Keisha Shakespeare-Blackmore, Staff Reporter

Combine some saltfish flakes, onions, cooking tomatoes, sweet pepper and a dash of black pepper and you have the most delicious ackee and saltfish! However, Jamaicans living abroad may not be able to enjoy the luxury of ackee unless it's from a can.

In December 2005, the ackee industry suffered a major blow when the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) placed temporary ban on importation of canned ackee. Thankfully, the restriction was lifted last December.

Mr. Ainsworth Riley, agri-business coordinator at the Jamaica Exporters Association (JEA), explained that the restriction was due to the high levels of the toxin, hypoglycin, that is found naturally in ackee. Hypoglycin can reach dangerous levels when ackee is picked too early and is not ripe. The toxin can cause a drop in blood sugar and vomiting, and, in rare cases, convulsions, coma and death. The allowable U.S. limit for hypoglycin in ackees is 100 parts per million (ppm).

Mr. Riley explains that the USFDA decision came after a particular company's shipment of ackee was seized, having been tested positive for high levels of hypoglycin. The FDA stipulated a set of criteria with which the ackee processors must comply before the U.S. market reopened for importation of canned ackees.

Below is a list of the major criteria for compliance:

1. The first step is for the processor to write to the FDA outlining the cause(s) of the problem being experienced and the action(s) being taken to address the problem.

2. The FDA, having reviewed the submission, and based on its evaluation, will authorise the company to commence the process of five trial shipments to the U.S., all of which must be assessed for hypoglycin and be found acceptable. The companies will be required to present test results for hypoglycin on five consecutive shipments before the U.S. market is fully open for Jamaican canned ackees.

3. For each shipment, if test results indicate that the sample of codes taken are all within the accepted levels, the firm will be exempted from the ackee alert, but the FDA may still randomly select samples for testing.

The FDA, in partnership with the JEA and U.S. Department of Agriculture, facilitated a 'pre-clearance' type facility here in Jamaica, involving the creation of sterile areas for holding the product post-delivery to the point of export and pre-shipment. Through the collaboration of various stakeholders, the centralised facility was established last November at the Plant Quarantine Facility at Norman Manley Airport in Kingston. Stakeholders include: JEA, Jamaica Agro-processors' Association, the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands (Plant Quarantine Division), the Ministry of Industry, Technology and Commerce, officers from the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and Technological Solutions.

Three of Seven Now Permitted to Export

There are seven USFDA Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) certified ackee processors in the island. Three (CanCo, Tijule and Central Packers Limited) have been allowed to re-enter the U.S. market on conditions. But Mr. Riley notes that to his knowledge, so far only CanCo and Tijule Ltd. have been certified by the FDA to export ackee to the U.S.

Though the ban has been lifted, for ordinary travellers, taking ackee abroad may not be such a wise decision. "Though no formal statement has been made restricting (householders) to carry ackee abroad, I would suggest they take canned ackee from the two companies passed to export the fruit," said Mr. Railey.

- Additional information provided by Jamaica Exporters' Association