Qatar partakes in Arab Food Safety Policy Project Symposium

Qatar partakes in Arab Food Safety Policy Project Symposium

Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) has participated in an “Arab seminar” through a videoconferencing held yesterday, June 7, 2020, on the Arab Food Safety Policy Project, of which Qatar has been assigned by the Arab Food Safety Team of the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States, to prepare the initial draft, on bases of the latest references and international best practices in this regard.

The draft was presented by the Head of Ports Health and Food Control section, MOPH, Khalid Yousef Al Sulaiti. It provides the technical basis for joint coordination and standardization of procedures between the competent authorities in the Arab countries to advance food safety and related legislation. The aim is to protect human health, animals, plants, the environment and facilitating trade by applying principles based on scientific foundations. This includes risk analysis and procedures for the Elaboration of Codex standards which are enabled in an integrated institutional framework and effective cooperation, including strengthening partnership between the public and private sectors.

The draft comes in response to the aspirations of workers in the field of food safety as a scientific and technical basis for developing the food safety system in Qatar and the Arab countries.

It is noteworthy that the Arab team for food safety, which is affiliated with the Implementation and Follow-up Committee within the Economic Affairs Sector in the Department of Arab Economic Integration in the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States, has assigned the State of Qatar to head a technical team to prepare the Arab food safety policy.

The Arab team for food safety has been working since its establishment in 2016 to achieve its goals. It provides technical advice to the League of Arab States, the Arab Organization for Industrial Development and Mining, and the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development. An aim is to coordinate and harmonize the systems and procedures for conformity and food safety assessment and approval and commit to their implementation by the oversight and inspection organizations in the Arab region. 

This comes as the unity of the prevailing social and cultural conditions and nutritional traditions facilitate the process of adopting and possessing a unified food policy for the Arab region. It also strengthens tight coordination and control measures that serve food safety issues, and it is also an asset to enhance the protection of public health pillars for citizens of Arab countries in line with the prevailing global trend to unify the procedures and imperatives of joint regional coordination.