PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia will propose to Asean for the establishment of a common certification on food safety in the region.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S Subramaniam said the common certification was an accreditation that provides food export opportunities to Asean member states for greater access to the world market.
“With one certification, you can go to many countries in the world without any worries. Otherwise, you have to deal with every country with every standard which might vary from one another. That would make a lot of economic sense.
“I will present the proposal in the Asean Health Ministers meeting in Brunei in a couple of months,” he said after launching the Asean Risk Assessment Centre for Food Safety (ARAC) here yesterday.
He added that the commonality would ensure Asean interests and its unique needs were
taken into consideration in the development of global standard without creating unnecessary, unjustified or discriminatory obstacles to food exports of Asean countries.
Dr Subramaniam said the establishment of ARAC in Malaysia, which provides independent food safety risk assessment to assess
food safety issues of common interest to the region, would be one of the steps moving towards establishment of a common certification.
He said the ARAC would leverage and pool Asean expertise to provide a strong scientific base to support decision making measures that are needed to control food safety.
The establishment of ARAC at Presint 3 here marked a historic occasion that reflects Asean’s collective effort to enhance food safety, he said.
ARAC, is a regional facility available to food safety regulatory bodies from Asean member states and all relevant Asean sectoral bodies under the Asean Health Ministers, Asean Agriculture and Forestry Ministers and Asean Economic Ministers.
ARAC is supported by the European Union through the Asean Regional Integration Support from the EU. Also present at the launch were Secretary General of Asean, Le Luong Minh and Ambassador of the European Union to Asean Francisco Fontan Pardo. — Bernama