The fact that there is as yet no evidence of a focused response from either the government or the private sector to the recently promulgated US Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) is reflective of a seeming indifference to a development, which has direct and potentially serious implications for the country’s manufacturing sector (though not exclusively) and particularly for aspiring small businesses within the sector.
The FSMA was signed into law by President Obama in January last year and what it does, in effect, is to make way for tough new regulations that seek to raise the standards for foods sold to consumers in the United States. The volume of food imports from Guyana into the United States may be relatively small but there are quite a few local manufacturers who regard the US as a critical market and, presumably, others who may be eyeing the US market as the local manufacturing sector expands.
If there are a few examples of local manufacturing entities whose operations have already met the standards required by the US market, there are others, several others, that are lacking by comparison, having, in some cases, been set up on shoestring budgets in the first place and in some instances without much of the technical help that is required in the selection and installation of plant and machinery. Add to that the fact that costs and deficient national inspection processes often mean that important safety and health considerations are overlooked and what we have is a manufacturing sector, which, generally, is still well adrift in some of the requirements that will kick in under the new US law.
Once the full details of the new regulations that derive from the FSMA are made public here in Guyana it is likely that some of the smaller manufacturing entities will have to set aside – at least for the time being – such plans as they might have had to access the US market. Others could struggle to retain existing markets. Among the larger manufacturers, the new US law will see moves towards compliance with the regulations which of course will be costly but which will be worth the while given the volumes of their exports to the US.
Some of the challenges will include those associated with the physical verification of operations which is allowed the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Act and the new and demanding record-keeping requirements that have to do with batches, consignments, formulae and production processes. If the major manufacturers will probably find these to be relatively straightforward assignments, there are others that have neglected to develop such record-keeping systems.
The challenge of meeting the new FSMA standards is not just a private sector one. The growth of the private sector is, in some respects, a government responsibility and this, in our view, is a clear case in point. It should be noted too that the US authorities have already made the point that it expects to see collaborative efforts by public and private sector entities as countries strive to meet with the new requirements under the law.
Oddly enough while many of the key regulations under the FSMA are scheduled to come into force in a matter of months neither the government nor the private sector have pronounced on plans to move forward with ensuring that, as far as possible, the regulations under the FSMA are met. Presumably, some of the local manufacturing entities would have decided to initiate their own individual responses to the FSMA aware as they are that while collaborative responses are desirable, waiting on bureaucracies – whether private or public sector – to bestir themselves is by no means the widest option. This, of course, still leaves most of the smaller manufacturers out in the cold – so to speak – and certainly in danger of finding themselves out of the loop when the new FSMA regulations kick in.
It is apposite to mention at this juncture that the FSMA makes provisions for US-funded support for both governments and private sector entities in exporting countries in areas that have to do with readying exporters for compliance with the new US regulations. Those provisions include opportunities for the training of functionaries who will be involved, in one way or another, in supporting the process in exporting countries. Those provisions perhaps need to be explored at this stage.
It is, however, for the government and the private sector umbrella bodies to provide leadership and guidance on this issue and to do so before we find ourselves in a situation in which our exporters are required to comply with new US food import laws or else, face the loss of lucrative markets, a circumstance which a manufacturing sector that already faces a host of challenges that have to do with securing and maintaining exports simply cannot afford.
