FAO/ILSI Workshop on Food Safety in SAARC Countries

Colombo, Sri Lanka, November 25-27, 2004

Workshop Objective

• To harmonize food regulations in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Region (India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and Maldives) with Codex regulations.
• To identify scientific gaps in current food regulatory systems.
• To motivate national governments to build modern food control systems in the region.

Impact

• Harmonization of commodity standards
• Harmonization of horizontal standards (food additives, food contaminants, food labeling, pesticide and veterinary drug residues)
• Capacity Building (communication, information sharing, and education)
• Expediting the development and promotion of the use of internet and IT media to disseminate relevant information. 
• Enhancing technical cooperation among the SAARC countries and establishing networks to exchange information and expertise on various aspects of food control. 
• Developing a directory of reference institutions and regional rosters of food safety and quality control experts. 
• An FAO Regional Workshop on the new Guidelines to Assess Food Safety Capacity Building Needs will be organized to help SAARC countries in identifying gaps in their food safety regulatory systems. 
• Policy makers and standard-setting bodies will work on the implementation of recommendations and their introduction into the national legislation.

These types of workshops have been critical for educating regulators about the benefits of science-based harmonization of food regulations and the importance of using international food standards at the country level.