SAARC Agriculture centre (SAC) organized a SAARC Regional Consultation on “Food Safety in South Asia Region: Current Status, Policy Perspective and Way- Forward” in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 26-28 August 2019. The program was jointly organized by the SAARC Agriculture Centre (SAC) and BSAFE Foundation. The consultation program aims to discuss the current situation of food safety, issues, challenges and way-forward to overcome the issues/challenges in the SAARC region.
Dr. Muhammad Abdur Razzaque MP, Honorable Minister, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh was graced as the Chief Guest. Mr. Md. Nasiruzzaman, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh was present as the Special Guest. Ms. Syeda Sarwar Jahan, Chairman, Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA) and Dr. Md. Kabir Ikramul Haque, Executive Chairman, BARC were present as guests of honor. Dr. Mohammed Zainul Abedin, President, BSAFE Foundation presided over the inaugural function.
Dr. Debashish Mazumder, Senior Research Scientist, Project Lead-Food Provenance-Environmental Research, Australia was as a key note speaker on “Towards the Development of Food Safety and Traceability Tools for Sustainable Human Health and Business: A Need for Larger Cooperation” of the program.
The consultation meeting was attended by more than 300 participants from different institutions and organizations of SAARC member countries- Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. On behalf of SAC Dr. Md. Younus Ali, Senior Technical Officer, SAC coordinated the consultation and led the SAARC delegation to Dhaka.
After the inauguration, technical sessions were taken place and eight country status papers were presented on “Food Safety in South Asia Region: Current Status, Policy Perspective and Way- Forward” including policy recommendations for countries and the region. In the second day, invited speakers from Bangladesh and India shared their learning, challenges and way forward on food safety in South Asia. Last day of the meeting, the participants visited the intervention on food safety management in Comilla, on 28th August 2019 and to further continue their discussions.
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