Sierra Leone News: FAO engages stakeholders to validate report on Food Control System

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations and stakeholders in food safety on Tuesday 1st December 2015 commenced a three-day workshop to discuss and validate a draft report on the National Food Control System assessment conducted in Sierra Leone. The draft report compiles and analysis the findings of the assessment exercise supporting the allocation of different scores for each competency of Food Control System (FCS) and identifies opportunities for improvement, as it mainly focuses on weaknesses of the FCS.
 

Opening the session, the Acting FAO Representative, David Mwesigwa told participants that the organisation with the collaboration of government and partners decided to conduct the study on the national food control system mainly because it is very crucial to healthy living, production and other issues relevant to its mandate in the fight to reduce hunger and poverty.
“We are very eager to establish better partnership with relevant stakeholders to address problems dealing with food control system,” he stated.
Mr. Mwesigwa emphasized that food safety and its related issues are important to all because every day many people eat food varieties produced from different places around the world.
He encouraged participants to exert more interest in deliberating the issues highlighted in the findings of the report and also pledged FAO’s commitment in working with the Government of Sierra Leone in achieving its priorities.
The Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) agreed to perform an assessment of the Food Control System of Sierra Leone (FCSSL), using FAO draft Tool for the Assessment of National Food Control Systems (NFCS).

The tool is based on Codex principles and guidelines for National Food Control Systems – a collection of internationally adopted food standards presented in a uniform manner that aim at protecting consumers’ health and ensuring fair practices in the food trade.
The assessment itself was anchored around 27 competencies which are structured around four dimensions – Inputs and Resources; core business functions; Interactions with Stakeholders; Science/Evidence base and Continuous Improvement.
The Assistant Director of Sierra Leone Standards Bureau, Amadu Bah acknowledged the suitability of the tool as it highlights the weaknesses and proffers better recommendations to set up a proper food control system.

Mr. Bah explained that better food control system can aid the operations of the Sierra Leone Standards Bureau as the key mandate of the organisations is to promote standardization.
The national stakeholders including the Sierra Leone Standards Bureau, Sierra Leone Produce Marketing Company, Sierra Leone Investment and Export Promotion, Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security, Consumer Protection, and university researchers will provide comments and incorporate relevant addendums before validating the report.

Source: Awoko