Fonterra calls for concerted effort to coordinate food industry

A call for more frequent and ef fective communication between the food industry and i t s re g ul at o r s i ncl udi ng t he Minis t r y o f Heal t h, and connected org anizations such as Sri Lanka Standards Institute was made by Dr Sanath Mahawithanage, Manager, Nutrition and Regulatory Af fairs, Fonter ra Brands Lanka (Pvt) Ltd.

D r M a h aw i t h a n a g e, who wa s s p e a k i n g d u ring an awareness seminar on new food re gulations org aniz ed by the impor t Section of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, said: “The most important t hi ng i s c o mmunication with the industry. Forums l i ke t h i s a r e ve r y h e l p - ful, as the industry needs t o k n ow a b o u t n o t i f i c a - tions as soon as they are released.”

He also urged regulators to align their agencies better in order to better coordinate between the mult i pl e a g e nci e s c ur re nt ly involved in the regulatory framework of Sri Lanka’s Food Safety regime.

Dr Mahawithanage furt h e r r e c o mme n d e d t h e simplification of complex rules that are currently in place in various sources, in order to increase accessibility and ease of compliance.

“Cur re nt ly, due t o t he complex nature of regulations, we have to refer to a number of sources on the same product. Countries like Malaysia, have compiled all these re gulations into separate books for each product, and we re q ues t t he Minist r y o f Health to initiate a similar project.

He c a l l e d f o r g r e a t e r collaboration within the industry in order to make representations to regula- tors more ef ficiently, possibly through the use of a skilled trade association t o r e p r e s e n t t h e wh o l e food industry.

“A r o u n d t h e wo rl d , the food industry works through collaboration between the industry and regulators. This is the best way to ensure public safety, so I hope there is more collaboration and communication in the future,” Dr Mahawithanage said.