Food Safety Centre to be Set Up Next Year

KUALA LUMPUR, July 16 (Bernama) -- The Health Ministry will set up a Centre For Food Safety equipped with a high-tech laboratory in Selangor state's Salak Tinggi next year to ensure food safety and quality. Health minister Liow Tiong Lai said the centre is expected to form the scientific arm of the Ministry's Food Safety and Quality Division to ensure the safety of food products in Malaysia particularly imports. "We'll focus on safe and quality imports into the country and on efficient recall of products if contamination is detected," he said during a speech at the International Food Safety Conference here Monday. Liow said the conference themed "Building Global Trust and Confidence in Food Safety" was timely as consumer confidence in importers, exporters, food manufacturers and food safety authorities had been eroded due to the global food crisis. Liow said the Ministry will also set up an International Food Safety Training Laboratory to provide training in the subject in collaboration with the University of Maryland in the United States. The laboratory is expected to help reduce cost in sending food samples to Singapore and the U.S. for testing. The two-day conference was organised by the Ministry of Health and Malaysian Institute of Food Technology in collaboration with the University of Maryland. -- BERNAMA