The Food and Drug Administration yesterday stressed the need for food safety due to the increasing consumption of frozen meat, poultry and fish.
Director-General Dr Than Htut of the FDA called for a process that ensures safe food from the point of production to consumption, pointing out that food that is improperly packaged or stored can cause food poisoning and serious long-term health problems.
The FDA organized a workshop on food safety and quality standards for importing, production, packaging and storage of frozen meat, poultry, fish, prawn, fruit and vegetables in Nay Pyi Taw yesterday.
The workshop was aimed at seeking cooperation to ensure better food production and distribution and to monitor pesticide residue in fruit and vegetables.
Inspections of food courts at shopping malls as well as at local markets must be carried out to ensure food safety, said Daw Mya Mya Thein, a staff officer of the Fisheries Department.
According to statistics released during the workshop, 35 of 116 cold storage factories in Myanmar have been approved as HACCP Verified Fishery Processing Plants, while the remaining25 plants are still striving tomeet requirements. The other 56 are operating under GMP guidelines. The FDA is set to make regular inspections of fish farms and fish feed plants to ensure the safety of exported fishery products, said the FDA director-general at the workshop.
Source: Global New Light of Myanmar
