Establishing a food safety agency has been delayed for too long
Inaction potentially imperils the health and lives of South Africans who may find themselves exposed to illness and other risks
18 May 2021 - 16:48
The time for talk is over. SA urgently needs to establish a central food safety agency or we risk paying a terrible price. As the world slowly emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic and pre-crisis global trade patterns re-establish, so too should we be racing to establish a food safety regulatory and testing regime that ensures the health and welfare of SA citizens.
It’s not as if we haven’t had time to act. In fact, the idea of a statutory national food control agency has been debated and considered for about 20 years after first being mooted by then agriculture minister Thoko Didiza as far back as 2001...
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