Post by Trade facilitator on Jan 26, 2023 1:05:53 GMT 1
Entering The European Market For Sesame Seeds: What Every Exporter To The European Union (EU) Must Know
Sesame seed is a type of oilseed that can be used in a wide variety of food applications in Europe and many other countries of the world. The many producing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America make sesame a competitive market that changes without adequate notice.
To successfully enter the European sesame seed market, your product should be of high quality and must meet up with stringent food safety requirements.
EU Regulation 2019/1793, which was updated in January 2022, lays down rules on the temporary increase of controls and emergency measures for sesame imports from 5 origins.
It requires increased checks for salmonella contamination in imports from India, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Sudan and Uganda. In the case of India, expanded checks also concern the presence of ethylene oxide (maximum residue level of 0.05 mg/kg). The measures apply to both raw and processed sesame.
Sesame seeds are among the commonest and potent causes of food allergies and intolerances in Europe. The packaging of your product must clearly inform consumers about the allergens present.
Though Europe is not the only viable market for exporting the product, we shall however be concentrating on the European market in this article. The main reason is that Europe is a huge market, though with stringent food safety conditions.
What Requirements Must Sesame Seeds Comply With To Be Allowed On The European Market?
As with all food products entering the European Union (EU), sesame seeds must meet general food safety and quality requirements. You can always check CBI’s summary of the requirements that suppliers of grains, pulses and oilseeds must comply with to put their products on the EU market.
Also, the European Commission has set up My Trade Assistant. This search engine enables small businesses to look up information on product rules and requirements by EU country and on a product-by-product basis. You can check the export requirements using Harmonized System (HS) code 12074090 for sesame seeds.
Food safety and product quality are the most important aspects, but some buyers will also require you to address corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues.
What Are Mandatory Requirements?
Food Safety: limited presence of pesticides and contaminants
Consumer safety is the most important consideration for any food product sold in the European market. To guarantee that the sesame seeds you sell meet EU food safety standards, you must ensure traceability throughout the supply chain.
Food safety requirements include limited or no pesticide residues, contaminants such as metals or microbes such as salmonella or E. coli. To meet these standards, you must apply the principles of the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system.
Failure to comply with food safety standards can result in the EU applying stricter controls or even temporarily prohibiting imports from your country.
In the past 2 decades, there have been various notifications through the EU Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) concerning salmonella in shipments of sesame seeds from India and from some African countries.
In 2020, several incidents were reported to the alert system concerning high residues of the unauthorized substance ethylene oxide in sesame seeds imported from India. On an unprecedented scale, Member States ordered recalls and withdrawals of such products from their markets.
EU Regulation 2019/1793, which was updated in January 2022, lays down rules on the temporary increase of controls and emergency measures for sesame imports from 5 origins.
It requires increased checks for salmonella contamination in imports from India, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Sudan and Uganda. In the case of India, expanded checks also concern the presence of ethylene oxide (maximum residue level of 0.05 mg/kg). The measures apply to both raw and processed sesame.
Another concern in sesame seeds are aflatoxins, which are produced by certain moulds. The European Commission has laid down maximum levels and testing guidelines for the main types of aflatoxins.
Labeling of Allergens:
If you are supplying sesame directly to retailers in the European Union, your product will have to follow the Codex General Standard for the Labeling of Prepackaged Foods or Regulation (EU) No. 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers in Europe.
Sesame seeds are among the commonest and potent causes of food allergies and intolerances in Europe. The packaging of your product must clearly inform consumers about the allergens present. This means that you must highlight the presence of sesame in the list of ingredients, for example by using a different font, letter size or background colour. Moreover, labels must indicate the potential presence of other allergens, such as peanuts or nuts.
Packaging
Sesame seeds are commonly shipped in 25 kg or 50 kg polypropylene (PP) bags or in multi-layered paper bags. Among the regulations that control food packing in the EU, 2 are relevant for sesame exports to Europe. Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004 requires that packaging materials do not release harmful levels of their components into foods and that they do not change the taste, smell or composition of food.
For plastic materials such as polypropylene, exporters must observe Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 on plastic materials intended to come into contact with food.
To guarantee compliance with the EU’s food packaging regulations, exporters from outside the EU often rely on testing, inspection and certification laboratories.
Sesame seed is a very important commodity in Nigeria, just like I said earlier in the article; we shall be devoting time in studying requirements by the EU for products entering their countries.
Stay with us as we bring to you more on this.
Addendum:
Our company is one of the best companies in Agro-Export Business in Nigeria today, we train individuals and corporate organizations on how to do Export Business the right way; if you are interested, please contact the admin of this forum now for further details.
