EU team arrives in city Oct 16

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FE Report
A four-member team of the European Union (EU) will arrive in Dhaka October 16 to inspect food safety measures adopted in shrimp processing plants.
It will examine whether or not the processing factories are following the EU food safety directives.
The EU team will visit the shrimp processing industries and testing laboratories in Dhaka, Chittagong and Khulna during October 16-26 period.
The inspectors of the EU food and veterinary office will examine the compliance level as per their recommendations made during a visit in 2005, a senior official of fisheries and livestock ministry said.
The ministry, in the meantime, initiated a number of moves to comply with the directives of the EU, the largest export market of country's frozen shrimps.
An inter-ministerial meeting will be held on August 13. All stakeholders and officials of concerned government departments will attend the meeting.
The meeting, which will be chaired by fisheries and livestock adviser CS Karim, will review the prevailing status of the country's frozen foods testing laboratories and existing infrastructure.
The government has been scrutinising the food safety measures of the country's frozen food industries keeping the matter of the EU inspection in mind.
The food and veterinary office of the EU has remained firm on the food safety policy. Its stance has made the relevant authorities aware of the importance of maintaining the safety standard in frozen foods factories, sources said.
In 1997-98, the EU slapped a ban on import of frozen shrimp from Bangladesh for not following its food safety directives properly.