Dr. Ben Mayindo the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) Executive Director and Al Hajji Musa Ssenabulya the Chairman Kampala Butchers and Traders Association have signed a Memorandum of understanding at UNBS offices Bweyogerere to improve quality of meat products and ensure compliance to the food safety standards
According to the MoU, UNBS will promote value addition in the industry by creating awareness on requirements and procedures for product and food safety among the KABUTA members, providing testing services for evaluating the quality and safety of products for conformity to relevant standards.
The MoU also provides cooperation on weights and measures requirements, training and certification of the butchers. “UNBS will involve members of KABUTA in the development of meat standards and support them to undertake training on standards implementation and record keeping,” Dr. Manyindo said.
He adds that, “The MoU is good opportunity for UNBS to work with established industry association to coordinate the development of standards and codes of practice relevant for improving the quality and safety of meat and meat products”.
Al Hajji Ssenabulya said the signing of the MoU comes at an opportune time when Kabuta is looking to improving standards among meat butchers and traders. “The MoU will allow us to work with UNBS to ensure that our members to comply with Industry standards including UNBS requirements on weights and measures which will improve quality and competitiveness of our products,” said Al Hajji Ssenabulya.
The UNBS ED further notes that Uganda in the past faced challenges in accessing international markets due to poor quality of meat and meat products. However, the cooperation between UNBS and KABUTA will improve standards in the industry thus improving trade in meat and related products.
UNBS will also coordinate harmonization and implementation of standards in meat and meat products in the region and benchmark with international standards to prevent technical barriers to trade for products.
“We shall use our association to mobilize our members and work with UNBS to create awareness on food safety and certification requirements”, he added
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