Six cooperatives and farmers’ associations in Tanauan City, Batangas underwent a two-day training on Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) facilitated by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)-Batangas in partnership with the City Government of Tanauan thru its City’s Agriculture Office held at Tanauan City Demo Farm, Sitio Dayapan Brgy. Bilog-bilog, Sept. 20-21.
Participating cooperatives and farmers’ associations were Tanauan City Rural Improvement Club Agriculture Cooperative, Tanauan Organic and Natural Farming Association, Magsasakang Tanaueño Agriculture Marketing Cooperative, Tanauan City Fishermen Marketing Cooperative, Tanauan City Cacao Growers Association, Tanauan City Mushroom Growers Association, and Laurel 4Ps Farmers Workers Association. The training served as the initial step of the City Agriculture’s Office in assisting the cooperatives and farmers’ association on upgrading their production facilities to become food-safety compliant.
According to Mr. Sherwin Rimas, City Agriculturist, the City Government is targeting to help these cooperatives and farmers’ association in developing their agriculture products and in acquiring License to Operate from the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) so they can penetrate a good market. They are also proposing a writeshop on GMP Manual with DOST-Batangas so these beneficiaries can prepare all the documentation needed by FDA.
Topics covered during the training were GMP organization, education and trainings, premises, plant construction and design, equipment, sanitation and hygiene, supervision, sanitary facilities, maintenance and sanitation, process control, chemical control, quality management, testing of reprocessed product, testing of returned goods, laboratory facilities and control, documentation, quality audits, warehouse and distribution, receiving and shipping, recall and traceability, retention of samples, and subcontracting of manufacturer. Hand washing, food safety, and cross contamination workshops were conducted to make sure that the beneficiaries will be aware of the consequences of crucial operations.
The DOST Unified Food Safety Training Modules for MSMEs were the reference materials used during the training. The training was facilitated by Mr. Mhark Ellgine A. Libao and Mr. John Maico M. Hernandez, both DOST CALABARZON Food Safety Team Members.
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