Hi all! Camilla here *wavy hand emoji*. The second (and final :)) week of the #BEinternship was simply the bomb! I got the chance to head out on the field and spend a day at the FIQCU, a division of SBS (Seychelles Bureau of Standards) which abbreviates to Fish Inspection and Quality Control Unit situated in Victoria. One of the things that they do is executing visits in numerous areas and organisation for Inspection/ audit. Places such as Fishing and transport vessels e.g. containers, food processing industries, cold stores and so on. Basically places that’s mainly linked to fish and fishery products in any sort of way. The reasons why these routine inspection is of great necessity is to ensure that everything is up to standard and that they are following the HACCP (Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Point) principles and legal requirement towards food safety. Some of fish inspector’s main duties are to examine the basic housekeeping and hygiene/sanitation practices but also identify the different chemical, physical and microbiological hazards that may in any of way affect the products. And that’s exactly what we did when Carl, Aaron (2 fish inspectors) and I went to the IOT (Indian Ocean Tuna) factory for an inspection/audit especially before exporting overseas. It was nice to see another fellow #BEintern (Raina Nicette) from the IOT lab division, as this was a clear indication of how both Blue Economy organisations (SBS and IOT) interlinks and interacts on a regular basis. After completing a GMP & and health questionnaires and gearing up in hair nets, boots, overall, ear plugs and high visibility florescence jackets we were ready for the grueling walks throughout the different areas inside the massive factory. A common misconception from the Seychellois occurs usually, from moment you mention IOT the first two things that pops into their mind is “fish cleaning” and “putrid smell”. But its waaaaaay more than that! From the incoming fishes on the vessels and the sorting areas on the docks all the way to the cold store (with temperature all the way to below -30 ̊c) to seaming, sterilisation and label and case there were so many ongoing processes that I could barely keep track of them all. Some tasks that where undertaken throughout this inspecting/audit included: witnessing the ‘Metal detection verification tests’ , review of records, identification of different hazards (micro biological, physical and chemical, interviewing some workers, making some recommendations/ suggestions … just to state a few. Mr. Aaron Mariannne, A fish Inspector from the FIQCU agreed to answer a few questions on camera for this blog. So just click on the video below to watch the interview and I hope that you’ll enjoy it!
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AuthorThe interns of the Prosperity & Environment: Promoting sustainable development opportunities for youth in the Blue Economy sector. Archives
January 2018
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