Sunday, February 07, 2010

Macedonia to adopt Food Safety law

The upmost objective of the new food safety law, presented in Skopje on Friday, is to ensure a high-level protection of humans' health and food consumers' interests, Macedonia's chief veterinary official said.

The Head of Veterinary Directorate, Dejan Runtevski, said on Friday that once the law comes into force, several old laws will be revoked, which means that Macedonia will bet a framework food law.

"The tendency is to establish an integral system. The new law will make up for all omissions in the previous laws and will ensure that shortcomings be overcome," Runtevski said.

The new law strengthens the government's supervisory powers, unifies food safety standards, changes the licensing system, and increases liabilities.

Runtevski also presented the animal food safety bill, the country's first ever law on animal protection, which is to enter into effect soon.

The law regulates the basic animal food demand, basic principles and liabilities of animal food operators, organizational structures on food safety, and animal food safety control.

Runtevski stressed that these two laws are in line with the EU legislation and with the national program for adoption of EU Acquis, as well as with the introduction of integral system on food safety control.

"We finally wrap up the legislation in fields spanning food safety and veterinary policies," Runtevski said.

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