TCPI: Make labs accountable for rejection of food exports by US, EU

Rejection of consignments of food exports from India to the US and the EU, especially that of basmati rice, marine products, spices and fruits and vegetables, on grounds of contamination, continued to be high in 2019, although there was a decline compared to the previous year.

EU countries issued border rejection notifications for 147 consignments of food items from India in 2019, a tad less than the previous year’s rejection of 168, while the US rejected a total of 1,674 consignments compared to 1,939 rejections the year before, according to data from the the European Commission’s Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) and USFDA.

Stressing quality

“Fixing accountability of testing labs by imposing penalties for rejections and creating a national portal of labs that test pre-export shipments, could help minimise the problem of rejection,” according to Mohit Singla, Chairman, Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI), a trade and investment promotion organisation notified in the Foreign Trade Policy.

The national portal should provide for audit of manufacturing processes, document checks and assessments of conformity with the requirements of applicable technical regulations and standards.

Five-pronged strategy

This is part of a five-pronged strategy, shared by the TPCI with the Commerce Ministry, to boost agriculture exports to $100 billion annually. It proposed a 100 per cent pre-export certification, increasing customer base, branding, strengthening last mile connectivity for agri produce, and revamping SEZ policy for food exports.

TPCI is organising global food show IndusFood 2020 in Greater Noida from January 8 to promote India as a food export hub that would help in establishing the last mile connectivity to boost farm and agriculture income by linking it with global buyers.

About 1,300 foreign buyers from 80 countries and 700 domestic suppliers will participate in the three-day expo.