Quality control of foodstuffs, whether import or export is a priority of the government, to this end, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MCI), Thursday organized a workshop on laboratory accreditation in Haiti, in order to ensure to the consumers, the quality control of food products consumed locally or for export.

Mr. Luc Espéca, Director General of MCI explained "[...] Haiti needs to establish an infrastructure of quality control. An infrastructure of quality has laboratories, it is necessary to certify and accredit them.

Currently it is this process that is being done with the laboratories we have in Haiti. In this workshop, they talked about their capacity and will define the systems and procedures they should have to work for when they analyze and publish the results, these results are credible and reliable [...] for everyone in Haiti, when they will hear that this laboratory [accredited and certified] said that this product is good, they can eat it without doubt, this is the first aspect.

The second aspect is that within the framework of our development policy of the national production [...] these laboratories must be accredited also outside the country. It is necessary that the products arrive abroad with a description [% elements in the composition] and that a laboratory confirms that the productis in conformity and meets the consumption standards [international] without risk to health or the environment.

We have medical laboratories, laboratories that test chemicals that analyze food products, such as laboratories : of the Faculty of Science, of Damien, of Tamarinier, that of the Faculty of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine who analyzes of products in other aspects.

We have gathered all laboratories in all domains [...] the participants in this workshop [...] are both Haitian and international experts. It is a scandal that a country leaves a population consume sensitive products in poor conditions.

Currently, the Ministry of Trade and Industry has started to publish guidelines, measures, the conditions for people selling meat, derived from meat and deli products [...] we will provide standards for breeding until the meator its derivatives, arrive on the table of consumer [...] We will do this for all domains...

In this context, the Government is ready to support all the people [in the chain of production, processing and distribution] to fulfill the requirements and meet the standards, those who do not have the money, there are guarantee funds which will enable them to buy the necessary equipment [...] so that consumers do not have health problems by eating food products [local or imported] [...]"

HL/ HaitiLibre