Mr. Mahmoud El Bassouny and the entire team of the ETRACE Centre, Egypt

Special Award for the establishment of an effective traceability system for Egyptian producers that helps them overcome barriers to trade and that links them with EU market

ETRACE is a joint program between Italian Egyptian Debt for Development Swap Program and National Government represented by the Ministry of Trade and Industry with implementation guidance of UNIDO. Its objective is to strengthen the Egyptian food value chain by providing technical and financial assistance to ensure that, in terms of quality, safety and traceability, Egyptian food products comply with international standards and regulations, including the European food law 178/2002, in order to overcome possible barriers to trade. The actions to be taken aim at improving the conditions for workers and businesses, and in generating and equitably distributing export generated income along the food value chain, thus achieving safer jobs and safer products.

The key problem was identified in the design and implementation of food traceability systems to comply with market pressure in destination markets induced by the adoption of the EU food law (178/2002). The Law specifically requires that all food and feeds circulating in the EU must be traceable. Even taking into consideration that EU traceability requirements do not formally have an extra-territorial impact. In fact, market requirements, i.e. importers in the EU, are demanding exporters to implement traceability systems to control safety and improve supply-chains management.

The UNIDO/Etrace project provides technical and financial assistance to farms, exporters, dealers, traders and public operators in the agro-industrial sector in their efforts to align their systems with the requirements set by the importing countries to avoid the existence of trade barriers. Financial assistance was provided within a cost-sharing scheme for the supply of necessary technology (software and hardware for traceability implementation).

Traceability implementation includes approaches to simplify, harmonize and implement standards and procedures within SMEs and the exporters complying with the European regulations. The design of the solution is based on economic evaluation of supply chains’ quality systems using Food Traceability Reference Models.

The main outputs and outcomes of the solution are the following:

  • Trained Operators (more than 1700 trainees from 155 private and public entities
  • National traceability manuals (3 versions for fresh produce and 1 for food processing)
  • More than 100 private sector operators assisted in implementing and improving existing traceability systems
  • 82 automated traceability systems implemented)
  • Awareness raised at the food processing sector through trainings - implementation of traceability systems at 10 companies as a pilot program
  • More than 60 companies trained and assisted on the qualification for different quality and food safety management certifications
  • A web-based national pesticide database and 50 access accounts on international pesticide database, with special focusing on the Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) for the agricultural produce for exporting to the EU
  • Training program designed for newly hired plant quarantine officers
  • E-learning portal established with one pilot e-course on traceability to be expanded to include different relevant subjects
  • Technology and know-how transfer to different countries in the region through study tours to Egypt and technical missions to beneficiary destinations
  • Advanced and innovative capacity building in traceability for improving agribusiness in the country status of research and training

The project is implemented by a national team of experts to retain the knowledge base in the country as an alternative to long-term international experts to increase the cost-efficiency in addition to the strong adaptability of the project interventions to the local context. The local team is supported by international experts who provide remote management support based on best practices.

  • Providing financial assistance combined with the technical assistance to ensure that enterprises can access, on a cost-sharing basis, needed technology and know-how
  • Technical and financial services covering public and private beneficiaries, also serving small producers through the national traceability system features implemented at the General Organization for Export and Import Control.
 


    Mr. Mahmoud EL BASSOUNY