Food Safety and Quality Authority launches National Food Fortification Regulation 2020
Article by: Mariama Dem
The Food Safety and Quality Authority in collaboration with FAO has launched The Gambia Food Fortification Regulation 2020 funded by the European Union. The regulation is geared towards the national household food security that will serve as a regulatory means for compliance and enforcement of food fortification in the country.
The Regulation is part of the European Union funded four-year project “Improving Food Security and Nutrition in the Gambia through Food Fortification,” which is under the supervision of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
In his welcoming remarks, the Chairman of Board of Directors of Food Safety, Amadou Sowe, thanked their partners, the government and the private sector acknowledging that it would not have come into reality without their support. Sowe said the regulation is developed for all the food business operators; thus, encourage them to comply with the fortification regulation for the safety of all consumers in the country.
The FAO country representative, Moshibudi Rampedi, said the regulation will promote and ensure the consumption of micronutrient foods, industrial and bio-fortified foods to promote better nutrition results.
The Vice President, Dr Isatou Touray, represented President Adama Barrow, and said micronutrients deficiencies form a significant global health challenge with malnutrition affecting key development outcomes including mental development of children and general losses in productivity and potentials amongst others; thus, the importance of the food fortification regulation.
Meanwhile, the food fortification Regulation states that any person or establishment that decided to manufacture, process, import, sell, distribute, or advertise without the fortified micronutrients as per of the corresponding Gambian standards referenced in the same schedule of this regulations commits an offense and is liable to a fine of not exceeding One Hundred Thousand Dalasi.