Stakeholders Seek Passage Of Food Safety, Quality Bill

Stakeholders have appealed to the National Assembly to expedite action on the passage of the National Food Safety and Quality Bill 2019 into law.

They made the appeal on Tuesday at the validation workshop on the Draft National Policy on Food Safety and Quality and its Implementation Plan 2023, in Abuja.

The director and national coordinator, Food and Safety Programme, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Mr John Atanda, said  the bill is meant to take care of the existing gaps in food safety quality and also gave responsibility to every tier of government.

He said, “So there was a need to have a legislation to back it up and the National Food Safety and Health Committee that was established by the provision of this policy developed the National Food Safety and Quality Bill.

“It passed through all the legislative process and was sent to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent but was not assented to before the expiration of his administration.”

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The director, Food and Drug Services, Mrs Olubunmi Aribeana, said that in Nigeria, research has shown that over 200,000 people reportedly die from food poisoning and contamination annually.

Represented by the director, Food, Chemical Cosmetics and Water Safety Division at the ministry, Olufowobi-Yusuf noted that Nigeria needs a more robust and comprehensive policy to strengthen the food safety and quality sector of the country, hence the need for the validation.

“Based on government determination to modernise and strengthen its National Food Safety Control and Management System in line with global best practices and standards, the ministry and its partners have reviewed the existing National Food Safety Policy document, to address the identified inherent gaps.

“This version will provide the framework for upgrading national capacity to develop and operate an integrated food safety control system to achieve more effective collaboration and coordination between agencies responsible for food quality control system in Nigeria,” she said.

The executive director, Nigeria, Resolve to Save Lives, Mrs Nanlop Ogbureke, said “The collaborative and the multisector angle to pushing forward this policy is very critical, so we hope that with validating this policy we will be able to push together to ensure that the bill gets signed.”