24 Juil 2024 • Agro-Industry • Development

EDB Hosts Food Safety Capacity Building Workshop

EDB hosted a Food Safety Capacity Building workshop on 18th July 2024. This event marked the coming into operation of the new Food Act (2022) on 15th June 2024 and the COMESA project on the Voluntary Capacity Building Scheme based on the Global Markets Programme (GMaP) of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI).

In his introductory speech, Mr. Seewraj Nundlall, Director of the Agritech-Energy-Ocean Department at EDB, highlighted that food safety is a priority issue for EDB, considering that the value of our domestic exports of agricultural and food products reached nearly Rs. 25 billion in 2023, a significant 41% share of our domestic exports. The supply of safe food is also crucial for our tourism industry, as it impacts customer satisfaction and the overall experience. It is also important that Mauritian consumers are given strong guarantees that the food they consume, whether locally grown, manufactured, or imported, is safe.

Mr. Yousouf Gaungoo, Officer in Charge of the MFSA, presented the main regulatory changes under the Food Act 2022 and the forthcoming Food Regulations 2024.

The experts from Victus Global Botswana, Mrs. Bo Masole and Mrs. Ruth Nyagah, presented the COMESA food safety project, explaining the benefits of implementing the GFSI’s Global Markets Programme. They invited food business operators to register for the project in order to benefit from the training sessions scheduled for September 2024.

This half-day workshop was attended by food business operators, representatives of the hotel industry, food safety experts, representatives of government organizations, and members of academia.