The Vice President, His Excellency Badara A. Joof yesterday received a delegation from the Food Safety and Quality Authority (FSQA).
The Director General and staff of FSQA were at the Vice President’s office on Wednesday as part of his familiarization with sectors under his purview.
The Director General of FSQA, Mamudou Bah while briefing the VP, indicated that OVP has been supportive to their quest for food safety and quality assurance in the country.
He said his office has registered numerous gains recently as they are working on establishing regional offices across the country, and added that FSQA also secured support to develop a National Food Safety policy and Strategy, since nothing of that sort existed before.
Mr Bah pointed out that they were challenged by the government’s inconsistent and inadequate subventions that hinder their programme interventions.
Considering the high rent age of office space, the FSQA DG appealed to the government to allocate them land and use the rent they are paying to build an office complex for his institution.
In conclusion, Director General Bah on behalf of his office thanked the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) for their support.
His Excellency Joof assured the FSQA team of his office’s support in promoting the agenda of maintaining food safety and quality standards in the Gambia; and emphasized that delegation of responsibility should be seen and proven by the role an individual plays in their execution.
The VP reiterated that his doors are open to everyone promoting the country’s development agenda; saying, “Promoting individual interest or nepotism should be discouraged because it will never build a nation”.
He thanked the FSQA leadership for actively pushing the agenda of national interest.
The Board chair of FSQA, Dr Amadou Sowe also said that the journey was not easy for them at the beginning as it took a little while for the management to settle down for a more serious job.
He reiterated that food is everybody’s business so concerted efforts are needed to meet the agenda of FSQA.
The Food Safety and Quality Authority of The Gambia (FSQA), established by an Act of Parliament ‘The Food Safety and Quality Act, 2011’ became operational in 2013 is the sole National Competent Authority with powers of delegation mandated to officially control the safety and quality of food and animal feed whether locally produced, imported or destined for export.
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