In Costa Rica

A five-year programme (1994-9), funded by DFID, was undertaken to strengthen the agro-processing sector in Central America and the Caribbean. A centre of excellence for food safety and quality management was established in Costa Rica to provide support to small/medium-scale enterprises in the region. A team of six staff from the Centro de Investigaciones y Tecnología de Alimentos (CITA) of the University of Costa Rica took part in a two-month study tour in the UK to observe implementation of FSMS (food safety management systems) in the British food industry. A prototype project was established in the meat-product sector in Costa Rica. Twenty enterprises were invited to participate voluntarily in a workshop, which established a baseline for the understanding of good practice that needs to be in place before HACCP systems can be introduced. Participating industries received regular inputs from the NRI-trained CITA team at all stages of the design and implementation of FSMS appropriate to their specific operations. Assessments in six key areas (raw materials, process, products, hygiene, equipment, quality management systems) showed 3- to 6-fold improvements in performance through the life of the project. The experiences gained by the participating enterprises were presented at seminars for technical staff and for the owners of enterprises from other food sectors in the region.

In Poland

In a one-year project for the European Commission's PHARE programme in 1999-2000, NRI supported the national fishery and dairy industries in Poland to introduce FSMS (food safety management systems) in compliance with European Union food legislation. The centres of excellence for the two industries were: the Sea Fisheries Institute in Gdynia; and the Dairy Research Institute at Olsztyn. As in the Costa Rica project described above, 20 local enterprises were selected by the teams from these two centres, and these participating industries were guided through the design and implementation of FSMS relevant to their products by NRI-trained staff from the centres. Out of 17 participating dairy plants, 14 demonstrated significant improvements in general hygiene and HACCP implementation, as defined by Codex 1997, within just six months.