Activity fields
Russia
On the 1st of July the memorandum between Russia and the European Union has entered into force. From that moment onwards European exporters had to engage themselves to respect the Russian MRL-legislation. Each consignment had to be accompanied by a Pesticide Usage Statement, a document listing the active substances used during production or storage and mentioning the applied dose and the date of last treatment.
Within the group of third countries Russia is the most important market for the Belgian sector of fruits and vegetables. Together with the auctions (VBT/ Lava) Fresh Trade Belgium has done the necessary efforts to support the exports, f.i. by establishing different types of Pesticide Usage Statements for the different crops in Belgium.
Problems caused by differences between Russian and European MRL's have also been listed. Together with Freshfel and the Commission a dossier is being made up to present alternative MRL's (European or Codex) to the Russians for the cases where a Russian MRL is lacking for specific products. In case where the Russian MRL is stricter than the European MRL the Commission examinates if an importance tolerance can be proposed. Intensive negociations with the Russian authorities will be necessary !
Some exporters/ Member States have to provide a safety certificate. The certificate has to be signed by the exporter and by a laboratorium accepted by the Russians. In Belgium safety certificates are required for apples, pears and carots. Attention ! the measure of the safety certificates has been withdrawn due to the accession of Russia to WTO by the end of 2011. Nevertheless it will take time before Russian customs are officially informed. Fresh Trade Belgium follows this dossier closely and keeps his members informed.
Since the 1st of July 2011, exporters need to have a certificate for self checking/ autocontrol in order to be able to export towards Russia.
Fresh Trade Belgium closely follows the dossier and stays in direct contact with the Cell International Politics of the Food Safety Agency.
Food Safety:
Guide Self Checking
Together with the federations Belgapom (potato trade and processing) and Vegebe (trade and processing of industrial vegetables) Fresh Trade Belgium, in collaboration with the University of Ghent, has established a Guide Selfchecking for the Trade and Processing of Fruits, Vegetables and Potatoes (G014). On the 1st of January the Guide has been officially approved by the Federal Agency for Food Safety.
The Guide has been presented to all stake holders during a kick off meeting on the 16th of April 2007 in the University of Ghent.
A benchmark has been done between Self Checking and the commercial systems IFS, BRC, HACCP, ISO 22000 and Fedis Food for SME. In June 2007 the benchmark has been completed with IFS & BRC Logistic. Thanks to a tabel of correspondances the operators can go for a combined audit. Operators certified for Self Checking get a bonus on their contribution to the Federal Food Safety Agency.
Operators who have purchased a Guide are being kept up to date with legislation.
In the Autumn 2008 an updated version of the Guide will be presented to the Federal Food Safety Agency. This version includes as well a new part on imports and the control of MRL's.
Together with Belgapom and Vegebe Fresh Trade Belgium organises seminaries on Self Checking.
Vegitrade
Fresh Trade Belgium is member of the adivsory board of Vegitrade, a project on food safety, food sovereignty and climate change, lead by the University of Ghent. 23 partners participate at this EU project. Partners are from Belgium, Holland, South-Africa, India, Egypt, Brasil, Norway, Spain and the US.
The project brings together science and industry. It started in Murcia (Spain) in june 2010 and it will run until 2014.
Vegitrade aims an evaluation of food safety systems and wants to discover where the main risks on contamination are situated (chemical and microbiological). The project also focusses on models of climate change and the impact on food safety.
Water is an important element as a possible source of contamination (irrigation, process water, ...) The project examines different techniques of decontamination and focusses on a sustainable use of water.
With Vegitrade we hope to formulate recommandations to make food safety systems more efficient (in fonction of the real risks, avoiding unnecessary measures)
Fresh Trade Belgium hopes to use the outcome of the project to further develop the risk analysis on the imports of fruits and vegetables which is taken up in the Guide on Self Checking (Autocontrol) G014.
For more information, see website www.vegitrade.org
Customs legislation
The Regulation 1875/2006 introduces some new measures in Customs legislation: from the 1st of January onwards importers and exporters can ask for the status of 'Authorised Economic Operator' (AEO).
This status offers some advantages (simplified procedures, less controlls, ..) but also implies some conditions. New delays for declaration enter into force the 1st of July 2009. Delays will varie according to the type of transport.
In order to simplify procedures for the operators Fresh Trade Belgium is looking together with Customs authorities if there is a possibility to integrate conditions regarding to AEO in the Guide for Self Checking.
Promotion
All Day Long
The 9th of October 2008 the auctions (VBT), the retailers (Fedis), Vlam (Flemish promotion board) and the importers represented by Fresh Trade Belgium have launched the generic promotion campaign 'All Day Long'.
The campaign is supported by the European Commission and will run on the Belgian market until the end of August 2011. For more information: www.alldaylong.be
This summer All Day Long will be present at the Belgian seaside. The All Day Long village will be installed at different cities at the coast. Partners who have a stand at the village: Zespri, Enza, Papillon (Prima Mundo), Lava.
Foreign markets
Fresh Trade Belgium participates in the working group fruits and vegetables of the Flemish Promotion Board Vlam. In 2011 exporters participate at exhibitions in Berlin (Fruit Logistica), Hong Kong (Fruit Logistica), Moscow (World Food) and Atlanta (PMA).
Environment: CO2 & Carbon Footprint
A relatively new dossier which has already shown up in the media is the one on CO2 and carbon footprint. The European Commission has already done some studies that have shown that food products, together with transport have a big environmental impact. In the near future Europe will launch some initiatives. Officials think f.i. on labeling, ecotaxes, ...
Different foreign retailes (Tesco, Migros, Casino, Leclerc, ...) have already taken initiatives to label the carbon footprint of certain products. The Dutch sector is working on an IT-tool to calculate the footprint. The United Kingdom is launching the standard PAS 2050 in November 2008. All these initiatives are taken before real legislation comes into force.
Fresh Trade Belgium closely follows the dossier, together with Belgapom and Vegebe. On a European level, the dossier is followed up via Freshfel. Fresh Trade Belgium asks that, if there is a regulation coming, it would be a European one with the same principles and procedures applying in the different Member States. Experience with the MRL's have shown that it becomes very complicated for the trade and confusing for the consumer when retailers develop each one their own conditions.
In January 2011 Fresh Trade Belgium organized a seminar on this item, together with Belgapom and Vegebe. Members were kept informed by mailing.
