Evidence and Ethics in Food Fortification Policy Development

The primary objective of food fortification policy and programs is generally the “protection of public health and safety”. The ‘protection’ indicates the benefits associated with mandatory food fortification. On the other hand, ‘public health and safety’ refers to the risk of harm resulting from excessive nutrient intake. These two dimensions create ambiguity for the decision makers. The exposure to the raised level of nutrients can also have ethical consequences. The decision on fortification policy should be based both on the evidence and ethics.

The food fortification policy must be informed by sound scientific evidence. We generally use a term: evidence-informed-policy-making decision. There should be two types of evidence: evidence of food fortification to ‘promote’ public health; and evidence to ‘protect’ public health.

The evidence hierarchy method is used to evaluate the quality of evidence. For example, evidence based on randomized controlled trials (RCTs) is considered high quality. The process for developing evidence-informed guidelines was developed by WHO (2009). It consists of a nine step procedure as shown in figure below. 

तोरी र रेपसिडको तेलमा भटमासको तेलको मिसावट सम्बन्धि प्रकाशित लेख

काठमाडौँ उपत्यकाको विभिन्न स्थानबाट संकलन गरिएको ४९ वटा नमुना मध्ये ५५% तोरी र रेपसिडको तेलमा भटमासको तेल मिसाई उपभोक्तालाई ठगी गरि राखिएको बारे अन्तरास्ट्रिय पत्रिकामा मेरो अनुसन्धान प्रकाशित भएको पनि ६ बर्ष भई सकेछ l सो सम्बन्धि नियमनको लागि हालसम्म केहि पनि उल्लेखनीय कार्य भए जस्तो लाग्दैन l उपभोक्ता कहिलेसम्म ठगिनु पर्ने हो ?

प्रकाशित लेखको लिंक यस प्रकार रहको छ l 

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2013.11.030

लेखको पूर्ण पाठ यस प्रकार रहको छ l  

खाद्य तथा दाना बस्तुहरुमा निर्धारित न्युनतम अनिवार्य गुणस्तर

(Email subscribers will get the link to download this document)

फलफुलको रसको प्रस्तावित गुणस्तर

WTO SPS नोटिफिकेसनको चरणमा रहेको "फलफुलको रसको प्रस्तावित गुणस्तर " देहाय बमोजिम रहेको देखिन्छ l  (श्रोत: एस पी एस इनक्वारी पोइन्टको वेब साइट ) l  तपाइको प्रतिकृया वा सुझाब तल दिनु होला l 

Opinion Poll on FDA

Boarder rejection statistics of US and EU from developing countries (2002-2008)

 What do the boarder rejection statistics of US and EU from developing countries tell about?

FAO (2005) Guidelines on Food Legislation

 PDF Document: "FAO (2005) guidelines on Food Legislation"

FAO (2003) Guidelines: National Food Control System

 PDF Document: "FAO (2003) Guidelines for strengthening national food control systems"

Compilation of all Food and Feed Legislation in Nepal

Please find the comprehensive document on "compilation of food and feed acts, regulations, directives, guidelines, mandatory standards etc (all in one)". (If somebody has the latest version, please let me know)

Evaluation of National Food Control System of Nepal: FINAL PART

In the previous posts, we had evaluated the National Food Control System of Nepal using the tool developed by FAO/WHO. The evaluation was done in four dimensions:

Dimension A: Are system resources and inputs adequate?

Dimension B: How do the controls function?

Dimension C: How does the system interact with stakeholders?

Dimension D: Is the system evidence based ? Does it support continuous improvements?

To read those evaluations in details, please click the links below:

1. National Food Control System of Nepal: Part 1

2. National Food Control System of Nepal: Part 2

3. National Food Control System of Nepal: Part 3

4. National Food Control System of Nepal: Part 4

We had used the following qualitative scoring scale during evaluation: (1 = Absent, 2 = Insufficient, 3 = Basic requirements exist, 4 = All requirements exist, 5 = Exceeds the requirement)

In this post we will compile the average scores within a sub-category and demonstrate them in the graphical format.

Evaluating National Food Control System of Nepal: Part 4

Please read the information about FAO evaluation tool , part 1, part 2 and part 3 of the series before reading this third part.

In this post we will try to use the FAO tool to evaluate the National Food Control System of Nepal. The evaluation will be done in four dimensions:

Dimension A: Are system resources and inputs adequate?

Dimension B: How do the controls function?

Dimension C: How does the system interact with stakeholders?
Dimension D: Is the system evidence based ? Does it support continuous improvements?

In this part, we will only evaluate the fourth dimension D: “Is the system evidence based ? Does it support continuous improvements?”

