The Knesset Labor, Welfare and Health Committee concluded its discussion on food production supervision by instructing the NPO Public Trust to submit a proposal for a bill to establish an independent food agency, which "will consolidate all the supervisory agencies under one roof to ensure broad and thorough supervision for public health."
During the meeting, Public Trust outlined its proposals to the committee members. The organization said that current supervision of food in Israel was deficient, risked public health, and was dispersed among several agencies, each of which says the others bear responsibility.
Public Trust added that, since 1966, the State Comptroller and public committees have published dozens of reports, and an uncountable number of discussions have been held to deal with the urgent need to establish a central food regulatory agency with effective supervisory functions, similar to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, nothing has ever been done.
The organization's report proposes the establishment of a similar agency, which will provide a higher level of food safety in Israel in line with the standards in Western countries. The organization's model for an Israeli food agency is the European Food Safety Authority.
A single food supervisory agency will oversee the quality of the public's nutrition, and set nutritional guidelines for population segments from infants to the elderly, as well as the special needs of diabetics and suffers of other diseases. The agency would also set guidelines for the production, storage, and marketing of agricultural produce and food, with the goal of preventing health hazards, food poisoning, and the spread of disease by supervising food producers and marketers, as well as restaurants and meals producers for hospitals, kindergartens, old-age homes, and other institutions.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 21, 2010
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