I visited Brazil in June to speak at an export seminar held in Sao Paulo. The purpose of the seminar was to provide assistance and advice to Brazilian companies wishing to export food products to the European Union (EU).
Of interest to me was not that the Brazilians were surprised at how much legislation existed in Europe, or that they were not aware of the degree of effort required to comply with this legislation, but more the very significance of two export process areas -- namely accreditation schemes and the unharmonised areas of food legislation.
Accreditation is big business in Brazil and there are any number of companies offering support to achieve British Retail Consortium (BRC), International Standards Organisation (ISO) and hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) standards.
There is some confusion over which is the most suitable overall standard to aim for, but as with most supply chains, these standards are usually dictated by the European customers/retailers, often confounding an already demanding requirement.
Brazil's significant meat production means that HACCP is very important, and a keen eye is kept on how European accession countries develop their food hygiene and production standards to the required European level. The other key area of frustration that the Brazilians must certainly share with much of the European food industry is the unharmonised area of compositional standards.
Brazil's developing market for finished food products requires understanding of the differences between member states in the acceptability of certain ingredients.
Compositional standards for meat products particularly place a further burden on manufacturers, even after they have achieved required HACCP and accreditation standards.
If we think it's difficult working within the EU to keep track of these differences, have some sympathy for Brazilian companies that are prepared to go to great effort and 5,000 miles in order to break into what they view as the most lucrative global market.
Jean Feord Business Manager
for Legislation,
Leatherhead Food International.