To improve the culture of food safety and hygiene in agro-based food industries along with the import prospects of its products, more than 20 individuals from Small and Medium Enterprises and the Bhutan Agriculture and Food Regulatory Authority (BAFRA), took part in food safety and hygiene workshop in Punakha recently.
The participants virtually learned to analyse food hazards in food processing businesses and maintain hygienic practices among the staff. An international Food Safety expert conducted the classes.
Due to limited knowledge on the matter, maintaining food safety and hygiene in the food businesses has always been a challenge.
“It is very difficult to export our products because every country has its set of requirements when it comes to food. It is not like we cannot export our products but with limited knowledge and exposure, the time taken to sell our products outside becomes a very lengthy process. Sometimes, a product which can be exported in one month takes a whole year,” said Sonam Chokie, one of the participants.
“Currently, the challenges that we face are inexperienced workers with limited knowledge on food safety and personal hygiene. Most of our employees are school dropouts who only studied till classes X and XII. They do not have much knowledge and are not aware of basic requirements about Food safety, personal hygiene, and food hygiene. As such we have tried to implement our version of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP). But we are having a difficult time implementing this due to limited training and knowledge on the matter,” said another participant.
However, the workshop is expected to help resolve these issues.
“Through this training, the participants will be able to implement various methods to identify and manage food safety-related risks. They will also be able to make the requirements of basic food hygiene and manufacturing practices. This will ultimately enhance the consumer confidence in the safety of the food that they produce and it will help government organizations like BAFRA who have very limited resources in terms of executing our mandates in food safety,” said Dechen Choki, the Senior Food Safety Officer of BAFRA.
Following the training, BAFRA will depute more than 10 officials as trainers and counsellors to various agro-based businesses.
As part of the training, participants were also trained on Codex Hygiene Principles, which is an international framework of general principles for producing safe and suitable food for consumption.
Changa Dorji, Wangdue Phodrang
