ Indonesia Export Quality Senior Expert Arief Safari. Nurdiansyah delivered classroom lectures on the 12 steps of HACCP implementation and provided practical exercises for participants to develop HACCP documents.
The workshop aimed to improve the participants' knowledge and a better understanding of implementing HACCP management and certification. It also aimed to enable the functional officers at both ministries to assist MSMEs in the spices sector.
One of the entrepreneurs who participated in the workshop, Rosita Suwardi, extended her gratitude to the Ministry of Trade and ARISE+ Indonesia for inviting SMEs to participate in such an important workshop, especially for a small business like hers that is still in a growing process and has just received export orders.
"The knowledge we received from the workshop is very beneficial and important to guide our planning in implementing HACCP, which now became a mandatory requirement for export," Rosita said.
