Lebanon intensifies efforts to ensure food security

Lebanese Health Minister Ali Hasan Khalil Beirut – George Shahin Lebanese ministers of tourism, economy, agriculture and health on Thursday met with the heads of tourism syndicates in Beirut to discuss the issue of health safety after spoiled products were discovered in Lebanese markets.
Minister of Tourism Fadi Abboud told a press conference following the meeting that the meeting sought “to outline the practical steps that need to be taken regarding tourism and healthy safety”.
“We consider this issue to be important, although some media outlets tried to portray me as a minister trying to talk down this subject.”
“The ministers agreed to provide a complete list of tourism institutions in order to inspect them, in coordination with the other three ministries and to follow up on what the economy and health ministries presented regarding the way products should be imported and distributed,” said Abboud.
Moreover, Abboud told reporters that the ministers agreed to train staff who would examine tourist institutions.
Minister of Agriculture Hussein al-Hajj Hassan said that Lebanese people “have the right to know how the authorities are seizing spoiled products.”
He added that the Lebanese judicial authority “has detained traders involved in distributing spoiled products.”
Hajj Hassan added that the lists which have been circulated about the restaurants selling rotten meat in Lebanon were “not true.”
“These are lies which serve as an attack against the Lebanese economy.”
Hajj Hassan added that there “are restaurants which do not value health safety and they will be shut down, but at the same there are also good restaurants.”
In turn, economic minister Nicholas Nahhas said that after a number of meetings took place to address the issue of spoiled food “it can be said that we have organised healthy safety in an acceptable way.”
Earlier on Thursday, the industry, economy and agriculture ministers said that enhanced food safety and quality controls were vital to boost the food industry, vowing to step up inspections on producers and importers.
The concerned ministers said that they would jointly enforce Cabinet decision number 950/1, which obliges food industries and importers to register their facilities and warehouses to be subject to regular inspections.
The decision was taken in late 2011 but had so far remained unimplemented, said the ministers, speaking at the “National Food Industry Day” held on the sidelines of Horeca food and beverages exhibition.
“The decision will allow for teams from the three ministries to monitor foodstuff industries and warehouses across the country. It will also allow us to check the implementation of various health and quality standards and laws,” Lebanese Industry Minister Vreij Sabounjian said. He added that the EU would start enforcing higher standards on foodstuff imports by the end of 2012.
“Local industries which are keen to preserve the vital European market should step up quality assurance to attain the EU’s hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) certification,” he added.
HACCP is a system adapted by the European Union to assure food and health safety for both local and foreign producers. The standards address hazards at production facilities instead of merely inspecting finished products.
Nahhas echoed Sabounjian, highlighting that improving quality and standards were necessary to increase the country’s foodstuff exports. “We are now preparing for negotiations with the EU on industrial trade. Signing off this agreement would give a significant boost to food industrial exports,” he said.
He said the exports of the food industry have been witnessing significant growth, achieving an annual rate of 10 per cent over the past few years.
Nahhas added that his ministry had teamed up with the agriculture ministry to draft a food security law, saying he hoped it would soon be forwarded to Parliament.
For his part, Hajj Hassan said bad economic policies had led to Lebanon importing some 85 per cent of its food. “Why should we consider trade freedom sacred when many Arab and European markets remain closed to our agricultural and industrial products?” he added, calling for reciprocal trade policies.
Hajj Hasan said the majority of foodstuff importers and producers respect food safety standards. “We have over 100 meat importers and more than 500 warehouses. If one or two were found to deal with expired meat, it should not be a reason to destroy the reputation of the whole sector,” he added.