Republic of the Philippines
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Philippine Center for Postharvest
Development and Mechanization
CLSU Compound, Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija

NEWS STORIES

USDA, BPRE, and CCAP rally for cold chain advancement
by Bezt Gee S. Magararu (August 11, 2009)
Development of the cold chain sector in the Philippines is the focus of the USDA International Cold Chain Conference held at the Marco Polo Hotel, Davao City on July 27 to 29, 2009. The conference carried the theme "International Cold Chain Standards and Regulation: Economic Viability, Food Safety and Quality through Strong Public-Private Partnership".

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) together with the Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension and Cold Chain Association in the Philippines (CCAP) came up with this collaborative work to update the Philippine cold chain sector on regulatory standards, and to encourage partnership of the government and the private sector with the United States and other Southeast Asian countries.

Participating agencies have the same concern on reducing postharvest losses in high value crops and at the same time extend freshness and quality of these crops from the farm to the market. They see the cold chain system or the "uninterrupted refrigerated handling operation of high value commodities" as a solution that can address this concern.

Speakers and participants came from United States, Great Britain, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Guests like US Agricultural Counselor Emiko M. Purdy, Dr. Clemen G. Gehlhar and the Philippines Assistant Secretary of DA Salvador S. Salacup graced the event.

In a plenary session, exprets from the different like CCAP, Alpha Diversified Services Inc., 2-Go, Business Solutions Asia and Luckywide Enterprises, Inc. shared the trends, challenges and opportunities of the cold chain technology in the global market, its standards, practices and economic benefits. Three small group discussions were conducted to brainstorm issues and concerns like infrastructure, food safety, policies and marketing. Through this interactive gathering, solutions or resolutions can be drawn for the full implementation of the cold chain system in the country.