The Fish Division of the Chamber of Food Industries held its regular meeting under the chairmanship of Dr. Hani Al-Minshawy and the participation of Dr. Marwa Lotfy, responsible for the fish file at the National Food Safety Authority, Dr. Sayed Makkawi at the National Institute of Marine Sciences and Fisheries, and Eng. Reda Mohamed Al-Sayed, Rapporteur of the Fish Committee at the Egyptian Organization for Standardization and Quality, to present A summary of the Division’s achievements during 2023, the export file to the European Union, and discuss the requests of some companies to issue standard specifications for new products, and modern methods of extracting some products from fish and crustacean wastes.

At the beginning of the meeting, Dr. Hani Al-Minshawy stressed the Chamber’s role and its interest in training, qualification, and technical support programs for member companies through cooperation and partnership with the National Food Safety Authority, with the aim of applying the basic principles and pillars to create an integrated fish manufacturing system that matches the European Union’s food safety and export standards and requirements. He pointed out that a gap analysis program was provided for factories through visits to about 20 factories to identify the industry’s needs, providing training programs to comply with food safety requirements, joining the white list, and identifying the challenges facing the sector, in addition to signing cooperation protocols with the authorities concerned with fish processing. He explained that the Chamber’s programs included all those in charge of the system, including individuals, factories, and fishing spots, especially in Port Said and Alexandria, through successful and constructive cooperation with the National Company and many major factories that have good fishing spots. The Chamber has also made great strides in cooperating with the National Food Safety Authority in the exporting of fish to the European Union file. Challenges and ways to develop factories to meet the requirements of the European Union were also discussed.

Dr. Marwa Lotfy presented the latest developments in the fish export file to the European Union, explaining that the tracking procedure is one of the basic conditions, and the corrective steps have been completed and an audit visit is awaited next May.

Dr. Sayed Makkawi also gave a presentation on fish processing waste, including risks, added value, and ways and areas of benefiting from it.

Eng. Reda Mohamed Al-Sayed reviewed the plan to include specifications for fish products in the Technical Committee and the Special Committee for African Orthodontics at the Egyptian Organization for Standardization and Quality, announcing the opening of the Environmental Performance Unit at the Authority, which is concerned with utilizing fish waste, in addition to the Authority welcoming any requests to include new specifications.

Dr. Hani Al-Minshawy also revealed that there is a Saudi interest in bringing Egyptian experts to cooperate in fish farming projects taking place in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including in Riyadh and various regions in the Kingdom. Al-Minshawy stressed that Egypt is one of the leading countries in the field and has a successful experience in establishing fish farming projects, especially in Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate, which accounts for 35% of farm production.