by Yadav Sharma Bajagai
1 Introduction
Being member of different international
organizations, Nepal has many food safety related obligations to comply with
rules and regulations of those organizations. Food safety related issues
started to become matter of increased concern and one of the priority areas of
the government after the country has become member of the world trade
organization (WTO) in 2004.
Being a developing country, food chains are
generally long in developing countries like Nepal as compared to those in
developed countries due to poor infrastructure which makes the food more
vulnerable to be contaminated with harmful agents (microorganism and
chemicals). In addition, infrastructures related to technical regulation,
conformity assessment and safety of food are still in developing phase which
requires more focus and investment for better functioning. Similarly,
Inspections and regulation of food related business are challenging and
difficult due to scattered and large number of primary producers, traders and
retailers.
2 Legislations to regulate food safety
Regulation of the safety of food in Nepal
began in 1966 by enforcing the food act by the government. Although food safety regulation began as
early as 1966, its importance was increased after 1990s due to increased
economic liberalization and international trade. Traditionally, food safety
related rules and regulations were basically based on inspecting and analysing
end products to ensure safety of the food. But this approach has been
increasingly replaced by total quality management i.e. ‘farm to fork’ approach
which focuses on all level of production, processing, transportation and
trading. Modern food safety related regulations and policies have been
generally formulated following codex principles and guidelines focussing on
preventive measures to produce safe food. Similarly, existing regulations and
standards have also been reviewed to make them complying with codex standards
wherever feasible according to national regulation and infrastructures.
Requirement for international markets and
provisions under sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement as a member of WTO
made the government impose regulations and standards to ensure food safety and
to protect human, animal and plant health from exotic pests and diseases. Most
of the new regulations are under three food safety related parent statutory
laws namely Food Act 1966, Plant Protection Act 1972 and Animal Health and
Livestock Services Act 1998.
Although Nepal, being a member of WTO, is bound to formulate
and enforce sanitary and phytosanitary measures based upon the standards,
guidelines and recommendations of Codex Alimentarius Commission, the
International Animal health Organization (OIE) and the International Plant
Protection Convention (IPPC), the country is still not adopting all
international standards and guidelines due to lack of adequate resources.
Similarly, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point
(HACCP) is still not mandatory for food producers, processor and handlers in
Nepal. But, the country is giving priority to review and reform existing
legislation on food safety to comply with international regulations and
standards.
2.1 Food act 1966 and Food rules 1970
Food
act 1966, which has been amended several times, is the primary legislation
governing regulation of food safety in Nepal.
The act and rules are continuously being amended as an attempt to comply
with international standards and guidelines. Following are the major provision
made in the Food act 1966 to ensure safe food.
·
Ban in production, sale and distribution of inferior,
contaminated or unsafe food items.
·
Prosecution
for misbranding of food items by false statement.
·
Provision
for the detention of food products under suspicion.
·
Requirement
of license for food establishments.
·
Provision
of penalties (including sanction) to firms and corporate bodies if found to
responsible in the production, sales and distribution of unsafe food.
·
Establishes the government
bodies responsible for enforcement of food safety related rules and regulations
and describes their functions and responsibilities.
·
Set out the power and process
to formulate food standards and quality.
·
Regulates the packaging
requirements, labelling requirements and storage requirements of a food item.
However, the food act and any other
legislation has no provision to regulate the traceability of the food items
which should be addressed to keep track of the food.
2.2 Plant protection act 2007 and Plant protection rules 2010
These legislations regulate the trade of
plants and plant products. The major objective of the act is to protect
national or regional fauna by preventing introduction, establishment, prevalence
and spread of pests while during trade of plant and plant products. The act has
provision to designate any national level office as National Plant Protection
Organization. Similarly, the act has also provision relating to entry permit,
sanitary certification and re-export certificate of plant and plant products.
Pest control provision has also been included in the act.
2.3 Animal health & livestock services act 1998 and Regulations 1999
The animal health and livestock service act
1998 and regulations 1999 have been formed and enforced for healthy production,
sale and distribution of animal and their products. The act also regulates
import and export of livestock, their products and livestock production
material important for food and health purpose of the people. The act made the
provision for animal quarantine posts to regulate the import of animals, animal
products and animal production materials.
2.4 Others
There are several other legislations which
directly or indirectly regulate food safety. Following legislations affect the
food safety and quality sectors either directly or indirectly.
·
The
Pesticide Act 1991 and Regulations 1993 – regulate the use of pesticides in
agriculture including maximum residue limit of pesticides.
· Animal
Slaughterhouse & Meat Inspection Act 1999 and Regulations 2001 – regulates
safety of meat
.
3 Institutional infrastructure to regulate food safety
Quality infrastructures with well defined
roles and responsibilities with integrated legislation and monitoring system
will ensure safe food to the public and goodwill for international trade. In
Nepal, food safety and quality management lies under the jurisdiction of
Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. Department of Food Technology and
Quality Control (DFTQC) under Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives is the
major government institution responsible for food safety and quality management.
