Call for joint GCC work on food security

Muscat: Food security is the responsibility of all countries, and the global community must work together to ensure the safety and quality of food, according to the Minister of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources.
The fourth meeting of the Ministerial Committee on Food Safety in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) was held at the headquarters of the Consultative Authority for the GCC Supreme Council in Muscat on Monday.
Quality of food
President of the meeting, Ahmed Al Shehhi, Minister of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources, said: “This meeting is aimed at enhancing the joint GCC work in the field of food safety and highlighting the importance of standardising procedures to ensure the safety and quality of food in order to meet the challenges of modern technologies.”
During the meeting, the possibility of unifying the accreditation of Halal agencies and centres around the world was reviewed.
In addition, the committee also looked at mechanisms for banning and lifting bans on the import of meat and its products.
Al Shehhi stressed the need to make food safety a top priority and support the existing system by all available means, especially considering the high incidence of diseases due to unhealthy or contaminated food.
Dr. Abdul Latif bin Rashid Al Zayani, Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, agreed, saying that food security is a particularly important challenge to the world and that every country shared the responsibility to not only to provide food but also to ensure its safety and suitability for human consumption.
Unified food law
The meeting discussed several important topics related to food safety within the GCC countries, including the executive regulations of the unified food law of the GCC countries, the Gulf Guide for the Control of imported food and its mechanism, the Gulf Food Safety Day 2017 and 2018, and the Strategic Plan of the Gulf Committee for Food Safety (2019-2022).