John Myers Jr/Ross Shiel, Staff Reporters
THE MINISTRY of Agriculture will be instituting tighter measures on ackee exports following the seizure of a shipment of ackee from Jamaica last week by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
"I have actually had a word with the Bureau of Standards on it, and in the first week of the new year we are going to bring all the players together to see how we can structure something to enable us to have a monitoring system in place to deal with those infractions," Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke told The Gleaner last night.
The FDA seized the shipment of Jamaican ackee after it found high levels of the toxin hypoglycin in 31 cases of 19-ounce cans of Ashman's Ackees in Brine.
NO ILLNESSES
The ackee was reportedly distributed by Harvest Foods located in Hartford to retail stores and restaurants in New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. The ackees were reportedly shipped in November. The FDA, which made the announcement, did not report any illnesses.
Hyploglycin occurs naturally in ackees, but the fruit must be allowed to ripen before it is safe to eat. Eating unripe ackees can cause vomiting, sickness and potential convulsions, coma, and death.
"I was expressing concern from the other day having heard that some people were getting out of line and what has happened now is my worse fears have materialised with this," Mr. Clarke said.
DAMAGE CONTROL
President of the Jamaica Agricultural Society, Senator Norman Grant, said the authorities will have to carry out damage control to prevent any negative impact on the delicate ackee export market. Both Mr. Clarke and Senator Grant said it was too early to determine if this incident will have any impact on the export market.
Jamaica resumed exporting ackee to the United States only two years ago after a 10-year ban due to the high trace levels of hypoglycin. "We have struggled too hard to get back into that market for us to allow anybody at all to jeopardise the market," Mr. Clarke stressed.
The FDA is advising consumers not to eat Ashman's Ackees in Brine and return the product to the point of purchase, or to consult a doctor immediately if the product has been consumed.
