The vice president of the National Agrifood Health and Quality Service (Senasa), Rodolfo Acerbi, on December 16, witnessed the certification of the first export of pork products bound for Singapore by sea after the opening of that market last August.
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This is a shipment for a total of 26 tons of liver (23 tons) and frozen fat (3 tons) that left the port of Buenos Aires bound for Singapore.
Acerbi, present in the port of Buenos Aires, said: "We are very happy that Argentine companies start exporting pork offal to Singapore . "
The Vice President of Senasa was accompanied by the General Coordinator of International Relations, Miguel Donatelli; the director of the Metropolitan Regional Center, MarÃa Eugenia Lopresti; the regional coordinator of Food Safety and Quality, Roman Young Laffitte and the regional border supervisor, Ariel Lentino .
Last August, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) announced the acceptance of the latest proposal for the International Veterinary Certificate (CVI) sent by Senasa, with immediate entry into force, agreeing on the requirements for export of meat, offal and processed and transformed pork products from the Argentine Republic to the Asian country.
The negotiation led by the Argentine health agency - in which the Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of the Nation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also participated - included technical exchanges between Senasa and the SFA for the documentary evaluation of the control system by part of the Singapore agency, which also verified the documentation of Argentine companies interested in obtaining authorization to export their production to the Asian country.
At the beginning of December 2021, an audit of the SFA took place, which, due to the COVID 19 pandemic, it was agreed to carry out virtually.
During the virtual inspection, the SFA and the Singapore National Parks Board (NParks) verified the entire control system, which included a meeting with technicians from the different areas of Senasa's competence and an audit of three establishments, from a list of 8 companies that had submitted their documentation in a timely manner.
In this sense, Singapore enabled the three Argentine establishments to export meat and pork derivatives to their country; while the other five have been proposed to be enabled through the pre-listing system granted by the SFA to Senasa.
So far in 2022, Senasa certified the export to different destinations of more than 12,200 tons of pork products and by-products. ■