New import policy to prioritise food safety issue

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Shakhawat Hossain
The commerce ministry will attach special priority to the food safety issue in the country's new import policy in the wake of controversy over imported Chinese melamine tainted powdered milk, officials said Monday.
The ministry will prioritise the safety issue on food import in its 'Import Policy 2009-2011' to restrict entry of tainted and hazardous food items that are harmful for human and animal consumption.
The recent controversy over the imported powdered milk amid melamine-tainted Chinese baby milk has led the ministry to review the existing food import rules and regulations, they said.
Three Chinese brand baby milk powder tainted with melamine were banned. Other imported milk brands faced temporary ban before those were cleared after two rounds of test at home and abroad.
The commerce ministry officials have started meetings with other ministries and divisions including food and disaster management ministries, National Board of Revenue and state-owned testing agencies.
The new import policy will be effective from the middle of the next year.
The commerce ministry will formulate appropriate policies not only for the sensitive baby food items but also for other imported food items such as edible oil, cereals and pulse to protect the interest of consumers.
The ministries' officials, while reviewing the existing policy, have found that lack of coordination among the government agencies is behind the lapse in proper policy implementation.
The commerce ministry will put emphasis on proper coordination among the agencies to get rid of such lapses. Besides, it might give suggestions for equipping the testing agencies with necessary manpower and proper testing tools.
The ministry officials said that food safety issue has become a sensitive one as import of food related consumer items is growing at a fast rate.
The country imported food-related items worth nearly US$ 2.0 billion in 2006-07. The amount is 12.5 per cent of the $16 billion worth of import in that fiscal.
Rice and wheat worth $581 million were shipped in while milk, spices, oil seed, edible oil, pulse and sugar worth $1337.2 million were imported in 2006-07, according to the central bank.
But in 2007-08 the country had to make import payments worth more than $ 21 billion with rice import alone accounting for more than $850 million.
The import payments for other food items grew substantially in the last fiscal year ending in June last due to steep price hike of the products in the international market at that time.