A donation of over €280,000 worth of equipment presented to local manufacturers is geared towards addressing food safety issues locally.
On December 28th over fifteen agro-processors received equipment from the Banana Accompanying Measures programme through the Invest Dominica Authority (IDA) and the Dominica Manufacturers Association (DMA).
This intervention was implemented after an agreement was established between the Government of Dominica and the European Union to provide training support, audit of agro- processors, as well as to provide equipment to manufacturers.
At the handing-over ceremony, National Authorizing Officer (NAO) of the European Development Fund, Carleen Roberts said “The BAM programme thought that it wouldn’t be wise simply to give equipment to agro-processing entities. The Dominica Bureau of Standards conducted an audit of the agro-processors and food safety standards was one of the major concerns highlighted in their report.”
Some of the manufacturers who received equipment were Banillo Cereal, Caribbean Agro-Processors, 3rd Wheel Beverages, Big Gs pepper sauce, The Coal Pot, and Believers Multipurpose.
“Everybody received [items]: stock pots, stainless steel stockpots, … freezers, stoves, …capping machines, shrink wrap machines, labelling equipment, juice extractors, so it was a whole host of equipment provided to the agro- processors,” Roberts noted.
The NAO highlighted some of the issues raised by the manufacturers during the audit. She said, “Some of the enterprises were reminded that maybe the site of the enterprise may need to be reconsidered and additionally in terms of the training that would be provided. So enterprise x might need training in product development whereas enterprise y might need more in terms of hygiene standards; so we really had a focused training and support provided for those 15 to 20 agro-processors that received support under the BAM programme.”
On December 15th Cabinet, led by the Hon Prime Minister, Dr. Roosevelt Skerrit, met with manufacturers and announced that manufacturers would soon receive loans through the AID Bank in a similar agreement with those in the agriculture and tourism sector.