Food safety issues discussed

LAHORE : The University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) top management and officials from the United States discussed food safety issues at a meeting at the UVAS.

Pro Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Masood Rabbani and Casey E Bean, Agricultural Counsellor at US Embassy Islamabad co-chaired the meeting. Emeritus Prof Dr Nasim Ahmad, UVAS food safety experts and members of the US delegation Dr Martin Sieber, CEO US Livestock Genetics Export, USA, and Asmat Raza, Senior Agricultural Specialist at US Embassy were also present.

The meeting discussed various aspects of food safety issues, their possible solutions, food safety standards and how to ensure safe food availability to the consumers. Food safety management under the umbrella of one health approach related to livestock sector was also discussed in the meeting.

Food safety experts of UVAS spoke about the food safety systems which could be adopted for the improving and ensuring that livestock food products were healthy and safe for eating. They said the UVAS was providing different testing facilities for meat and other feed analysis, using latest processing and packaging technologies such as vacuum packing and modified packing to keep meat fresh for a long time.

The university is also offering degrees and training programmes on food safety, feedlot fattening, value chain, proper food processing, the experts said. The delegation also visited the Department of Meat Science and Technology, where they saw slaughtering facilities, electric stimulation, meat preserving, chilling and packaging systems.

PFA: A delegation of Economic Journalist Forum Thursday called on Punjab Food Authority Director General Captain (R) Muhammad Usman at PFA Headquarter. The agenda of the meeting was to discuss the business opportunities created by the work of Punjab Food Authority in the food industry. The DG said the purpose of the PFA laws and regulations was to ensure the provision of healthy and safe food for the public. These laws and regulations have stopped the ways of adulteration mafia as well as created more opportunities for new industries.

The DG further said the implementation of pasteurisation laws would help the dairy industry to grow further and the production would be increased when the farmers would get better prices.