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Agriculture Minister touts legislation aimed at improving consumer confidence
Minister of Agriculture Noel Holder has said that the Animal Welfare Bill and the Food Safety, which have been placed before parliament, are aimed at assuring consumers get quality products.
Agriculture Minister, Noel Holder during his address.
Holder was at the time addressing the opening of the 29th Biennial Caribbean Veterinary Medical Association Conference which began on Monday.
According to the Minister, these pieces of legislation will advance a number of goals and therefore impact incredibly on the ability of the country to provide assurances to consumers.
He said that the Food Safety Bill will introduce an integrated system to revamp the entire food safety system in Guyana. The Animal Welfare Bill is expected to boost the confidence of the consuming public.
Under the Food Safety Bill, government will establish a Food Safety Agency, whose purpose will be to regulate the production, placing on the market, and sale of food from the farm to the consumer so as to ensure safe, nutritious and healthy meals.
It is envisaged that this regulatory system will take account of all areas of production of ready-to-eat items or raw materials to facilitate the production of food inclusive of fruits, vegetables, milk, meat, fish or potable water.
Additionally, Holder said that the Food Safety Agency will be based on the One Health Concept – a programme designed to incorporate and address human, animal and environmental health issues.
Holder also said that to a large degree, focus has been placed on the improvement of the Surveillance and Epidemiology Departments of the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA) by collaborating with international partners such as the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO), the Pan American Foot and Mouth Disease Centre, Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture and United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation.
He said that that the GLDA is presently moving to implement a Geographic Information System so as to have an effective warning system complete with enhanced traceability aptitudes.
Holder said that these departments would be in a position to ensure safety of livestock products, since they will be assisted with the services offered by a laboratory capable of identifying important diseases.
“Quarantine, inspection and certification are other vital areas that have been improved and our new quarantine stations and outposts which are located in the border regions and our ports of entry are being upgraded to safeguard against threats of any zoonotic disease and diseases of economic importance entering our shores,” Holder told the gathering.
According to the Minister, livestock production is integral to food security in Guyana, since it contributes to food production and risk reduction and provides employment, income and capital stock.
Despite the fact that production and marketing stabilize food supply by acting as a buffer to economic shocks and natural disasters, Holder said that food supply can still be destabilised by animal diseases and bioterrorism.
According to the Minister, World Bank statistics indicate that zoonotic diseases account for 70 per cent of emerging infectious diseases.
“The cost of the six major outbreaks that have occurred between 1997 and 2009 was US$80 billion. If these outbreaks had been prevented, the accrued benefits would have averaged $6.7 billion per year.
Holder said that one of the greatest challenges facing animal health is the lack of resources available to fight against emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.
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