Virtual FISHCap workshop on safe fishery and aquaculture products kicks off today
Ankara- Fishery and aquaculture products are among the most traded food commodities worldwide. The growth in international fish trade has highlighted the need to harmonize fish safety and quality assurance approaches, with a view to ensuring fish safety and fair trade practices.
To this end, a two-day regional workshop, organized on 29–30 September, focuses on the safety for fishery and aquaculture products. The virtual event is part of the project “Capacity Building for Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture Management in Central Asia, Azerbaijan and Turkey (FISHCap)”, financed by the Government of Turkey through the FAO-Turkey Partnership Programme on Food and Agriculture.
The workshop aims to strengthen institutional capacities on food safety and quality control for fishery and aquaculture products in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Accordingly, participants are being trained in basics sampling methods, laboratory management, and accreditation processes of food control laboratories. In addition, the workshop provides an opportunity to analyse institutional capacities for safety for fishery and aquaculture products in the region.
Prior to the meeting, participating countries have been surveyed about the current situation and regulations on seafood safety quality assurance, analysis, and quality control and the gathered information will form the basis of a future regional synthesis report.
Participants in the virtual workshop include government staff, decision-makers operating in fisheries and aquaculture management, academics and researchers, fish farmers, and representatives of fishers/fish farmers organizations from the project countries (Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan) as well as other target countries (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan), and experts from FAO and from the region.
The opening speech of the virtual workshop was given by Viorel Gutu, FAO Subregional Coordinator for Central Asia and FAO Representative in Turkey. Gutu underlined both promising trends and challenges in the fishery and aquaculture products sector in the light of the latest State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) Report.
Haydar Fersoy, FAO’s Senior Fishery and Aquaculture Officer, noted that the workshop addresses key priority areas in the promotion of food safety in fisheries and aquaculture.
John Ryder, FAO Senior Fishery Officer, shed light on international regulations and standards on food safety with a specific focus on European Union requirements and legal mechanisms. In his presentation, Ryder also updated the participants by sharing the latest changes in the field of food safety such as border regulations and new legal definitions.
In the last session of the first day, Sağdıçlar Balıkçılık, a private fishery company from Istanbul presented a number of key challenges related to the handling and processing of fish and fish products and accessing international markets.
The second and final day of the workshop involves a number of presentations including on Turkish Food Safety Regulations on Seafood and Management of Food Control Laboratories by high-level officers from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Turkey. The last day also features a virtual visit to the Ankara Provincial Food Control Laboratory.
About the FAO-Turkey Partnership Programme on Food and Agriculture
Established in 2006, the FAO-Turkey Partnership Programme on Food and Agriculture (FTPP) focuses on achieving food security and combating rural poverty in Central Asian and Caucasus countries through projects at the national, multi-country and subregional level.
To date, the programme has supported countries in the areas of food security, food safety, rural development, natural resources management, and animal and plant genetic resources. The Government of Turkey has contributed USD 20 million to the programme and committed itself to the second phase.
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