Evaluating National Food Control System of Nepal: Part 3

Please read the information about FAO evaluation tool , part 1 and part 2 of the series before reading this third part.

In this post we will try to use the FAO tool to evaluate the National Food Control System of Nepal. The evaluation will be done in four dimensions:

Dimension A: Are system resources and inputs adequate?

Dimension B: How do the controls function?

Dimension C: How does the system interact with stakeholders?
Dimension D: Is the system evidence based ? Does it support continuous improvements?

In this part, we will only evaluate the third dimension C: “How does the system interact with stakeholders?”

Evaluating National Food Control System of Nepal: Part 2

Please read the information about FAO evaluation tool and part 1 of the series before reading this second post.

In this post we will try to use the FAO tool to evaluate the National Food Control System of Nepal. The evaluation will be done in four dimensions:

Dimension A: Are system resources and inputs adequate?

Dimension B: How do the controls function?

Dimension C: How does the system interact with stakeholders?
Dimension D: Is the system evidence based ? Does it support continuous improvements?

In this part, we will only evaluate the second dimension B: “How do the controls function?”

Evaluating National Food Control System of Nepal: Part 1

Please read the first post before reading this post.

In this post we will try to use the FAO tool to evaluate the National Food Control System of Nepal. The evaluation will be done in four dimensions:

Dimension A: Are system resources and inputs adequate?

Dimension B: How do the controls function?

Dimension C: How does the system interact with stakeholders?
Dimension D: Is the system evidence based ? Does it support continuous improvements?

In this first part, we will only evaluate the first dimension A: “Are system resources and inputs adequate?”

NATIONAL FOOD CONTROL SYSTEM ASSESSMENT TOOL

National food control systems are designed to protect the health of consumer and to ensure fair practices in the food trade. However, every country has flexibility in determining, designing and implementing the national food control system within the territory. Different countries have adopted different food control systems in the world. It is important to design a tool to measure the effectiveness of national food control system. 

Codex has formulated two relevant guidelines in this area: “Principles and Guidelines for National Food Control Systems (CAC/GL 82-2013)” and “Principles and Guidelines for Monitoring the Performance of national Food Control Systems (CAC/GL 91-2017)”. Based on these principles and guidelines, FAO and WHO (2019) has recently designed a very useful National Food Control System Assessment Tool.

The tool is divided into four dimensions as shown in the figure:

Dimension A: Are system resources and inputs adequate?

Dimension B: How do the controls function?

Dimension C: How does the system interact with stakeholders?
Dimension D: Is the system evidence based ? Does it support continuous improvements?

Challenges of Food Control Agency during COVID-19 Pandemic

“On the occasion of upcoming

World Food Safety Day 

on 7^th June 2020”

The world is facing the threats of COVID-19 pandemic, and Nepal is not an exception. The importance of food control system has increased during this pandemic situation. However, all the competent food control authorities in the world have been facing unprecedented challenges to maintain the routine activities during COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, prioritization of the critically important services and temporary suspensions of low-risk control activities must be carried out.

Let’s try to pinpoint some of the major areas of actions:

1.  Cooperation and contingency planning

Competent authorities must have emergency response and contingency planning that includes information management, risk assessment, risk management, risk communication, food incident management, multi-agency collaboration and cooperation mechanism.

2.   Functioning national food safety inspection programme

As a consequence of restricted movement, physical presence of inspectors in the premises may not be feasible. At the same time, the capacity of the food testing laboratories is significantly reduced. Therefore, Food control authority might need to take a different approach than before.

Dietary Supplement Regulation around the world: Part 2

This is a continuation of the previous post on DietarySupplement Regulation around the world-part1.  

If you have not read that part, please have a look at that first, before reading this second part. I have only tried to add some conceptual clarification in this second post.

Let’s start with different regulatory approach applied for food supplement by different countries.

1. Registration Vs Notification vs Pre-market approval approach

For the most countries worldwide, Nutraceuticals, Dietary supplement, Food supplements are regulated as a category of food. In some regions or countries, there are a specific set of regulations governing supplements (e.g. EU, US, ASEAN, India) under the food-based regulatory paradigm. Most of these countries have some form of a notification or registration based system, which is required to be fulfilled to bring a new product in the market. This is in contrast to the premarket approval approach required for drugs. This is due to the fact that food supplements appropriately fits in the food category and they pose very low safety risks compared to drugs.

Dietary Supplement Regulation around the world : Part 1

For most countries worldwide, Conventional Foods, Functional Foods, Dietary Supplements, Nutraceuticals are regulated as a category of Food. Some form of registration or notification approach has been established in different countries.

Regulators mainly rely on established formal “positive” and/or “negative” ingredient lists during evaluation.