An American food expert of Lebanese origin disclosed after his tour visit to local food factories that the brouhaha raised over food safety accompanied by the food safety campaign was unnecessary. Fadi 3aramuni who was invited by TOKTEN program implemented by the United Nation Development Program in cooperation with the Reconstruction and Development Council downplayed the extent of the food crisis in Lebanon when compared to most countries of the world. He traced his conclusion to the following findings:
- Willingness of owners of food factories and companies to improve without dodging any public regulations or instructions
- Highly qualified, enthusiastic and trained food monitors recruited by the ministries of economy, health, agriculture, industry and tourism,
- Strict and high quality benchmarks and quality standards imposed by public authorities.
Notwithstanding the bright aspects, 3aramuni expressed concerns over the lack of coordination between relevant ministries and departments. “Conflicting or overlapping public responsibilities and too many standards normally harms the progress of the private enterprise,” he noted, adding that the present situation prompted him to develop unified food safety and production standards which were submitted to the Ministry of Industry. 3aramuni also pointed out to the missing jigsaw which he discovered during his field trip and related to the need to educate consumers and restaurants. His pointed out to a number of deficiencies in the methods of food preparation which cannot be attributed to producers. He finally expressed his surprise as to the absence of official data concerning cases of ill health resulting from food poisoning for example.
(Source: An-Nahar, June 4, 2015)
