Public Sector Capacity Building

On September 21, 2023, Dr Thomas Deeb was an invited speaker for IFC’s webinar on European Food Trade Issues.  The changing EU regulations on maximum residue limits (MRLs) for Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)  may have impact for emerging market suppliers and governments.

T&M Associates partnered with Development Alternatives, Inc. on the Agricultural Competitiveness and Enterprise Development Project (ACED) to improve the competitiveness of Moldovan high value agriculture (HVA) by addressing binding constraints in targeted fruit and vegetable value chains at the marketing, production and policy levels. Complementing Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) investments in irrigation system rehabilitation, ACED provides the critical market development and technical assistance support needed by beneficiaries as they transition to irrigated HVA production. T&M Associates led a million dollar development program to upgrade the state phytosanitary service (SPS) to compliance with international norms which allowed the exports of HVA to EU and Russian Federation.

T&M Associates led the 2 year project “The Kazakhstan Health Sector Technology Transfer and Institutional Reform Project” on increasing public and private sector capacity in food processing and HACCP for The World Bank. With sustainability at the center of the program, several in-country professionals were developed to provide training and consulting post-project. More than 15 seminars for industry and government were held; detailed instruction manuals and books were developed and distributed; and 7 manufacturers were upgraded to meet international HACCP standards. This project was led by A. Vasylenko supported by T&M Associates staff including: G. Leasenco (EU Food Safety Expert, Moldova), V. Barotova (EU Food Safety Expert, Estonia), and O. Dorofieieva (Food Processing expert, Ukraine).

As part of a World Bank supported program, T&M Associates completed a detailed comparison between European Union food safety regulations and systems and the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan for IFC Ukraine in 2015. This was a first of its kind comprehensive report. It was  designed to help regulators and industry understand how to comply with both trading blocks. This program was led by A. Vasylenko with contributions from several T&M Associates staff including Dr. Sale (EU expert laboratories), G. Miskarova (EU international quality expert), Dr. Tleubekova (Customs Union Regulatory Expert, Kazakhstan), and O. Dorofieieva (Food Processing expert, Ukraine). The final reports were published in English and Russian for use broadly throughout the EU and Former Soviet Union.   Read More

For more than 20 years, T&M Associates has provided technical expertise to governments and private industry across Africa.  These projects focused on reducing barriers to trade and improving trade within Africa, as well as exports to Europe and US. Activities included increasing local and regional capacities and capabilities, regulatory and policy reform, improving food quality and SPS capacity, establishing harmonized norms, increasing regional standardization, improving laboratories for veterinary, phytosanitary, and health organizations, and consulting on marketing. These projects are supported by USDA, USAID, World Bank, IFC, Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and others. Examples of some of our projects include:

Under the USAID Trade and Investment Reform Support Program (TIRSP), T&M Associates developed and led the SPS strengthening program.   We trained over 200 government, industry, academic, and food safety professionals in food safety inspection for processors and retailers, risk assessment, and border inspections. In collaboration with the USDA developed a Cochran food safety training program which 6 delegates from Azerbaijan attended. Under TIRSP assisted the Azerbaijan State Phytosanitary Services in improving compliance with international norms as required under WTO by increasing transparency of the import/export process for plant based products, published and disseminated over 2000 reference guides on plant diseases in Azeri, and created a tri-lingual (Russian, Azeri, English) web site which provides trading partners with the information they need. In 2010, with the USDA, designed and provided food safety training to over 100 companies with our Ukrainian partner IIFSQ.  The training included the publication and disseminated two in-depth HACCP manuals for Dairy and fruit and vegetables in Russian.  In 2009 we supported the Biological Threat Reduction Program and World Bank efforts to improve veterinary education and emergency animal disease response.  This led to the execution of a 3-day Avian Influenza field exercise held in September 2009 which included over 100 participants from 13 government agencies and has been named a best practice by the World Bank and the development of a 10-year strategic plan for improving the Veterinary Education in Azerbaijan that has attracted funding from government and other donors.

The “Guide for Assessing Investment Needs in Laboratory Capacities for Managing Food Safety, Plant Health, and Animal Health” was published by The World Bank, Agriculture and Rural Development, Sustainable Development Network in 2009.

Dr. Maria Beug-Deeb presented her findings and recommendations for assessing investment needs for laboratory capacities at the STDF Consultative Workshop on Investment in Laboratories for Food Safety and Agricultural Health, held at WTO headquarters in Geneva on 15-16 November 2007.

Illinois State Alumni Magazine interviews Dr. Tom Deeb, T &M Associates’ Vice President for Sales and Marketing.   T&M Associates consults with U.S. and global food companies on how to improve their suppliers’ compliance with international food safety standards. Read More