Rambharat says food safety a priority for Government

Rambharat spoke about his “deep and personal interest in food safety” last Wednesday while addressing participants in a High Level Executive Meeting hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation at Kapok Hotel, Port-of-Spain.

Rambharat recalled that during his first month in office; September 2015, he wrote to his aforementioned colleagues, “indicating to them that it was very clear that this ministry (Agriculture) has a vested interest in matters of food safety and nutrition.” Regarding his follow up request that they work together on “pressing issues” such as food laundering and food fraud, Rambharat said “consumers have the right to know what they are eating (and therefore) there is a responsibility on all of us to tell our consumers what they are dealing with.” According to the Agriculture Ministry, the objective of this meeting was to present to senior Government officials with a synopsis of partners’ programmes conducted in 2016, to help address negative trends associated with food safety and non-communicable diseases.

They also aimed to reach agreement on proceeding with planned initiatives for 2017 - 2018.

Discussion were centred on the finalisation and approval of the Food Safety Policy; Operationalisation of the Risk-based Manual on Food Safety; Implementation of Food Safety Communication Behavioural Impact (COMBI) Plans; and Implementation of a Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) programme.

In addition, the officials were challenged by Minister Rambharat to: 1) Bridge the gap between these workshops and the “vital work we do with what is happening out there and what the citizens of this country have to deal with”; 2) Move from the technical work that has been done to implementation; and 3) Recognise their responsibility to “communicate with the citizens of this country, drawing their attention to risks, opportunities, cautions and precautions.”