©FAO/Karen Minasyan

New project is designed to help relevant authorities and food business operators improve food safety, animal and plant health   

In Armenia, a two-year project on strengthening food safety and animal health in risk assessment and management has kicked off. It should assist the government among others in conducting risk assessment, developing controls and risk management options, and improving food safety management systems for food business operators.

The project was launched with a three-day inception workshop from 4 to 6 June. Participants discussed how risk analysis principles could be applied in practice effectively to suit Armenia’s strategic objectives and strengthen institutional knowledge on animal health, food safety and plant health management.

Thirty-five officials and specialists from line departments of the Food Safety Inspectorate Body, Ministry of Economy (former Ministry of Agriculture), Ministry of Health, Ministry of Environment, the Food Safety Risk Assessment and Analysis Scientific Centre, The Informational – Analytical Centre for Risk Assessment of Food Chain, Agrarian University, together with representatives of academia, research institutes, food business operators and civil society organizations participated in the workshop.

The country is committed to set up a risk assessment capability and adopt approaches on system development for risk assessment, management and communication, in line with international good practices and principles.

“Food safety means having diligent producers providing safe food, consumers sufficiently informed of their rights, and an inspection system supporting food businesses not to harm consumers,” said Georgi Avetisyan, head of the Food Safety Inspectorate Body.

The FAO project will provide assistance on identifying and improving the evidence and data sources on food safety, animal and plant health risks, implementing risk assessment to determine food safety, animal health and plant health priorities. It should help develop appropriate controls and risk management to avoid unsafe food and movement of animals. Also, capacities of food business operators on food safety management systems, and inspection services on risk categorization should be improved.  

“Strengthening risk based approaches in food safety, animal health and plant health will enable Armenia to optimally use available resources to target issues of greatest concern,” emphasized Mary Kenny, food safety and consumer protection officer at FAO. “The project will support the Food Safety Inspectorate Body to achieve its vision of strong and effective institutional frameworks, tailored decisions based on evidence, and well-functioning work processes. The One Health approach will be applied to assess and manage risks which may occur at the interface between humans-animals and plants.”

Armenia’s Development Strategy for 2014‐2025 aims at the development of the food and agriculture sector by focusing on improving agricultural productivity, marketability of agricultural products and value addition through processing.

Recently updated Government Program 2019 prioritizes food safety. It foresees improving the level of food safety; ensuring safe and proper procedures are in food production, processing and distribution; establishing effective system for prevention of animal and plant diseases; improving competitiveness in foreign and domestic markets.

The Food Safety Inspectorate Body in Armenia is the leading institution for official control and management of food safety, animal and plant health, which is also the implementing partner of the project. It has progressed over the years on food safety, but challenges exist in the country in particular to compliance with international regulations and standards, risk assessment capability and risk based approaches in food control systems.

Coincidentally, the project was launched on the same week as the very first World Food Safety Day is to be celebrated on Friday, 7 June. World Food Safety Day will draw attention and inspire action to help prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks, contributing to food security, human health, economic prosperity, agriculture, market access, tourism and sustainable development.

Safe food is critical, not only to better health and food and nutrition security, but also for livelihoods, economic development, trade and the international reputation of every country.