The Hindu Business Line : APEDA stamp for meat exports mandatory

MEAT and meat products exporters will now be required to necessarily conform to a new regulatory norm that seeks to ensure the adoption of high quality standards and thereby protect the export markets for such items.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has now stipulated that export of meat and meat products would be allowed only if the exporter furnishes a certificate to the Customs (at the time of export) that the export items have been obtained/sourced from an abattoir/meat processing plant registered with the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).

Exports of meat and its preparations for the fiscal year 2003-04 stood at Rs 1,602.44 crore against Rs 1,377.19 crore in the previous year.

Asked to comment on the new norm, the APEDA Chairman, Mr K.S. Money, told Business Line that the trade had demanded such a norm.

Informed sources said that the All-India Meat Exporters' Association had, in fact, passed a resolution and favoured such a mandatory regulatory norm to keep away unscrupulous exporters whose sub-standard products were affecting the export markets for Indian products.

The sources also highlighted that there is already a system for certifying the meat processing plants.

"A committee drawn from different agencies have been assessing the plants and giving certificates that are usually valid for a year.

"This was earlier optional. Now, registration with APEDA is mandatory," they added.

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