National Dialogue on World Food Safety Day held

ISLAMABAD, JUN 07 (DNA) — The National Alliance for Safe Food (NAFS) on Friday hosted a National Dialogue on Food Safety to enhance awareness and understanding of food safety issues among producers, consumers, industry and other stakeholders.

The day’s dialogue themed: “Food safety: prepare for the unexpected” was organized with the collaboration with the  Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO-UN) Islamabad, Riphah Institute of Public Policy and the Islamabad Food Authority (IFA) and Shafaq Cooking Oil (A&Z Agro Industries).

 This year’s theme underscored the importance of being prepared for food safety incidents, no matter how mild or severe they may be.  The event aimed to commemorate World Food Safety Day, for enhancing awareness and understanding of food safety issues among producers, consumers, and industry stakeholders.

World Food Safety Day, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2018, is celebrated annually on June 7.  The speakers highlighted that foodborne illnesses affecting 600 million people and causing 420,000 preventable deaths each year, the dialogue aimed to address these critical issues and promote food safety as a means to save lives and bolster food security and trade.

This dialogue brought together leading regulatory bodies, ministers and secretaries, trade associations, policy makers and advisors, consul generals, INGOs, political leadership, academicians, scientists, researchers, and business stakeholder to exchange for sharing their experiences and best practices to compete in the global market.

The recommendations were included concrete suggestions, and experiences shared by the learned delegates and participants which would be documented and disseminated to policy makers, legislators, academia, industry, and  relevant national and international organizations for execution and implementation, ultimately contributing to the  growth and development of the national economy. — DNA