Bangladesh Aquatic and Aquacultural Food Safety Center

Description of AAFSC, key dates of activities involving JIFSAN

AAFSC is a collaboration with Bangladesh Shrimp and Fish Foundation (BSFF) and JIFSAN to provide food safety training to improve the safety of farmed and capture aquaculture products in Bangladesh. AAFSC operates based on the TTT approach. Some of the trainings have been partially funded by FDA, but the majority of the initial U.S. based funding came from USDA-FAS or USAID, as USDA-FAS was interested in promoting the use of U.S. sourced feed and USAID has identified Bangladesh as priority country under Feed the Future.

Key dates and activities involving JIFSAN trainers

  • • 2009 -As part of the Initiative’s Phase I of development, JIFSAN delivered its standard GAqP training program in Kuhlna, Bangladesh. During this program, a small group of participants were selected to become the initial cadre of ToT.
  • • 2010 -formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between JIFSAN and BSFF was signed, establishing the AAFSC under the Collaborative Training Initiative. Since then, JIFSAN has helped BSFF develop Good Aquacultural Paractices (GAqPs) and Good Fishing Vessel Practices (GFVP) and later Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) training modules for the aquaculture industry.
  • • 2010 – Phase II - the selected ToT came to JIFSAN at the University of Maryland and Virginia Tech for training. During the training, the participants worked with JIFSAN instructors to identify components of the existing GAqP program that they could use in their trainings and additional areas that were specifically relevant to the Bangladesh industry.
  • • 2011 - Phase III, JIFSAN offered its GAqP program in Bangladesh in December 2011, with a third of the program presented by the Bangladesh AAFSC ToT.
  • • 2014 – Phase III the curriculum was extended to include a two-day HACCP training.
  • • 2014 and 2015 - JIFSAN instructors went back and delivered trainings on GAqP + HACCP and GFVP + HACCP.
  • • 2016 - JIFSAN instructors delivered the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) / Alliance Training on Seafood HACCP (link to those pages). While this training is not mandated, it is recommended by the FDA to use in combination with their `Fish and Fishery Products Hazards and Controls Guidance'.
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AAFSC action to facilitate “buy-in” to have a larger multiplier effect

  • • AAFSC was successful because it involved many partners as well as the Government of Bangladesh (GoB). The GoB included AAFSC’s establishment as a part of the aquaculture development strategy under the Economic Growth Program of the Ministry of Commerce (MoC). AAFSC was initially supported by USAID, the DoF, and the Bangladesh Aquaculture Alliance. It is also working closely with each sector of the aquaculture industry’s value chain and the relevant public sector organizations, in particular, the DoF, Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI), Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute (BLRI), Department of Livestock Services (DoLS), Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock (MoFL), Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Labor and Employments and Ministry of Health. AAFSC is also working with the appropriate NGOs.
  • • AAFSC’s initial business plan called for a five-year funding of 340 million Bangladeshi Taka (BDT) or 5 million US dollars. AAFSC obtained from the MoC 139.6 million BDT (US$2M) and worked to raise the remaining $3M from other donors.
  • • Since the establishment of AAFSC, BSFF has continued to leverage resources from a number of organizations such as the EU, USAID, UNIDO, FAO, World Fish, and the STDF to expand trainings in GAqP and GFVP and has raised much more funds than laid out in their initial plan.
  • • The BSFF has worked hard to achieve the goal of AAFSC and leverage a number of resources which is in line with the FDA’s International Food Safety Capacity Building Plan. Working paper describing the CTI goes into detail of other activities and funds supporting such activities
  • • Collectively under these projects, BSFF has developed a core team of ToT to train in GAqP - Seafood HACCP-based inspection, monitoring, and auditing system for the DoF, the Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters’ Association, the Bangladesh Economic Growth Program Project, and BSFF. BSFF has promoted the implementation of Seafood HACCP in Bangladesh with skippers of industrial and artisanal trawlers to develop core trainers and provided Seafood HACCP training to aquaculture establishments.
  • • BSFF developed a TTT program for Food Testing Laboratory Operations, a number of programs to improve inputs into shrimp production including Closed System Aquaculture using White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV)-negative post larvae, introduction of One-Mother-One-Tank facilities at shrimp hatcheries to produce WSSV-free post larvae, assisted in improving the quality of feed.
  • • BSFF has implemented a number of capacity building measures to improve the labor in factories on: best handling, grading, peeling, deveining, processing, and packaging practices of shrimp product by maintaining Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOPs) for descaling, filleting, and processing of fin fish products by maintaining SSOPs for the preparation and processing of value-added products.
  • • BSFF has developed a core set of trainers on E-traceability and paper-based traceability.
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AAFSC Metric highlights to date

  • • JIFSAN offered its GAqP program in Bangladesh in December 2011, with a third of the program presented by the Bangladesh AAFSC ToT. Started in 2014, the curriculum was extended to include a two-day HACCP training. In 2014 and 2015, JIFSAN instructors went back and delivered trainings on GAqP + HACCP and GFVP + HACCP. In June 2016, they delivered the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) / Alliance Training on Seafood HACCP.
  • • GAqP Metrics
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AAFSC Manuals and publications

  • Local Language (under development)

Other publications/conference proceedings

News stories mentioning CTI involvement

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Links to other “sister” projects and research collectively supporting the effort to improve food safety in aquaculture products in Bangladesh

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