Workshop on strengtheninig food security control in the region - Lessons for Bangladesh

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) with the financial support from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), is providing technical support in the process of institutionalizing food safety. This support is provided through the project “Institutionalization of Food Safety in Bangladesh for Safer Food”. The project is aimed at providing necessary support by improving the integration of the national food safety control system and by enhancing inter-agency collaboration and cooperation. This is expected to lead to greater consistency in enforcement of risk-based regulations and a safer food supply.
Under the Project, a workshop was held in Dhaka on 1 and 2 December 2014. The purpose of the workshop was to provide an opportunity for various experts involved in food safety control in Bangladesh and within the region to share experiences in implementing and coordinating food safety control. The workshop brought resource persons/experts from Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, the Republic of Korea and Ireland who presented their food control systems and shared challenges as well as successes on food safety control structures in their countries. A key topic was on how different government agencies and department are working and coordinating food safety control at national level and the key challenges and barriers to such efforts.
WORKSHOP DETAILS AND OUTCOMES
The workshop was attended by over 45 participants representing key government ministries (mainly the Ministry of Food), industry and civil society organizations. Representatives from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) also attended the Workshop.

The workshop was inaugurated by the Additional Secretary, MoF Mr. Faiz Ahamed on behalf of Secretary, MoF. Present at the opening session was Mr. Mike Robson, FAOR in Bangladesh. Mr. Robson emphasized the importance of food safety in Bangladesh and the support needed to ensure that the newly established Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA) is set up to strengthen food safety in the country. He appreciated the presence of resource persons from overseas at the workshop and encouraged participants to learn from the experiences shared from other countries.

The workshop focussed on food control experiences and a review of FAO initiatives to strengthen food controls in the region. Also a major focus was on what has worked in the region and the lessons that Bangladesh can learn from countries with shared contexts. Discussions followed on shared experiences, challenges, key lessons on mechanisms of cooperation and recommendations for Bangladesh.

Invited resource persons/experts gave presentations on:
 Food control systems within the region (Indonesia, Korea, Thailand and Philippines);
 How food control systems in the region have been revised and steps towards such revisions;
 The importance of food controls and FAO’s initiatives in the region;
 The role of Voluntary standards and certification in strengthening government food controls;
 The role of Science in Food Control and Food Standard Setting.

KEY EMERGING ISSUES
Discussions and interactive sessions followed after presentations experts. The key issues discussed/raised are summarized below:
 It is vital not to undo the good work and progress made so far in the area of food safety, but rather to build on the existing systems to improve coordination and to identify and address the gaps;
 A participative process with of all stakeholders is of key importance at every stage to gradually build a functioning system;
 Information sharing among all stakeholders was emphasized, using Information Technology to better share data/information; utilization of available resources within the country, and also in the other countries within the region (e.g. shared networks to facilitate information exchange;
 The use of food safety mobile vans in rural areas to promote food safety, to carry out food analyses and food inspections has met success in Indonesia and Thailand. This approach may be worth considering in Bangladesh.
 A concept favoured by many participants is the use of volunteers, as is the case in Thailand (mainly in the rural areas), given limited resources. The speaker from Thailand outlined how this has been helpful in filling the gaps with limitation in financial and human resources;
 It is imperative to encourage accountability among Food Business Operators- ensuring registration of all food businesses as this makes it possible to have an oversight on food safety issues.
 A consultative approach with all stakeholders when developing food regulations and standards has been successfully applied in other countries in the region and has resulted in buy in and ownership across all regulatory agencies.
 Cooperation and collaboration among all State Agencies involved in food standards setting and the enforcement of food regulations are some of the most challenging aspects of establishing a national food safety system. Examples were discussed of where there was is no institutional mechanism of bringing all agencies together, national legislation should be established that requires the practical implementation of an integrated “farm-to-fork” approach throughout the food chain.
Discussions were also held on the following key topics:
 Overcoming barriers to inter-agency/organization coordination and cooperation;
 The importance of information exchange and sharing among different partners;
 The role of risk assessment and scientific advice on food safety;
 Food inspections (and coordination of inspectors);
 Food standards and regulations.

The main resources persons/experts included:
1. Dr Minda Manantan, Food and Drug Administration, Ministry of Health, Philippines;
2. Dr Tipvon Parinyasiri, Director Bureau of Food, Food and Drug Administration, MoPH, Thailand;
3. Dr. Hye-Jeong Yoon, Director, Food Contaminants Division, National Institute of Food and Drug Safety Evaluation, Korea Ministry of Food and Drug Safety;
4. Dr Halim Nababan, Director, Food Safety Surveillance and Extension, National Agency for Drug and Food Control, Indonesia;
5. Dr Wayne Anderson, Director of Food Science and Standards, Food Safety Authority of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland;
6. Shashi Sareen, FAO’s Senior Food Safety and Nutrition Officer;
7. Prof Alan Reilly, FAO’s Senior Food Safety Adviser and Chief Executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.
The workshop was officially concluded with a closing session attended by Ms. Mushfekha Ikfat, Secretary, Ministry of Food (MoF), FAOR and DG, FPMU. Ms. Ikfat appreciated the support of USAID and FAO and also the presence of speakers from overseas. She also thanked participants for taking part in this important workshop.