"Safe food today for a healthy tomorrow" is the motto on World Food Safety Day that is celebrated this June 7, 2021 and where the Ministry of Health commemorated with an activity held at the Atlapa Convention Center with the aim of promoting and creating awareness in the population about the benefits of consuming safe food.
The opening message was given by the Vice Minister of Health Ivette Berrío, who specified the importance of promoting the policy and culture of food safety in Panama.
All people have the right to ensure that the food they eat is safe, which is the responsibility of governments, producers and consumers, Berrío said.
He pointed out that the pandemic caused by COVID-19 has highlighted issues related to food safety, hygiene, climate change, the possible benefit of the digitization of food systems, etc.
For his part, Reynaldo Lee, National Director of Food Control and Veterinary Surveillance of MINSA, maintained that there is no quality without safety and affirmed that the Ministry of Health guarantees the population that surveillance is given in the company that distributes food so that They, with their quality and safety programs, provide the best to the consumer in terms of healthy products, he stressed at the same time that poorly processed food can affect a population on a large scale.
Lee mentioned that the MINSA, through the National Directorate of Food Control and Veterinary Surveillance, urges the population to know how to choose the foods they consume and to know what the risks of each one are when they do not have the proper quality.
During this event, the Minister of Agricultural Development Augusto Valderrama and Gerardo Alfaro, representative of PAHO in Panama, among other authorities of the National Government, were present.
6/7/2021 8:56:14 PM