Food exporters must consider seriously about Food Export Requirements. Many business actors fail to export due to non-compliance with food standards in exported market. There are several requirements that exporters need to fulfill such as food safety. Food safety is required by government regulations in every country. So, it could be said that one of the failure factors in food export is the weak monitoring of the product safety. So, what is food export requirement ?
What is Food Export Requirement ?
Food export requirement is a standard that is required by the government through regulation. Usually, this requirement is in the form of technical specifications on products to be export. For example, limitation of ingredients contained in a product which aims to ensure the safety of food. Exporters must meet these food export requirements in order to successfully enter a market or destination country.
Governments or recognized public organizations usually develop these food safety requirements. They also consider the external factors, such as health, safety and environment. So, these government requirements are applied to all food producers & exporters.
According to Indonesian UKM (small medium enterprises), There are three levels of mandatory export standard requirement, namely national, regional and international levels.
- National Level: Each country develops its own standards to be enforced compulsorily within the scope of territorial sovereignty concerned. This can be done through a national standardization institute, assisted or given authority to other development organizations (which have been accredited).
- Regional Level: Currently there has been cooperation between several countries in the region in the form of a single market, such as the European Union and ASEAN. They agreed to formulate and apply standards to be enforced in the area.
- International Level: There are four international standardization bodies, namely ITU, IEC, ISO, and CAC, which develop mandatory standards that are applied internationally.
For example, in exporting fishery products. The mandatory requirements that are applied are usually concerning the microbiological content such as Salmonella spp, Listeria spp and others. Then it would limit the chemical & heavy metal content such as histamine and mercury. Mandatory standards must take precedence over general standards in order to legally enter an oversea market.
Mandatory Standards Requirement
There are several product variations in food products. The mandatory standards for export import are different in every country. Below is an info of several components that are usually required for food exporters as mandatory standards:
Meanwhile, according to the FDA, the following are the pillars of non-animal food safety :
[wptb id=3813]The most important components in the food export requirement are the microbiological & chemical contamination, pesticide residues, heavy metal contamination, etc. This applies to both raw food and packaged food. If certain food samples are already inspected or tested by accredited laboratory, the laboratory would issue COA (Certificate of Analysis).
Finally, we have known about food export requirement. If you have known about it, it would make your export process easier & better. Do you want to be food exporter?