The Law on Food Safety promulgated on 8 June 2022 comprises 43 articles and 35 definitions, divided into 11 chapters. It aims to regulate frameworks and mechanisms for managing and ensuring safety, quality, hygiene and compliance of food in all stages of the food production chain in order to provide protection of health and safe food for consumers and ensuring fair practices in food trade.
According to Article 5 of the Law on Food Safety, ministries or institutions involved in food safety and quality have authority to prepare technical regulations where applicable based on national or international food standards, codes of practices and guidelines.
The Law on Food Safety gives mandate to the following ministries as competent institutions to govern food safety control throughout the food chain. These include Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Economy and Finance.
The food safety measures (requirements) as defined in Article 6, shall be based on key principles including food shall be safe, of good quality, hygienic and suitable for human consumption and food control shall be based on food safety measures or technical regulations as defined in Article 7.
Food business operators, at every stage of the food chain, have the primary role and responsibility for ensuring the safety of their food products and shall collaborate with relevant competent authorities for implementation of food safety measures to avoid or mitigate risks posed by products (Article 11).
According to this Law (Articles 13-15) the food business operators have been grouped into three categories based on the nature of their business for example big, medium or small enterprise.
The punishment is applied to food business operators, who fail to implements provisions as stipulated by this law (Articles 33-40).
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