MAKRO Egypt and USAID-MUCIA recently announced their new Food Safety Capacity Building Program designed to train quality managers and food specialists to meet the highest international food safety and quality standards. The new food safety program includes classroom and on-the-job training for managers and food specialists representing 200 Egyptian processed food suppliers over the next 18 months. Having developed the initial idea for the project, MAKRO was pleased to find a committed and experienced partner in USAID-MUCIA, an organization with a long and successful record of training a variety of personnel for the Egyptian agricultural sector. Together they seek to demonstrate their strong commitment to provide Egyptian and international markets with safe processed food products that are ‘Made in Egypt'. Creating a new cadre of trainers specializing in food safety and quality that are capable of training personnel in the food processing industry was the first step taken in the program. To accomplish this, a ‘Training of Trainers Workshop' was held January 23-25, 2012, for 28 specialists and suppliers at the Intercontinental Citystars Hotel in Cairo. The USAID-MUCIA training team included international and Egyptian experts. Dr. Vincent Hegarty, Professor of Food Safety, Michigan State University, and Dr. John E. Rushing, Professor of Food Technology, North Carolina State University, participated from the U.S.A., while the Egyptian experts came from the Food Safety Unit and the National Quality Institute, both affiliated to the Ministry of Trade and Industry. During the workshop, the new trainers learned the tools and skills needed to create and implement internationally certified food safety systems and how to pass this knowledge on to food processing suppliers. The trainers will also provide technical assistance to the food processing industry. A pilot program, scheduled for March-September 2012, will begin with an awareness seminar for the executive managers of 32 food processing factories on March 12, 2012. Following this seminar, more than 150 food specialists and staff from these factories will begin their training to learn how to design and implement internationally certified food safety systems in their facilities, including ISO 22000. The second phase of the program, planned for September 2012-June 2013, will provide training and technical assistance to 168 food processing suppliers in Cairo, Alexandria, and Minia, enabling them to install internationally certified food safety systems, thus ensuring a safe food supply for Egyptian and foreign customers. The MAKRO-USAID-MUCIA Food Safety Capacity Building Program is expected to contribute significantly to the development of Egypt's food processing industry. At the national level, the program will help Egyptian suppliers improve the quality and safety of their products, thereby opening doors to international markets. At the retail level, the initiative will provide Egyptian consumers with access to better quality and safer food products. Press Release
