Qatar, and the United Kingdom on Tuesday signed an agreement on food safety and environmental health.
The agreement was signed between Qatar Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) and the UK Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera Science Limited).
It provides a framework for enhanced cooperation in food safety research, particularly food contaminant and risk management analyses, analyses of products of animal origin, specialized tests of unforeseen toxins, food fraud detection techniques, dissemination of scientific research and development results and professional consultancy services in food safety and environmental health.
“The signing of the agreement with Fera Science Limited comes within the framework of the MoPH’s keenness to apply the best international standards and practices in the field of food safety, including laboratory services, risk analysis, control standards development, supervision and regulation,” Public Health Department Director Dr Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al-Thani said. “It also serves the implementation of the Qatar Public Health Strategy 2017-2022 and the National Health Strategy 2018-2022”.
Fera Science Limited CEO Dr. Andrew Swift said the agreement would strengthen fruitful cooperation between the two sides, “especially in the field promoting the quality and safety of food and environmental health in general or during major sporting events and particularly the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar, based on our previous experiences at the 2012 London Olympics”.
The UK Food and Environment Research Agency contributes to support training services, food safety laboratory competence assessment, screening of certain food samples for pathogens, as well as food quality and safety advisory services and risk analysis.
It will also conduct joint laboratory experiments to enhance the accuracy of laboratory test results, develop and deploy new techniques to support inspection capabilities for imported food consignments, as well as share expertise on many food safety systems and strategies and laboratory analyses.
Fera Science Limited was established by the UK Government to support and develop a sustainable food chain, a healthy natural environment, and to protect the global community from biological and chemical risks.
Fera Science Limited also specializes in agricultural science research for sustainable crop production to support food quality and safety in the UK and all over the world.