Bureau of Standards to Develop Standards for Nine Market Products

Last evening, we shared the Bureau of Standards’ new goals as it celebrates its thirtieth anniversary. Aside from focusing on offering its laboratory services to companies in the private sector and coming up with a National Quality Policy which it will present to cabinet shortly, the bureau is also looking to develop new standards for nine products commonly found at the market. Standards Officer at the Bureau, Lloyd Orellano shared some of the products we can soon expect to have high standards for.

Lloyd Orellano, Standards Officer, Belize Bureau of Standards

“We’re going to be looking at standards for pineapples, sweet and hot peppers, tomatoes, cabbage, carrots, and then we’re also going to be looking for standards for honey. These are things that we might not appreciate at the end of the day, but – for example, onion – you can differentiate between an imported onion and a locally-produced onion. You can differentiate between an important carrot and a locally-produced carrot. One is not appealing to the eye; one is, but what we want to do is to standardize these agricultural products, so that they meet certain technical requirements, whether it has to do with the quality requirements, whether it has to do with good agricultural practices, whether it has to do with food safety.”