Food Safety Law finalised and referred to the Assembly whilst Minister Abou Faour discloses new scandals

The Joint Parliamentary Commissions had a brief meeting yesterday and finally succeeded in endorsing the Food Safety Law proposal which will be referred it to the Assembly so that it is approved during its next meeting.  To be noted that the endorsement of what is known as the Bassel Fuleihan law occurred following the introduction of some amendments according to the President of the Parliamentary Commission for health, MP Atef Majdalani.  The amendments mainly pertained to the prerogatives of the Council which explicitly included the need for to coordination with the relevant Ministries.  Other amendments related to the party which has tutelage over the Council, a tutelage which now falls within the responsibilities of the Prime Minister. The project law considers the Council as a financially and administratively independent body. On this, Minister of Public Health, Wael Abou Faour, noted that he would have preferred the Council to have full executive prerogative rather than being constrained by coordination with Ministries.  According to As Safir newspaper, the mandate of this new law includes all types of food and beverages including water and all material used for food production, packaging, treatment and marketing as well as all agricultural products even if they are not considered to be nutrients.

For his part, the Minister of Agriculture, Akram Shehayeb revealed a new scandal related to Zaatar production. According to the Minister, the authorities intercepted a trading shop located in 3aramoon which was using bran died in red or green and mixed with powder wood, citrus and only a bit of Zaatar imported from Syria and then sold as Lebanese Zaatar.  Minister Shehayeb announced the foreclosure of the culprit trading shop as well as of another institution that sells expired agricultural products, pesticides and veterinary meds.

Source: Al-Diyar, As-Safir, Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Akhbar & Annahar 22 & 23 January, 2015)