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Nov 27, 2001

Government supports local food processors

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Food was very much on the minds of journalists today as the Ministry of Agriculture invited the press corps to the Cayo District for a look at what local producers are putting on the market. Jacqueline Woods reports.

Jacqueline Woods, Reporting

It’s that time of the year when we will be scouting the supermarkets to get the best buys on hams and turkeys. While imported meats will still be a favourite among consumers, Belizeans are being encouraged to take a closer look and support the local product.

Sergio Garcia, CEO, Ministry of Agriculture

“If you visit the commercial and big industries or the business houses, normally you find the Belizean product at the bottom and the imported product at the top. So what we are encouraging is to put the local product at the top and the other ones at the bottom. But business-houses, they know how they play their games. Probably their profit margin is larger et cetera. But I think the bottom line the business people have to support us at the end of the day, is because by creating employment and generating income, then the Belizean public will have more purchasing power. If people lose that purchasing power, then their business will suffer also. So I think they will understand what we are trying to do.”

Sergio Garcia, Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, says there are approximately ten local meat processing companies, which can adequately provide the country with more than the eighty-six thousand pounds of ham that it consumes.

Sergio Garcia

“I’m pretty sure that having a fresher product is much safer than the imported product that has a lot of preservatives and has probably been in the freezer a longer time. So I’m pretty sure that the product is good, it’s competitive at a reasonable price, and it’s of a fresher and better quality.”

The Government of Belize believes recent events have put our food security at risk, causing authorities to place a greater emphasis on the promotion of local industries.

Sergio Garcia

“Well fundamentally if you look at the income earners of the country, after September eleventh tourism has fallen. Secondly the banana industry suffered some losses due to Hurricane Iris and Hurricane Keith actually affected the sugar cane crop. We are also looking at the loss of the preferential market shortly, and with the free trade on the horizon and globalisation, we have to look at food security as a priority for the government and country of Belize.”

Today, the media was invited to tour Running W, one of the country’s leading meat processing plant, to demonstrate that the local product is not only as good as the foreign competition, but the operation is clean, safe and up to date.

Jacqueline Woods

“Has it been difficult promoting local meats to consumers out there and to businesses?”

Abdala Bedran, Owner, Running W

“It’s been a struggle. I don’t know if I want to use the word difficult, it’s been a struggle, but we have kept our quality and we’ve had very good acceptance of our product. So I would like to say that it also has been fair to us as well.

This is the time of the year when the ham and picnic sales go up. Government has to make a decision, more than promote, as to how much imports they’ll let into the country so as not to suffocate the local products.”

The business conducts its operation following guidelines established by the U.S. approved method known as Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point.

Escandar Bedran, Manager, Running W

“It’s the new thing, instead of being a USDA approved plan. It’s something that was started with NASA because going up in the shuttles they had to have everything bacteria free, nobody could get sick, so they started with this new system and they’re implementing it world-wide.”

Garcia says as part of their Buy Belizean Campaign they will have to work on changing people’s attitudes by showing Belizean consumers that what we produce locally is just as good…if not better than foreign.

Sergio Garcia

“One, our product is competitive and two is that the quality is there. The freshness and the hygiene at this plant is very much representative of the rest.”

Reporting for News 5, Jacqueline Woods.

According to Garcia, the ministry has charged the Belize Agricultural Health Authority, BAHA, with the task of ensuring that the nation’s food supply is safe and plentiful.


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