Food safety serious global concern, says minister

THE food safety issue has become an area of serious global concern with many countries have now implemented and enforced the need for food safety control systems and standards, Minister of Industry and Primary Resources said yesterday.

Quoting statistics released by the Ministry of Health, Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Utama Dato Seri Setia Hj Yahya Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Hj Bakar said that Brunei recorded as many as 177 cases of food poisoning, in addition to another 61 cases of poisoning as a result of salmonella bacteria in 2008.Speaking during the ISO 22000:2005 Certification Ceremony held yesterday at The Empire Hotel & Country Club, yesterday the minister pointed out that with the outbreaks of food related health threatening incidents, such as madcow disease, hand, foot and mouth disease, as well as melamine-tainted milk, food safety has become a global issue of great concern to consumers, producers and governments all over the world.

He said that such cases are the reason why many countries have now implemented and enforced the need for food safety control systems and standards such as ISO 22000 and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) for imported food products.

"Twenty years ago, the issue of food safety was not (something) we were concerned about. Back then we assumed all foods to be safe for consumption," he said.

"Now food security is a topic discussed among other important issues by the world. It is also used as a trade barrier tool for importation needs by buyers of such food products," he added.

He mentioned that, according to information from the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, there were as many as 2,751 food poisoning cases recorded in the States between 2007 to 2008.

"From this total, 75 per cent were caused by bacteria pathogen, 17 per cent from chemical agents, six per cent due to virus and two per cent from parasites," the minister said.

BMC Food Industries Sdn Bhd has been awarded the ISO 22000:2005 certification which was presented by the ministeryesterday.

The minister also presented certifications of appreciation to three other companies.

Both Golden Corporation Limited and IBIC Sdn Bhd received the ISO 22000 certification from SGS Systems and Services Certification on July 14, 2006 and December 11, 2008 respectively while McBrumby Beverage Sdn Bhd obtained the ISO 9001 and HACCP certification from NQA Certification Services Sdn Bhd on July 10, 2009.

The Brunei Times