Azernews.Az

By Trend

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) will assist Azerbaijan in improving the veterinary laboratory network and food safety quality management system in the country.

FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Europe and Central Asia Vladimir Rakhmanin made the remark in an exclusive interview to Trend.

The Food Security Agency will be one of the main beneficiaries of the forthcoming FAO technical support project "Improvement of the Veterinary Laboratory Network and Food Safety Quality Management System in Azerbaijan", he said.

Rakhmanin noted that the project will assist in the development of framework programmes for active surveillance of major endemic animal diseases and a framework for guarding against exotic disease outbreaks.

"In the frame of the project FAO will work on developing standard operating procedures and validation for modern methods for monitoring food safety indicators and will provide trainings for the Laboratories’ staff," he said.

As for the activity of the Food Security Agency, Rakhmanin said that establishment of a governing institution for food security coordination is a promising step and is especially important, that this initiative was supported by the President and the Government of Azerbaijan.

The new Food Security Agency needs to become an efficient tool in implementing relevant policies, programmes and investments, leveraging nutrition sensitive food and agricultural systems for healthy diets, he added.

The Food Security Agency has began operating since November 2017. The Institute of Food Security operates under the Agency and its tasks include conducting scientific and practical research in the field of food safety, conducting risk assessment on the basis of scientific principles, developing draft technical regulations in food security , and provision of services for the study of food safety indicators .

Azerbaijan has been a member of the FAO since 1995. The organization's office in the country has been operating since 2007.

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