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  • Nov 30th, 2005
  • Comments Off on Threat to plastic packed food export to EU
According to a Recorder Report, the European Commission code, which bars member states from importing foodstuff in plastic bags from any source, could turn into a major hurdle for Pakistani exporters in gaining a sizeable share in the European market.

While the world is getting increasingly conscious of the risks associated with plastic bags to human beings, if used for foodstuff, it is lamentable that the concerned quarters in government and trade remain indifferent to the need of changes in their ways, and the use of plastic bags for foodstuff, such as sugar, wheat, seeds, fruits and vegetable, continues unabated.

The EC directive to its members prohibits the manufacture and importation into the European Community of plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs. This, to say the least, is a very unfavourable development at a time when Pakistan together with other developing countries is making strenuous efforts for increasing access to the EU countries, in particular, in the on-going WTO talks.

The EC directive says that when the member states adopt the provisions of the import code they shall publish it and the implementation of the code is to be preceded by completion of a well-defined process to be completed by the member countries, there is quite some time for Pakistan to take expeditious measures to avert the feared setback.

This is all the more imperative in view of the seriousness of the EU authorities about fulfilment of their requirements, at least, in so far as environment related laws are concerned. Some idea of this may be had from the ban on imports of our seafood despite its tremendous demand in the EU market, as it remained banned rather too long due to lapse on our own part.

It is just another matter that they extended co-operation to help us out of that predicament. Apart from this, it was only recently that Nestle's chief executive dismissed the recall of millions of litres of baby milk products in Europe as a "storm in a teacup", as it would not affect the results at the world's largest food company.

He asserted that the recalled baby products, which contained traces of ink from their tetra pack cartons, posed no risk to health and blamed Italian politics and the packaging industry for the uproar. This followed Italian police claiming seizure of 30 million litres of Nestle baby milk from supermarket shelves and depots after it showed traces of ink, but a company spokesman saying it did not have 30 million litres of liquid baby food on the market.

The company claimed had already agreed in July with the European Union and Italy's ministry of health to let the products expire, and to change the production process for the cartons. It was also reported to have contended that the chemical substance was not harmful while announcing recall of liquid infant food products from Italy, Spain, Portugal and France because of the problem.

This incident should suffice to bring to the fore the grim consequences of not learning the right lessons from our own bitter experience, and from the way the world is bracing for the challenges of globalisation of world economies with marked focus on environmental concerns.

It will be recalled that last year the Ministry of Environment, in partnership with the United Nations University (UNU), held a one day national workshop on "Pakistan Case-Study on Inter-Linkages, Synergies and Co-ordination under the National Capacity Self-Assessment (NCSA) project". As one of 147 countries that initiated the process of NCSA, Pakistan appeared to be seriously concerned about complying with all the environment-related accords despite scarcity of resources.

Experts and researchers pointed out, on that occasion, that the primary objective of the NCSA process was to identify priorities and needs for capacity development so as to address global environmental management requirements in a country-driven manner. It aimed at creating a sustainable institutional system and process for continuous assessment and improvement of national capacities for sustainable environmental management.

The aims of the workshop, as then spelled out, created hope of catching up with countries ahead of Pakistan in that direction. All in all, it will be in the fitness of things for the Export Promotion Bureau, and other concerned departments, to initiate adequate measures to ensure compliance with the EU code before it becomes too late.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2005


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