The main food safety and quality problems encountered with the country’s imports are: Imported products with labels in foreign language cause problems in understanding; Some uniodized salt find its way into Malawi; Some packaged foods come with damaged containers (cans); Some traders replace original labels with false ones; Some imported wheat flour found to contain potassium bromide; Ingredients declared on labels sometimes do not represent the actual contents. A mechanism for monitoring food imports is a vailable, however, it has some constraints, for example it is difficult to monitor smuggled products coming through secret routes; there is inadequate collaboration among stakeholders; lack of appropriate laboratory services in bordering districts; compounded foods sometimes released before inspected by health authorities due to conflict of interest with the Malawi Revenue Authority. The Food Law is still in draft form; may not be finalized soon due to lack of funds for operational costs; The Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS) Act 1972 is being revised; