FAO, Government, and Partners Commemorate World Food Safety Day 2023

Monrovia - Food safety is everyone’s business. Each of us plays an important role in making sure food is safe to eat.

This is the key message of this year’s commemoration of World Food Safety Day (7 June) in Liberia.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Government of Liberia (Ministry of Commerce and Industry, National Standard Authority), and other partners officially commemorated the World Food Safety Day (7 June).

“Food safety is critical to attaining several of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),”said Emmanuel Kapee, FAO Project Coordinator and Partnership Specialist attending the World Food Safety Day Awareness Program at the Ministerial Complex in Monrovia, Liberia on 7 June 2023, on behalf of FAO Representative a.i. in Liberia. “This means that ending hunger is about all people having access to safe, nutritious, and sufficient food at all times and that there is no food security without food safety. Safe food contributes to economic prosperity, boosts agricultural transformation, and contributes to market access, tourism, and sustainable development.”

FAO has supported and continues to support the government on a number of sub-sector interventions. One of these interventions included our recent Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) on food safety - Improved public health, and trade of food and food products in Liberia (2019-2022). Support under this project included consultative meetings with relevant line government ministries and agencies and capacity-building workshops on Microbiological Risk Assessment and Management, with more than 50 technical staff from public laboratories, research, and academic institutions benefitting. The project further procured 80 sets of assorted equipment and laboratory supplies (reagents; high-tech autoclaves; analytical scales; pH meters; spectrometers; distiller units; ovens; Electric Vortex Shakers; blenders; refrigerators; etc.) for the national standard laboratory; including practical training on the use of these high-tech equipment and supplies. Key regulatory instruments such as edible oil regulations of Liberia, fruits and vegetable regulations of Liberia and meat regulations of Liberia were developed and validated.

A new TCP project over the next three-year period (2023 – 2025) seeks to strengthen the National Food Control System by ensuring the safety of food and trade improvement in Liberia. The goal is to build solid and sustainable Codex systems in Liberia to effectively contribute to Codex activities.

In addition, the ongoing TCP titled “Enhancing the National Abattoir System and Strengthening the Productive Capacity of Rural Smallholder Producers” (2021-2023) completed a comprehensive assessment and is capacitating the National Abattoir System, focusing on facilities - 2 national slaughterhouses and 4 slabs, procedures and inspectors, and the enabling environment such as policy, institutional and legal framework. As part of this technical cooperation project, in March 203 FAO conducted Technical Training for Selected stakeholders on Animal Health, Surveillance, and Good Production Practices; benefitting over 20 national stakeholders, including inspectors, lab technicians, animal health surveillance officers, and butchers from Montserrado, Margibi, Nimba, and Lofa Counties and increased their knowledge on Good Hygienic Practices (GHPs), Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), and Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOPs), among others.

In the fishery sector, FAO in Liberia also conducted capacity development of female fishmongers and fish processors on food safety and good hygiene in the fishery value chain. In the past two weeks, FAO has provided training sessions with a total of 60 female fishmongers from Montserrado, Margibi and Grand Bassa Counties on good hygiene practice. This is to keep the products safe and in good quality in the process of fish handling, processing and packaging, to align it with the international food safety standard. The training was part of the project funded by the Government of Japan which successfully introduced the country’s first FAO-Thiaroye Processing Technique (FTT), an efficient fish processing technique developed by FAO to lift the livelihoods of coastal communities in Liberia.

The campaign to raise awareness of the importance of food safety continued throughout the week, with the government and partners rolling out a week-long public sensitization in Liberia.

In alignment with the FAO strategic framework supporting the transformation to more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable agrifood systems, FAO continues to prioritize food safety as an integral part of its work in Liberia and remains committed to supporting and partnering with the Government of Liberia on these critical interventions. 

Related links

World Food Safety Day