Haiti’s Ministry of Trade and Industry is threatening to withdraw from the market, starting next October, pre-packaged food products that do not respect labeling rules.
“As of October 1, 2024, all local or imported products that do not comply with this regulatory provision will be withdrawn from the market,” states a statement from the Ministry of Commerce, in which the details of the regulation are reported.
The National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA in Portuguese) has convened a sectoral meeting to present proposals to improve the regulation of veterinary drug residues in foodstuffs of animal origin. The topics discussed at the meeting are related to:
The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean met in Panama to strengthen coordination among decision-makers and transform agrifood systems, with the aim of ensuring commitments to better nutrition and facilitating access to healthy diets. The meeting highlighted the importance of the “Food Systems-Based Dietary Guidelines (FSDBG)”, a methodology developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), to promote dialogue and collaboration among key stakeholders in Latin America and the Caribbean, in order to enrich the exchange of views and experiences related to the transformation of regional and national agrifood systems. In this way, it seeks to strengthen coordination and cooperation among decision-makers related to agrifood systems and complementary systems.
The National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA in Portuguese) has issued the Import communication nº 048/2024 to clarify the changes implemented on the importation of manufacturing inputs including the food category.
In view of the change in the Administrative procedures applied to imports of products subject to sanitary inspection communicated by Integrated Foreign Trade System (SISCOMEX in Portuguese) Notices No. 036/2024 and No. 037/2024, the General Directorate of Ports, Airports, Borders and Customs Enclosures (GGPAF in Portuguese) must verify that the ingredients mentioned in the labeling of foodstuffs including technological adjuvants must have the approval of ANVISA.
Substances subject to special control, even if they are intermediate and are not part of the final composition of the finished product, are subject to import approval at ANVISA.
The National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA in Portuguese) has published Normative Instruction IN No. 313, dated September 4, 2024, which contains microbiological standards for meat products and modifies Normative Instruction No. 161, dated July 1, 2022.
The new regulation stipulates that “foods ready to be offered to the consumer that present deterioration that alters their physical, chemical or organoleptic characteristics are considered to be of unacceptable quality and are not subject to the application of the microbiological standards referred to in this Normative Instruction.”
Another change is about two situations in which the mesophilic aerobic parameter/standard should be dispensed with for some types of foods, as described in subparagraphs ‘a’ and ‘b’ of the subsection, this is because for foods referred to in subsection VI, the presence of microorganisms of the mesophilic group is part of the process technology of these foods, so the standard does not make sense for this type of products, since when performing the test it will not be possible to affirm that in the case of a high count, the food exceeds the permitted standard, since there is no way to separate the microbiota from the process technology; A practical example would be to count mesophilic aerobes in a fermented milk, where there is a microbiota that has been intentionally removed. added for the desired nutritional purposes of the product.
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