The granting of recognition status by the Indonesian Authority with respect to food safety control measures pertaining to the export of Horticultural products
On 11 April 2016, the Indonesian government through their Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Amran Sulaiman, decreed the granting of the recognition status on the competence of the South African food safety control measures of being capable to meet the Indonesian food safety control requirements.
The recognition granted is in respect of 15 agricultural commodities, namely, apples, apricots, cherries, citrus fruits, grapes, grapefruits, lemons, nectarines, oranges, peaches, pears, plums, pomelos, prunes and peanuts.
The significance of this recognition will translate into the mentioned exported agricultural commodities being subjected to monitoring only instead of the conducting of verification inspections and checks on each and every consignment exported to Indonesia. This will substantially reduce the cost of compliance for the South African Exporters.
Furthermore, exporters will be allowed to use the Port of Jarkata, Tanjung Priok, which is closer to the main Jarkata market thus reducing transport costs and preventing a loss in quality of the exported produce. Most importantly, this recognition which will be in place for two years, i.e. from the 11th April 2016 to the 10th April 2018, will offer the necessary guarantees in terms of market access for the listed commodities.
The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is committed to ensure that current control measures which are in force are maintained so that continued compliance can be guaranteed. The department would like to extend its gratitude to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation and other stakeholders who assisted in the obtaining of the equivalence status on food safety control measures with Indonesia.
For media enquiries please contact:
Steve Galane
Cell: 083 635 7346
E-mail: SteveGAL@daff.gov.za