Sesame seed is a type of oilseed that can be used in a wide variety of food applications in Europe and many other countries of the world. The many producing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America make sesame a competitive market that changes without adequate notice.
To successfully enter the European sesame seed market, your product should be of high quality and must meet up with stringent food safety requirements.
EU Regulation 2019/1793, which was updated in January 2022, lays down rules on the temporary increase of controls and emergency measures for sesame imports from 5 origins.
It requires increased checks for salmonella contamination in imports from India, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Sudan and Uganda. In the case of India, expanded checks also concern the presence of ethylene oxide (maximum residue level of 0.05 mg/kg). The measures apply to both raw and processed sesame.
Sesame seeds are among the commonest and potent causes of food allergies and intolerances in Europe. The packaging of your product must clearly inform consumers about the allergens present.
Though Europe is not the only viable market for exporting the product, we shall however be concentrating on the European market in this article. The main reason is that Europe is a huge market, though with stringent food safety conditions.
What Requirements Must Sesame Seeds Comply With To Be Allowed On The European Market?
As with all food products entering the European Union (EU), sesame seeds must meet general food safety and quality requirements. You can always check CBI’s summary of the requirements that suppliers of grains, pulses and oilseeds must comply with to put their products on the EU market.
Also, the European Commission has set up My Trade Assistant. This search engine enables small businesses to look up information on product rules and requirements by EU country and on a product-by-product basis. You can check the export requirements using Harmonized System (HS) code 12074090 for sesame seeds.
Food safety and product quality are the most important aspects, but some buyers will also require you to address corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues.
What Are Mandatory Requirements?
Food Safety: limited presence of pesticides and contaminants
Consumer safety is the most important consideration for any food product sold in the European market. To guarantee that the sesame seeds you sell meet EU food safety standards, you must ensure traceability throughout the supply chain.
Food safety requirements include limited or no pesticide residues, contaminants such as metals or microbes such as salmonella or E. coli. To meet these standards, you must apply the principles of the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system.
Failure to comply with food safety standards can result in the EU applying stricter controls or even temporarily prohibiting imports from your country.
In the past 2 decades, there have been various notifications through the EU Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) concerning salmonella in shipments of sesame seeds from India and from some African countries.
In 2020, several incidents were reported to the alert system concerning high residues of the unauthorized substance ethylene oxide in sesame seeds imported from India. On an unprecedented scale, Member States ordered recalls and withdrawals of such products from their markets.
EU Regulation 2019/1793, which was updated in January 2022, lays down rules on the temporary increase of controls and emergency measures for sesame imports from 5 origins.
It requires increased checks for salmonella contamination in imports from India, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Sudan and Uganda. In the case of India, expanded checks also concern the presence of ethylene oxide (maximum residue level of 0.05 mg/kg). The measures apply to both raw and processed sesame.
Another concern in sesame seeds are aflatoxins, which are produced by certain moulds. The European Commission has laid down maximum levels and testing guidelines for the main types of aflatoxins.
Labeling of Allergens:
If you are supplying sesame directly to retailers in the European Union, your product will have to follow the Codex General Standard for the Labeling of Prepackaged Foods or Regulation (EU) No. 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers in Europe.
Sesame seeds are among the commonest and potent causes of food allergies and intolerances in Europe. The packaging of your product must clearly inform consumers about the allergens present. This means that you must highlight the presence of sesame in the list of ingredients, for example by using a different font, letter size or background colour. Moreover, labels must indicate the potential presence of other allergens, such as peanuts or nuts.
Packaging
Sesame seeds are commonly shipped in 25 kg or 50 kg polypropylene (PP) bags or in multi-layered paper bags. Among the regulations that control food packing in the EU, 2 are relevant for sesame exports to Europe. Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004 requires that packaging materials do not release harmful levels of their components into foods and that they do not change the taste, smell or composition of food.
For plastic materials such as polypropylene, exporters must observe Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 on plastic materials intended to come into contact with food.
To guarantee compliance with the EU’s food packaging regulations, exporters from outside the EU often rely on testing, inspection and certification laboratories.
Sesame seed is a very important commodity in Nigeria, just like I said earlier in the article; we shall be devoting time in studying requirements by the EU for products entering their countries.
Stay with us as we bring to you more on this.
Addendum:
Our company is one of the best companies in Agro-Export Business in Nigeria today, we train individuals and corporate organizations on how to do Export Business the right way; if you are interested, please contact the admin of this forum now for further details.
