With a focus on emerging food safety challenges, Mongolia organized a consultation on the "Status and future of food standards in the country". Fifty representatives from various institutions discussed solutions and the next steps at the event on 7 June 2023 at the United Nations House in Ulaanbaatar.

“Together with colleagues from ministries, laboratories, research and non-governmental organizations, food producers, universities, and media, we talked about the challenges and possible solutions to ensure food safety. For example, the lack of use and adoption of international food standards and inadequate equipment in food safety laboratories in the country,” said Enkhtur Byakharjav, the ACT Project Coordinator in Mongolia.

To address these issues, the participants suggested updating the main food standards to align them with the international standards of the Codex Alimentarius. They also proposed enhancing the network of public and private food safety laboratories. Furthermore, there were proposals to upgrade the equipment at the food safety reference laboratory and clearly define its roles in ensuring the safety of raw materials for food products, including surveillance, sampling, laboratory analysis, establishing an integrated database, and conducting risk assessments. The suggestions have been submitted to key authorities such as the Office of the President, the Deputy Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry, the Mongolian Agency of Standard and Metrology, and the Mongolian Customs Office.

Byakharjav also added that they distributed the FAO Food Safety Toolkit for Asia and the Pacific and food safety posters in Mongolian. These materials emphasized the importance of hygiene and animal health, as well as the risks posed by antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and foodborne hazards, and the interconnectedness of the One Health approach. Additionally, FAO Mongolia disseminated a video for children "Experiment: Keep your food safe," highlighting good hygiene practices and proper handling of food products.

The event to celebrate World Food Safety Day 2023 was organized by FAO Mongolia, together with the World Health Organization country office, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry, the Ministry of Health, and the Mongolian Agency of Standards and Metrology. In addition, locally produced food products with quality certification were presented at the side event.

FAO Mongolia, as part of the “Action to support implementation of Codex AMR texts (ACT)”, continues activities in promoting food safety and combatting foodborne antimicrobial resistance.

Learn more
For more information about the ACT project, please visit: https://www.fao.org/antimicrobial-resistance/projects/ongoing/project-10/en/

Photo @ FAO Mongolia
Caption: 7 June 2023 Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia – Discussion about the food standards (from left to right:  Batmunkh Gonchigjav, Head of Border Quarantine Division at the General Customs Office of Mongolia,  Bayarmaa Tudevrenchin, Specialist at FAO Mongolia, Tungalag Davaa, Senior Expert for Food Production at the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Light Industry, Ganzorig Vaanchig, Director of the Department of Certification for Products and System at the Mongolian Agency of Standards and Metrology, Munkhtuya Battsengel, Head of the Strategy Planning and Risk Assessment Center at the National Reference Laboratory for Food Safety, and Munkhzaya Baatarjav, Executive Director at the meat processing factory ‘’Precom’’).