Coco farmers appreciate Food Safety and GMP

"Food safety is everybody's concern," declares the Eastern Visayas Food Safety Team. For this reason, even aspiring food manufacturers need to understand their responsibility as far as production of safe food is concerned.

A group of coconut farmers from Brgy. Looc, Almeria, Biliran was made aware of the basics of food safety though a lecture on Food Safety and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP)which form part of their training on Village Level Coconut Based Food Processing on June 25-28, 2014 at Looc, Almeria, Biliran.

A total of 32 participants, both men and women, who are members of the Looc Small Coconut Farmers Association in Almeria. The group was headed by Mr. Pastor Mecaydor, who is also the Barangay Chairman of Looc. The group was organized and assisted by the Philippine Coconut Authority, Biliran headed by Mr. Ladislao Atuel, the Provincial Manager. The training was facilitated by the Agricultural Training Institute, VSU, Baybay, Leyte

The DOST Biliran Provincial Director, Mr. Romeo L. Dignos presented the topic on Food Safety which covers basic principles on food safety, different types of hazards, and a brief discussion on DOH Administrative Order 153 s. 2004 that is the REVISED GUIDELINES ON CURRENT GOOD MANUFACTURING PRACTICE IN MANUFACTURING, PACKING, REPACKING, OR HOLDING FOOD. Mr Dignos also discussed the importance of appropriate labeling and packaging as part of cGMP and food safety advocacy. Packaging and Labeling is embodied in RA 7394 or the Consumer Act of the Philippines under Chapter IV of the Act.

DOST-8 middle managers learn F.Covey's 7Habits

Imagine an organization with highly competent people. The field was cleared, instruments ran smoothly, and people were too eager with high spirits. The outputs were overflowing but there was a stinging pain of stress, anxiety, and exhaustion after the tasks were done. What could possibly went wrong? Perhaps, there needed to be some fine tuning in the workers' characters and values. There must be a revisiting of the habits of effectiveness.

The passion of Dir. Edgardo M. Esperancilla, DOST-8 Regional Director to share the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People to his middle managers came into fruition when 20 senior officers of the office completed the course last June 19-21, 2014. I was fortunate I was one of the 20. We thanked the soft-spoken Dir. Ed for letting us experience the program. Dir. Esperancilla completed the said training years back. "It changed my life," he told us.

'I felt grateful for this tool which will not only enhance my work effectiveness but my personal way of dealing with my own life, my relationship with others, and my duties as a human being.' Well, that's a quote from my own mind, which I could have said if I was given the chance to speak then during the closing program. But since time was limited, few volunteers uttered the same thought - of course, using different words.

Ms. Christine Javier of the Center for Leadership and Change, Inc. shared her experience and competence in the 7H program by facilitating the 3-day activity that was held in Tierra de Milagros in Palo, Leyte. Her talents made our spirits "levitate" from Cloud 7 to Cloud 9, with good synthesis and a healthy sense of humor. Ms. Mafe Caalim,also from CLCI, assisted Christine during the activities. That would be a thumbs up for Ma'am Christine and Mafe. Looking ahead for the follow up activities.

The challenge laid upon us is great. The next seven weeks will be the start of a journey in creating a path in our minds. A path that would make way for the habits to create a regular patterns in our routine. Though it's hard, being proactive is a key to achieving what had been carved in our mind as an end result, the vision of what we want to be.