Food products made in Negros Oriental have started to gain global acceptance after complying with international standards.{{more}}
Katherine Vinarao, food sector consultant of the Negros Oriental Business Development Foundation, said products like the Chewy Fruit Bar, Bodbod Kabog and Bodbod sa Tanjay were runaway successes in the Asian Food and Beverage Expo in Tokyo in 2008.
Since then, the Chewy Fruit Bar, made by Island Fruits in Sibulan, Negros Oriental, has been marketed in supermarkets in the country and abroad.
The CFB is also a regular feature for business class passengers on Philippine Airlines flights between Manila and Sydney, Australia, she said.
The Chewy Fruit Bar is made from dried pineapple, papaya and mangoes and each bar is equivalent to 160 calories. “That’s a complete meal,” Vinarao said.
Other products like the Bodbod Kabog have a ten-month shelf life in its retorted packaging, doing away with the usual banana leaf.
Vinarao said that another product, the Baye-baye of Bayawan, made of rice, has a shelf life of 14 days and is also a favorite pasalubong for Filipinos here and abroad.
Vinarao said these food items have been discovered in the international market due to the efforts of the Negros Oriental Investment Promotions Center, the Negros Oriental Business Development Foundatioin, the Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce, the Department of Science and Technology and the Department of Trade and Industry.
But she said that even as they have complied with local and international food standards, the processed food industry in Negros Oriental may have problems sustaining these businesses because of insufficient raw material in the province. She said that there is also a dearth of local packaging and graphic designers and printers to project a world-class product.
One solution, she said, is for the food companies to partner with academic institutions.
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