Rwanda Standards Board (RSB) have, on Thursday, June 1, issued Food Safety Quality Standards certificates to 18 agri-business enterprises to promote competitiveness in trade and hospitality sector.

For the past three years, RSB implemented a project in partnership with TradeMark Africa with funding from FCDO and the Government of Finland that sought to build capacity and certification of enterprises involved in the food supply chain with ISO 22000 –a standard on Food Safety Management Systems (FSMS)and HACCP –a standard on Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP).

The standard certificates were issued to qualifying firms across different categories in the food supply chain including animal feed production, transport and storage services, and catering services.

Food safety is extremely important in view that agri-food businesses constitute a significant percentage of potential Rwanda exports, however, there is low capacity in the implementation of food safety standards along the food supply chain and limitations in quality support systems and infrastructure.

Rwanda is already a leading MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibition) destination, hosting increasingly high-profile events such as CHOGM and the FIFA conference in the recent past.

Food safety standards in the hospitality sector and agri-food value chain is a critical component in realisingand maintaining the ambitions of a country that is positioning itself as a hub for air travel and logistics.

Experts argue that the number of local food safety experts is not sufficient to support the private sector while RSB is also facing a challenge of insufficient food safety sector specific expertise.

Hence, the project also provided capacity building training to RSB staff and other professionals in food safety management standards to promote skills transfer, the project further trained 57 Young graduates in the field, a number of whom have already established thriving food safety consulting businesses.

Raymond Murenzi, Director General of RSB, said that training and issuing these certificates will solve problems whereby hotels were forced to import foodstuff, not because there were none in the country but because they lacked adequate safety standards.

"We decided to design a programme that would help promote and strengthen our food value chain from ‘farm to fork’ by building the capacity and certifying agri-food businesses against normal standards of food safety management systems,” he said.

"Today, we are proud to have hotels and food chains that have obtained safety standard certificates.”

David Butera, Ag. Country Manager of TradeMarkAfrica, observed that the food safety management standards certification is not "an easy feat” because it requires a rigorous and meticulous approach to audit every aspect of food and service processing.

"This includes procurement, preparation, storage, and delivery of service itself which demands continuous training and strict adherence to protocols and wellbeing of customers,” he added.

In addition, Butera noted that this programme puts at the forefront knowledge transfer from senior consultants to upcoming practitioners in these fields.

Safety certification strengthens the level at which Rwandan hotels are competitive on the international market, according to the Minister of Trade and Industry, Jean Chrysostome Ngabitsinze.

"The standards certificate positions one at a certain level and our hotels have been able to attain different standards...this allows them to be competitive in the eyes of foreign tourists as well as local clients,” he added.

He told the awardees that achieving these certificates shouldn’t be an end in itself, rather, they should continue improving in their standards of work and service delivery.

Sister Christine Turabamariya, Manager of CenetraHotel, is among those who received this certificate. She said that the journey has been challenging and resource-demanding but it was worth it because it adds value to the hotel and inspires confidence in customers.

"We learned about how to maintain food safety and different requirements that add up to the quality of our services, these include hygiene in food preparation, temperature specifications, maintenance of machinery, among others.”

Turabamariya added that they have seen results in terms of customer satisfaction and their increase in number.

Callixte Kanamugire, Chief Advocacy Officer, PSF, commended the hotels and companies that were certified, emphasizing that it is an impetus in the advancement of the country’s development.

"We should understand that whatever we initiate in the country should be expanded beyond borders to be competitive at both regional and continental level. This will help us to be at the forefront in implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area.”

According to RSB, the programme of food safety inspection and certification will continue to be rolled out across eateries and companies involved in the whole food supply chain.

The just concluded project trained over 60 enterprises over the last 3 years, with 32 being in advanced stages of the certification journey.