The Division of Fish and Its Products at the Chamber of Food Industries held the first meeting of the Division headed by Eng. Hani Al-Minshawi, and in the presence of Mr. Mahmoud El-Basiouni, Executive Director of the Chamber, and representatives from the Food Safety Authority and the National Bank of Egypt, and the companies that are members of the division, in order to discuss the axes of the Division’s work strategy to support and develop the field of fish processing and fish farming In Egypt during 2021/2025.

Engineer Hani Al-Minshawi, head of the division, said that work will be done on 6 axes to implement the new strategy in everything related to the quality and safety of manufacturing, fish farming, packaging, standards, and new export requirements, as the strategy aims to raise the efficiency of companies operating in the field of food processing through technical support programs. The specialization carried out by the chamber, foremost of which is compliance with the requirements of the National Food Safety Authority and accelerating the procedures for joining the whitelist.

He explained that the axes of the strategy include conducting training courses specialized in the quality and safety of fish processing, such as salting, smoking, pickling, drying, canning, and fish, and courses on applying basic requirements for food safety in food establishments, in addition to courses on the Hazard Analysis Plan and Critical Control Points in fish processing, in addition to the Chamber’s support programs for companies to access programs. Financing is available to partner financing institutions, including the National Bank of Egypt and the Environmental Commitment Program of the Federation of Industries.

He pointed out that Egypt is the fourth country in the world in fish farming, with production reaching 2.2 million tons of fish, and it is expected to reach 3 million tons by the end of this year, while Egypt’s imports from fish factories reached 39,086 tons last year 2021, with a total of $194 million. In exchange for Egyptian exports estimated at about 163 tons, with a total of $1.816 million.

Mr. Mahmoud Al-Basiouni, Executive Director of the Chamber, indicated that the Fish Division is one of the newly separated divisions, as the number of factories working in the field of fish registered in the Chamber is estimated at 54, while in the field of feed manufacturing, there are 386 factories, pointing out that work will be done to update the companies’ database and limit the factories’ needs and challenges. facing them and developing a detailed work plan with priorities and appropriate solutions within the work plan of the division during the current year.