A training workshop for Ukrainian berry exporters took place in Poland last month, organised by the ‘Eastern Partnership: Ready to Trade’ project, funded by EU as part of the EU4Business initiative. On July 17-18, the International Trade Centre together with the Ukrainian Berries Association conducted a workshop on certification under the HACCP System (ISO 22 000) in Mragowo, Poland.
The project helps small and medium-sized enterprises from Ukraine and other Eastern Partnership access European Union markets. HACCP System implementation is one of key conditions for successful trading activities in most European countries and worldwide.
The speaker at the НАССР training was a worldwide level expert, Marek Zadernowski. He has profound experience as a quality management director of top international companies, conducts lectures on food quality and safety management, and cooperates with the World Bank and other international institutions.
A total of 19 participants from 12 Ukrainian berry processing companies from 8 regions of Ukraine (Kyiv, Dnipro, Zhytomyr, Ternopil, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Rivne, Khmelnytskyy) attended the workshop. The representatives of Zaporizhzhia agribusiness development department of Zaporizhzhia region state administration also took part.
The workshop covered the entire concept of the standard: from quality management principles to the certification process under the HACCP system. Participants were informed about production risks, key principles and implementation steps of this standard.
Practical aspects of certification were reviewed during the second day of the workshop. The participants visited a large HACCP certified processing plant, the WILDPolandSp. o.o. ProductionPlant inMragowo,Poland. Ukrainian participants noted the importance of such visit, where all standard certified control points were covered.
The training ended with a practical exercise, where groups of participants were trained on how to create enterprise control points and to solve real business certification cases.
Among the participants were representatives of Ukrainian companies with already implemented HACCP Standards. They acknowledged the importance of upgrading their business processes to be more competitive on the market. The rest of the participants said they intended to initiate HACCP certification after the training workshop.
The Eastern Partnership: Ready to Trade project helps small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to access new markets with a focus on the EU, helping SMEs identify and comply with quality and standards to meet international requirements, linking them with buyers along the value chain, and providing cluster support.