Sécurité sanitaire et qualité des aliments

Timeless video about food safety culture in Bhutan

18/08/2021

Consumers may see making sure that food is safe to eat as something that food businesses or governments do, but food safety is really everyone’s business. Regulations only go so far and critical actions remain in the hands of food handlers – including the people who produce, process, store, transport, sell, prepare and consume food. Therefore, it is important for governments to support food producers, industries and consumers to delegate the responsibilities of food safety.

Developing a food safety culture is one of the most effective approaches to getting everyone in the food supply chain to fully appreciate applying good food safety practices. The same applies to families, another place culture is learned and passed on. When everyone recognizes food safety as an essential part of what they do, it is more than just a process. It becomes a value, it has value.

In 2019, the Bhutan Agriculture and Food Regulatory Authority (BAFRA), Ministry of Agriculture and Forests (MoAF), together with FAO, organized a high-level advocacy seminar on Food Safety Culture. Senior government officials, food businesses and relevant stakeholders gathered to learn what they could do. Bhutan, similar to most developing economies, faces enormous difficulties with inadequate infrastructure, lacks well-equipped laboratories and has limited financial and human resources in the areas of food safety. This makes implementing the food safety measures that help ensure public health challenging.

Promoting a food safety culture can help address food safety risks because everyone is on the same page, the seminar heard. Using an integrated approach emphasizes culture improvement along with technical solutions to ensure food safety and quality outcomes.

“One single institution or individual cannot achieve everything,” said His Excellency Lyonpo Yeshey Penjor, Minister, Bhutan MoAF, during the seminar, while emphasizing the importance of an integrated approach. “For that reason, it is very important that the government, the development partners, the private sector and the general public work together to achieve food safety and food safety culture,” he said.

Gyem Bidha, Deputy Chief, Food Safety Focal, BAFRA said, “Food safety culture is targeting the mindset as well as the habits of people. As a food safety authority of Bhutan, BAFRA, our vision is to ensure that food safety practices become a part of our everyday culture, so much so that it becomes a habit ingrained in our brains, such as brushing your teeth in the morning and in the evening.”

Watch the video: Creating a Food Safety Culture in Bhutan

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