Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture

Agricultural Health

Preparing Jamaican exporters to meet the US Food Safety Modernisation Act

Tiempo de lectura: 3 mins.

Approximately 80 persons from the public and private sector in Jamaica attended two day FSMA workshop 

IICA in collaboration with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) hosted a workshop in June to raise awareness about the importance of the United States Food Safety Modernisation Act (FSMA) proposed regulations and present a tool to assess the level of preparedness of produce exporters with respect to the proposed FSMA rules. The FSMA sets out standards for the growing, harvesting, packing and holding of produce for human consumption in the United States. The Act, which was passed into US law in 2011, is expected to issue final regulations in the latter part of 2015. The effective date for meeting these regulation will vary according the regulation and scale of the food establishment.

Approximately 80 persons from the public and private sector attended the two day workshop, which comprised presentations on the role of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which will administer the FSMA, the various proposed rules under the FSMA, and the current situation of Jamaican exports to the US. Representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Bureau of Standards and the Jamaica Exporters Association also discussed some the challenges faced by Jamaican exporters to the US and the actions initiated by each to enable compliance with the FSMA.

A representative of the IICA Agricultural Health and Food Safety unit presented a tool designed by IICA and Texas Tech University to enable exporters of fresh produce to determine their ability to comply with the proposed standards and regulations under the FSMA and identify areas for improvement. The tool outlines the various components and specific requirements of the FSMA and provides a rating scale for exporters to grade their operations based on their level of compliance with the proposed regulations. Following the workshop, the IICA-USDA team visited selected exporting businesses to apply the FSMA assessment tool. The assessments will assist the team to develop additional activities in the programme to strengthen the region’s preparedness for the FSMA.

Share

Related news​

San José, Costa Rica

July 1, 2025

Carbon markets offer an extraordinary opportunity for sustainable livestock farming in Latin America, and collective action is essential to seize it, say public and private sector experts during seminar at IICA

During the seminar, which featured various presentation and discussion panels, participants explored the nature of carbon markets, financing alternatives for carbon capture projects in livestock farming, and the current regional context. They also shared methodologies and ideas to unlock their full potential through concrete steps.

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins

– El Director General del Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación para la Agricultura (IICA), Manuel Otero, expresó su pleno respaldo a las conclusiones de la Conferencia Global de IFAMA, en la que 600 representantes de 40 países señalaron que el sector agropecuario seguirá siendo parte de la solución a los desafíos planetarios si profundiza su apuesta por la ciencia y la tecnología e impulsa una nueva generación de políticas públicas.

Ribeirao Preto, Brasil

July 1, 2025

IICA Director General expresses full support for IFAMA 2025 Global Conference document, which called on the agricultural sector to strengthen its commitment to science and technology to remain part of the solution to global challenges 

IFAMA 2025 concluded with a call to promote policies and strategies that advance technologies to conserve resources, increase productivity, and protect the environment.

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins

Sevilla

July 1, 2025

IICA’s photo exhibition, which pays tribute to rural men and women in the Americas, is on display at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in Seville

The exhibition is composed of 27 photographs taken by photographer Cecilia Duarte (Brazil) and curator Virginia Fabri (Argentina), which tell the stories of peasants, family farmers, medium-sized producers, members of indigenous communities, teachers, students, agents of innovation and technology, and advocates for the empowerment of women and youth from 14 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins