As a national Codex Contact Point (CCP) for North Macedonia the Food and Veterinary Agency (FVA) for the fifth time joined the global campaign to mark 7 June, World Food Safety Day. The aim of the initiative was to bring together different stakeholders involved in the food chain and through public debate to raise awareness for food safety as well as inform the public about the importance of prevention, detection and handling of food poisoning, thus contributing to food security, human health, economic prosperity, agricultural and livestock production, access to markets, tourism and sustainable development.

Under this year's theme of the World Food Safety Day - “Food standards save lives”, the Food and Veterinary Agency hosted a panel discussion, where representatives of science, institutions competent for food safety, economic chambers and NGOs exchanged their expert opinions and views regarding food safety and food security, the One Health approach, risk assessment, food produced with innovation technologies, food fraud and consumer protection, as well as other burning topics.

"This year's theme, ‘Food Standards Save Lives,’ is the key argument that all of us who are directly involved in the food safety chain have in mind. This is the goal that we want to be the main focus of the food producers, to respect the standards that are clearly defined and that are constantly updated. The standards provide guidelines for safe food handling; establish maximum levels of food additives, maximum residue limits for pesticides and veterinary drugs in food, proper packaging, transport and storage. And all this must be respected as much as possible, and we are doing it successfully," said the Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Water economy, Mr Ljupco Nikolovski.

"Regardless of whether it is a manufacturing or processing industry, trade or food preparation, all these Food Business Operators have their individual role in ensuring that food is safe. The celebration of this international day is an opportunity to strengthen joint efforts and to ensure that the food we eat is safe in the face of climate change, global food production and food supply systems that affect consumers, the food industry and itself the planet, we should all have food safety in mind because it is a shared responsibility both now and in the future." said Mr Nikolche Babovski, director of FVA, and CCP of North Macedonia.

Read more
https://fva.gov.mk/mk/230607-ahv-po-petti-pat-odbelezuva-7mi-juni-svetski-den-bezbednost-hrana
https://www.mzsv.gov.mk/Events.aspx?IdRoot=1&IdLanguage=1&News=2994

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