Heartsmart’s Condiments: Healthy food can be tasty food

The steady growth of the agro processing sub-sector from a modest and little-regarded pursuit used mostly to subsidize the incomes of poor families to what, in some instances, are, these days, significant investments in the manufacture of condiments from locally grown fruit and vegetables, is, arguably, one of the recent noteworthy successes in the agro-processing sector.

 Time was when agro processed produce was vended mostly in hastily wrapped paper and plastic packages and from in bottles that often raised questions about the sanitation bona fides of the products themselves.  How things have changed! These days, the manufacture of these fruit and vegetable-based snacks, condiments and seasonings is subject to the strict food safety oversight protocols that are embedded in the law; so that even the smallest ‘manufacturer’ of agro produce, these days, must comply with at least minimum factory, presentation and sanitation standards that are subject to enforcement and transgression of which are punishable by laid down sanctions overseen by state agencies like the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) and the Government Analyst Food & Drugs Department. (GA&FDD)