World forum on food safety opens
Regional, Agriculture, 1/29/2002

The global forum on food safety opened in Marakesh Monday to seek best means to secure efficient control systems of food production.

The Forum is the first global event that brings together senior food safety regulators to exchange information on approaches towards food safety.

The event, to wind up on Wednesday, is organized by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) following a request by the G-8.

The Forum, themed "Improving Efficiency and Transparency in Food Safety Systems - Sharing Experience," seeks to promote the exchange of information on approaches acquired by safety regulators, advance the process of science-based public consultations and facilitate capacity building in developing countries.

The encounter is attended by experts from 150 countries and representatives of international organisations such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO), The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN Environmental Program (UNEP) and the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).

Speaking at the opening ceremony, WHO Director General, Ms. Gro Harlem Bruntland, said "food safety has become a priority at the planetary scale in view of its consequences on human health and on development at large."

The U.N official, who deplored that 2.1 million people die annually in developing nations because of diarrhoea and food-related diseases, called for a global strategy to reduce microbial diseases and food-borne illnesses.

In an address to the meeting, Moroccan agriculture minister, Ismail Alaoui, said Morocco finalized reforms of its legal arsenal related to food safety. He announced that Morocco will set up an agency that will take care of assessing food-borne hazards.

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