Sri lanka News – Sri Lanka’s food and organic product exporters have urged testing laboratories in the country to improve the speed and quality of their testing and certification standards as exporters lose millions of dollars due to report delays.
Export Development Authority had organised the meeting between food and organic product exporters and the top product testing laboratories in the country to share the requirements and capacity of each other.
“Exporters face undue delays when receiving reports from local labs and as samples have to be sent to labs overseas, a considerable amount of foreign exchange flows out of the country – in the range of US$ 10 to 15 million – every year,” Nanda Kohona, Chairman of EDB Advisory Committee on Spices & Concentrates has said in an industry forum.
Sarath Ranaweera, Chairman of Bio Foods- a processor and exporter of certified organic food has said it is necessary to improve the credibility and recognition of local laboratories among overseas buyers.
Meanwhile, testing laboratories had agreed to share updated testing and certifications with exporters while minimizing delays as much as possible.
The EDB intends to take initiatives to further improve the linkage between exporters and laboratories to align them with export requirements.
Participants who took part in the meeting are the EDB, Chairman Suresh D de Mel, Director General – Malani Baddegamage, and Janak Badugama – Director of – Export Agriculture Division.
The lab representatives who took part in the meeting are – Industrial Technology Institute (ITI), Sri Lanka Standards Institute, Sri Lanka Atomic Energy Board, National Cinnamon Training and Research Centre, SGS Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, Bureau Veritas,
GALAB Laboratories – Germany, had joined the event via Zoom and officials of the Control Union, Sri Lanka Accreditation Board (SLAB), and the National Accreditation Authority of Sri Lanka, also took part in the interaction.
(Colombo/Sept08/2022)