Certificate of export worthiness must for shipment of milk, milk products

Exporters of milk and milk products would have to obtain a certificate of export worthiness from a government agency for the shipments, according to an order of the commerce ministry. It has also notified that milk and milk products shall be subjected to quality control or inspection or both prior to export in cases where importing countries require such an export certification. Export of milk and milk products that do not comply with the standards will be prohibited, as per the rules notified by the ministry. "The central government after consulting the Export Inspection Council (EIC) is of the opinion that it is necessary and expedient so to do for the development of export trade of India... "....hereby...prohibits the export in the course of international trade of milk and milk products unless it conforms to the standards applicable to it and each and every consignment of such milk and milk product meant for export is accompanied by a certificate of export worthiness issued by the Agency," it has said. Agency refers to any of the export inspection agencies established by the central government, it added. The ministry also issued the revised Export of Milk and Milk Products (Quality Control, Inspection and Monitoring) rules. According to the rules, as part of the procedure for quality control, inspection and certification, an exporter intending to export milk or milk products would have to apply for the approval of its establishment where the intended product is prepared or processed as per the Food Safety Management System based inspection system. The EIC, after satisfying itself that the consignment of the milk product conforms to the standard specifications, would issue the "health certificate declaring such consignment is fit for human consumption and export worthy and shall also issue veterinary certificate, if requested by the exporter." Further, the order has enlisted various hygiene requirements and general conditions relating to the holding and acceptance of raw milk at treatment and processing units.