Food Safety
Food safety control plays a critical role in quality assurance and observance of standards for import, production, processing, preparation, and disposal of food products. Food safety control is particularly necessary given that approximately 90% of food in Qatar is imported. Rapid population growth continues to put increasing pressure on food inspection services and port authorities, with the need to increase food import growing in parallel with the need to manage and continually control the potential risk of disease outbreaks.
Health repercussions
Qatar witnesses an annual spread of foodborne diseases accompanied by a variable number of pathogens, including E. coli, salmonella and typhoid caused by food poisoning. The number of registered cases of food poisoning has increased regularly since the beginning of this century, although a large proportion of this increase may be due to population growth.
Health goals related to food safety
- Promote public awareness of nutritional and health risks from consuming unsafe foods by employing various effective mass media communication channels
- Strengthening the capabilities of the food safety management system to provide services that conform to international best practices in all important functional areas, such as inspection services, laboratory services, risk analysis, and setting standards for oversight, supervision and regulation
- Creating an integrated food safety device whose work is in line with international best practice standards for food safety management throughout the food supply chain, "from farm to consumer"
- Create an integrated risk-based inspection service that is in line with relevant international standards, such as ISO / IEC 17020: 2012 specifications for imported, home-made and exported food products, backed by modern electronic management systems, effective diagnostic services, and control and supervision systems
- Promote a culture of food safety among all parties involved in the food supply chain through the implementation of effective public-private partnership programs, aimed at enhancing awareness of the need to take responsibility for managing food risks.