Sierra Leone has considerable fishery resources and needs the foreign exchange that trading these products internationally would achieve. Yet the nation is unable to export its fishery products through an inability to achieve HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) standards and certification. A lack of HACCP has meant that overseas markets have been closed to Sierra Leone for over a decade. Previous attempts at resolving these problems of HACCP certification have been made, but none has produced any significant advancement towards achieving compliance with HACCP. This study attempts to uncover the barriers to compliance with HACCP by the Sierra Leone food safety management system, as perceived by the regulators, enforcement officials and businesses. This thesis also focuses on benefits determined and prioritized by regulators, enforcement officials, businesses, and consumers that will motivate successful implementation of HACCP. It is a qualitative case study utilizing triangulation involving a three-stage research design methodology comprising a set of convergent interviews of 22 people, followed by 77 individual case interviews and 3 focus group interviews. Ranked lists of 18 scored barriers and 22 benefits of HACCP for Sierra Leone national food safety management system were produced. The results of this study may provide suggestions for stakeholders to strengthen fishery safety infrastructure in order to protect public health, prevent fraud and deception, avoid food adulteration and facilitate trade. The results have shown that there are many and specific barriers in the SMEs in Sierra Leone that need to be removed, and their appropriate identification lies in the perceptions of national regulators, enforcement, and businesses who are familiar with their culture; attitudes; strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT). These barriers delineate the overarching principles of fishery safety infrastructure, and provide policy makers; enforcement officials; fishery businesses; academic and other relevant research institutions with valuable data on the benefits of successful implementation of HACCP-based systems.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:605101 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Sheriff, M. |
| Publisher | University of Salford |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://usir.salford.ac.uk/29491/ |
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