By Ibrahim Mohamed
Egypt’s National Food Safety Authority, chaired by Dr Tarek el-Hobi, held a meeting with Hani Hussein, Executive Director of the Export Council for Agricultural Crops; Dr Hanan Magdi, Deputy Governor of the New Valley; and Dr Sabri Shakir, Chairman of the Bahariya Oasis City Council, in the presence of a number of officials of the National Food Safety Authority.
During the meeting, initial steps were taken to launch the initiative to rehabilitate date stations and factories in both New Valley Governorate and Bahariya Oasis in Giza Governorate in coordination with the Export Council and the Project to Support Control and Inspection Systems (Tayyip) to strengthen the date industry and increase its competitiveness in targeted export markets.
In another context, the Information Centre of the National Food Safety Authority issued its 50 weekly reports for the period from January 13 to 19, which include many different activities.
The General Administration of Factories Control carried out 80 supervisory missions on food factories in all governorates during the last week.
Fifteen food facilities were registered with the National Food Safety Authority, and two factories are currently listed on the white list.
Examination, inspection, and accreditation visits by the Department of Control of Packing Stations and Centres reached 40; 4 establishments were registered; 8 facilities are currently listed on the white list; and 2425 export permits were issued to agricultural crops.
Potatoes have topped the list of exported Egyptian vegetables by 12000 tons each, followed by frozen fruits with 11000 tons, beans with a total of 10000 tons, and citrus fruits topped the list of exported fruits last week with a total of 65,000 tons, followed by strawberries and bananas with a total of 8000 and 4000 tons, respectively.
Saudi Arabia, Libya, the UAE, and Russia represented the largest recipients of Egyptian exports over the past week out of a total of 150 importing countries.
The General Administration for Registration and Licensing of Private Food registered 95 products and 6 companies, carried out 6 supervisory visits, examined 495 new products, and issued 33 free sale certificates.
A training course was held for the electronic system of public stores in Dakahlia and South Sinai governorates in co-operation with the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development.
The General Department of Slaughterhouses conducted six inspection visits to poultry and meat slaughterhouses, in addition to issuing 12 permissions to natural envelope factories.
NFSA participated in the fourteenth conference of the High Coordinating Committee for School Meals in the House of Supply and Provision Authority. It discussed the final position of the 63 existing warehouses in which the school meal is stored, as well as the final position of the new warehouse sites to be established for the benefit of the school feeding system.
Also, NFSA has participated in an inspection with a delegation from the Ministry of Local Development and the Directorate of Veterinary Medicine to check Damietta and Safaga slaughterhouses.
The food safety branch in Gharbia, Monufia, Damietta, Faiyum, Al-Sharqia, Aswan, Assiut, Dakahlia, Sohag, South Sinai, and Beheira governorates launched extensive inspection campaigns to ensure the implementation of food safety requirements.
This came as part of the efforts of the directives of Dr. Tarek el-Hobi, Chairman of the National Food Safety Authority (NFSA), to tighten the control over food establishments to ensure the safety of the food products offered and to preserve the health of consumers in various governorates.
