Gulf countries compete with our food industries and the US monitors our factories

The industrial sector reportedly will need to start complying with the US food safety regulations regarding imports in accordance with the new US ‘Food Safety Modernization Act FSMA’ which will enter into effect this forthcoming August. The Vice President of the Lebanese Industrialist Association, George Nasrawi, pointed out that the new regulations have effectively given the US the right to monitor the food factories that export to its territories through an assigned inspector. Speaking to Al Diyar newspaper, Nasrawi complained that the Lebanese industrial production is facing high production costs compared to neighboring countries that are fiercely competing with Lebanon in the US markets. He urged the Lebanese Government to support the production process by subsidizing the high cost inputs, particularly, electricity and fuel. He said unlike Lebanon, many Arab countries support their local industries through financial contributions to the operational cost or by creating the favorable infrastructure. “For that reason, GCC states are now competing with our exports on foreign markets,” Nasrawi said, citing the imports of ‘potato chips’ which are flooding our markets. He finally appealed to the Lebanese government to salvage and support domestic industries in order to restore its competitiveness on international markets. (Al Diyar, 11 July 2015)