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History tells us that the US Revolutionary war in the 1700’s was triggered by a trade dispute over tea.  Well, we won’t expect the same from the Meat Patty battle between Jamaica and Belize. 

You might not have known – and we surely didn’t – but it seems that Jamaican Patty Producers have been having a hard time getting their their meat and chicken patties into Belize. Â 

It came up last week in a meeting between Jamaica’s Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Karl Samuda and Belize’s Minister of State in the Ministry of Trade, Tracy Taegar-Panton.   The two met in Guyana for bilateral talks in the margins of the 43rd meeting of CARICOM’s Council for Trade and Development.

According to a release from Samuda’s Ministry in Jamaica, “Jamaican exporters were experiencing challenges with exporting beef and poultry patties to Belize despite a decision of the COTED giving approval for the export of Jamaican patties to all CARICOM Member States.â€￾

Well, the patty prohibition is no more. Samuda is quoted in his ministry’s release as saying that, now, Jamaican patties will be allowed into Belize without impediment.

Now, who’s importing Jamaican patties?  Well, we couldn’t find that out – because when we checked with the only known vendor of Jamaican Patties in Belize – and that’s the Big Bite restaurant, they told us they import their patties from Miami.  Jamaican patties are known for their trademark yellow, flaky crust.