DILI, 26 august 2021 (TATOLI) – The Minister of Tourism, Trade, and Industry (MTCI), José Lucas do Carmo da Silva informed that to ensure the safety of imported foods, Timor-Leste needs a national quality control laboratory to control the foods coming into the country.
“The national quality control laboratory of food was established to examine and test the safety and quality of the imported foods from other countries,” Silva told reporters during the roundtable discussion of the members of the inter-ministerial, at MTCI’s hall, in Dili, today.
He said currently, in Timor-Leste, there is no such laboratory for the relevant institutions to carry out their work properly.
“As you just listened to the presentation of the Immigration Service (Afandega), National Quality Control Institute (IQTL), and the National Directorate for Quarantine and Biosecurity of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries that one of the main problems facing by these institutions were they don’t have quality control laboratory to control the imported foods,” Silva said.
At the same place, echoing the MTCI’s statement, the Inspector of the Authority of Inspection and Oversight of Economic, Sanitary and Food Activity (AIFAESA), Dionisio da Silva revealed that so far AIFAESA had identified 25.000 items that posed big threats to the public health.
“These products include expired items, contaminated products, damaged products, and illicit materials. The majority of these products are foods,” said Silva.
In addition, the President of the IQTL, Alexander Pires emphasized that talking about food quality control; Timor-Leste has to set up a national food standard, saying Timor-Leste is still dependent on the food standard of other countries.
“Controlling the food quality is not about tasting the food with your tongue. It needs an appropriate laboratory to identify the chemical composition of a food item. Any kind of food that we consume may harm our health,” said Pires.
Pires said the testing of the quality of a food item has to begin from its production in the factories, saying before importing a food item, the examination of the samples was important to decide whether the food to be introduced into the country.
He emphasized that to ensure safe food for the population, IQTL is currently developing a law to regulate the food quality and food standard in Timor-Leste: “The law will be presented to the Council of Ministers by MTCI, and then to the National Parliament for its approval.”
Talking about food quality and food standards is one of the national issues that need to be addressed.
“We often talk about food quality but unfortunately we don’t have any lab to do the testing. Therefore, IQTL prefers to establish a national integrated Commission (NIC) to focus on establishing a national quality control laboratory. Under a single commission, we will strengthen our work on ensuring food quality and food standard in the country,” he said.
Journalist: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Nelia Borges Rosario