Enforcement of food act 1966 is the major regulatory activity of the DFTQC.
Although food safety related matters are mostly handled by the DFTQC,
Department of Agriculture (DoA) and Department of Livestock Services (DLS)
share some responsibilities to regulate food safety. Similarly, Nepal Council
for Standards (NCS) and Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology (NBSM) are the
governing body for food related standards.
Generally, DFTQC is responsible to regulate
food in the market and ready to eat food while DoA and DLS are responsible to
regulate primary production and some processing. But there are lots of gaps and
overlaps in the roles and responsibilities of these organizations which make
the regulation process more complicated. Similarly, Ministry of Health and
Population is also involved in the process for epidemiological study of food
related illness. Lack of coordination among different government institutions is
reducing their efficiency.
Consumer groups organized in different
organization are also actively involved in creating awareness to the general
public and creating pressure to the government in the formulation and
implementation of the rules and regulation.
3.1 Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC)
Department of Food Technology and Quality
Control, which is established in 1961, is the competent authority which has
mandate to enforce rules and regulations regarding food safety and quality
management to ensure the availability of safe and quality food. Following are
the major activities of DFTQC regarding food safety and quality management:
- · Food inspection and checking compliance of food industry and retailers.
- · Licensing and record keeping of food industries.
- · Work as SPS inquiry point and communicate about SPS related rules, regulations and standards.
- · Standardization and harmonization of food.
- · Certification for export and import of food.
- · Execution of consumer awareness activities about food safety and quality.
- · Development of appropriate food technology and training.
3.2 Department of Livestock Services (DLS)
Department of Livestock Services also share
some responsibilities for the implementation of rules and regulation in animal
production to ensure safety of animal origin food. Enforcement of Animal Health & Livestock Services Act 1998,
Animal Health & Livestock Services Regulation 1999, Animal Slaughterhouse
& Meat Inspection Act 1999 and Animal Slaughterhouse & Meat Inspection
Regulation 2001 is under the jurisdiction of this department. Animal disease
surveillance, management of animal quarantine check posts, regulation of drug
and hormone used in food animals are some of the major responsibilities of the
DLS.
3.3 Department of Agriculture (DoA)
Department of Agriculture (DoA) is
generally responsible to enforce food safety related rules and regulation in
pre-harvest agriculture production system. Enforcement of Plant Protection Act
1972 comes under the jurisdiction of DoA. Extension of Good Agricultural
Practice (GAP) to the farmers, pest surveillance, pest risk analysis and
management of plant quarantine check posts are some of the major activities of
the DoA to ensure safety of plant origin food.
3.4 International membership
In
the present world of interdependence and economic globalization international
relationship, bilateral and multilateral agreements and international trade
also affects the policy, rules and regulations of a country. The country has to
comply with the rules and regulation of such international organization and
agreements. Nepal is the member of following international organizations which
affects the food safety related policy, rules and regulations.
- · Codex alimentarius commission
- · World trade organization (WTO)
- · Food and agriculture organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN)
- · South Asian association for regional cooperation (SAARC)/
- · World organization for animal health (OIE)
- · Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC)
4 Food Standards
National Council for Standards (NCS) is the
government body responsible to approve and endorse Nepalese standard. Nepal
Bureau of Standards and Metrology (NBSM) acts as the secretariat for the NCS
which prepares the country standards (Nepal standard) of food products and
methods of food processing. There are
more than 100 Nepal standards in food sector related with food, food
processing, transport and storage (table 1). Nepal is one of the active members
of South Asian Regional Standards Organization (SARSO) established in 1999 and
has been involved in the formation of regional standards of food and food
processing methods. In addition, a separate government
institution called Food Standardization Board (FSB) is present according to the
provision in the Food Act 1966 which make recommendations to the government
about food standards, principles and guidelines according to international
practices and principles.
Table
1: Number of Nepal Standards related with
food, food processing, transport and storage. Source: Department of Food
Technology and Quality Control (2009)
Food groups
|
No. of standards
|
Milk and milk products
|
18
|
Fats and oils
|
16
|
Fruit and vegetable products
|
17
|
Spices and condiments
|
22
|
Tea, coffee, cocoa and their products
|
3
|
Salt
|
2
|
Cereals, pulses, and their products
|
23
|
Processed drinking water
|
2
|
Sweetening agent
|
3
|
Sweets and confectionary
|
3
|
Total
|
109
|
Citation:
This article has been published in proceedings of "National Conference on Food Science and Technology (Food Conference-2012), 10-11 August, 2012, Kathmandu". Therefore suggested to be cited as:
Bajagai, YS 2012, 'Food Safety Regulation in
Nepal and Issues in the Regulation of Meat Safety', in G Dawadi, KP Rai &
BM Adhikari (eds), National Conference on Food Science and Technology (Food
Conference-2012), 10-11 August, 2012, Kathmandu, Nepal, pp. 90-7.
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