258 CSOs lobby the government for food safety

Following the 25 July ultimatum to the government by so-called ‘Civil Alliance for Food Safety’ to form the projected Lebanese Committee for Food Safety, (http://www.lkdg.org/ar/node/15285), a number of civil society organisations called last Friday for a symbolic sit-in at 10 am, July 21, at the Grand Serail during the meeting of the Cabinet. This is the first step for the Alliance to be followed by additional steps when the Committee is formed. The announcement was made during a press conference organized by the Legal Agenda, Consumer Protection Society, Farah Al 3ata2 and Wa7hdatuna Khalasuna associations and attended by some 258 civil society organisations (CSOs). These associations said they have opened a peaceful battle with the government until after the formation of the Committee which is expected to serve as the backbone of the food safety law, passed by the Parliament about 8 months back, after being kept for 15 full years in the drawers of the legislative body. In this respect, the president of the Consumer Society, Zuheir Berro, pointed out that the step is preemptive and is sought to prevent any political manipulation of the said law to break it off. Similarly, lawyer Nizar Saghieh, of the Legal Agenda, stressed the importance of the step in that it turns the formation of the food safety committee and the topic of food security into a public cause and declares war on food related corruption. In the latest developments of the Food Safety Campaign, health ministry inspectors shut down a number of commercial institutions and shops in Saida, Shiyah, Sooq el Gharb, Sh7eem, Zghorta and al Qibbeh in Tripoli. For the names of the closed establishment, kindly visit the following link:  http://www.almustaqbal.com/v4/Article.aspx?Type=NP&ArticleID=710525. (Al Akhbar, An Nahr, Al Mustaqbal, July 16, 2016)