Celebration of the World Food Safety Day in Armenia

Food Safety Inspection Body of the Republic of Armenia in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy and with the support of the SDC-financed “Livestock Development in the South of Armenia” project implemented by Strategic Development Agency NGO organized a Conference dedicated to the World Food Safety Day on 7-8 June 2021.

High level representatives from the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Armenia, WFP, UNIDO, FAO, Trade Representative of the Russian Federation, participants from a number educational institutions, NGOs, private companies took part in the event.

Mr. Georgy Avetisyan, Head of the Food Safety Inspection Body in his welcome message emphasized the importance of food security, as well as sustainable and healthy nutrition practices.  For its long-term impact it should be started from early childhood.

Mr. Tigran Gabrielyan, Deputy Minister of Economy mentioned that the Government of Armenia considers food safety as a priority and is willing to take concrete steps regarding food security by strengthening control on different structures, developing specialists’ skills in the agro-industry and increasing the capacity of institutional structures to assess the risks of food value chains. 

The participants presented educational programmes/curricula in food safety, projects and initiatives in the field of food safety, emerging risks and resilience policies, not only food safety in curriculums, programs and perspectives realized by their organizations but also food safety issues, emerging risks, importance of coordinated work at international and local levels.

UNIDO along with other partners and donor agencies have been invited to make a presentation about UNIDO’s mandate role and activities in food safety.

Ms. Anahit Simonyan, UNIDO Country Representative in Armenia presented UNIDO’s food safety approaches and initiatives, mentioned about the strategic partnership between UNIDO and Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). She also emphasized importance of preparatory work of Members States to the Food Systems Summit to be held in September 2021, UNIDO’s role in providing technical assistance to Member States and contribution in 5 action tracks.

Participants also discussed issues of introducing HACCP and developing technical and professional human resources in agro-industrial companies.