Scores of small business people now have the opportunity to export their products to the United States.
That’s because the Barbados International Food Science Centre in Newton Industrial Park, Christ Church recently gained the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to ship food products to that country.
Chief executive officer of Export Barbados (BIDC) Mark Hill said this was a landmark development as it meant that all the small businesses which produced niche products and used the food centre to manufacture on scale, would be able to have their products on shelves in the US.
He also said the centre, through a partnership with the Indian Government, will be expanding its manufacturing and packaging services.
Hill made the announcements during a tour of the food centre by High Commissioner of India Dr Shankar Balachandran and Indian businessman Girish Bajaj on Friday.
“We just received our FDA certification last week for the food centre so we can now export to the USA. So we have our certificate and now we are moving towards full HACCP [Hazard Analysis And Critical Control Points] compliance and then we’re moving to the certification so that entrepreneurs and small business persons no longer have to worry about investment in plant equipment machinery, they just have to worry about their market, how do they get the customer on board and how do they build systems that keep the customer wanting their product. While on the back end, the Government, in conjunction with India, has put the infrastructure in place that allows our manufacturers to be able to scale and scale really quickly,” he said.
Balachandran disclosed that while his government had offered Barbados and other Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries a grant of $14 million in 2019, Barbados had only utilised $550 000. He said the remaining funds will go towards the food centre’s expansion project.
“This grant is very unique in the sense that it is to generate local value addition and generate employment here and for the SME [Small and Medium-sized Enterprise] sector…. We normally extend grant projects on a government-to-government level, but this is going to be on a government-to-business level and this is also going to be a sustainable [project] because we are not only giving the grant but also we are going to sustain it for at least five years.
“We would ensure that the entrepreneurs using the grant generate enough resources to sustain the operations even after we exit after five years, and the machinery to be sourced from India will be maintained by the manufacturer,” Balachandran said.
Hill said the collaboration was transformational.
“Here we are doing condiments and sauces but then we want to move into juicing, tetra packing, putting your juices into aluminium cans as opposed to just plastic bottles. So the company that came in specialises in that area as well, so that our local producers are no longer limited by their packaging selection, not only in terms of the technology that they use but also in terms of design as well . . . . We’re working very closely with them to improve the packaging design so that it’s more exportable. We want to make sure that our designs have a more international type of appeal to them,” he said.
Balachandran added that there would be opportunities for both countries to collaborate where sargassum seaweed is concerned.
(SZB) ]]>
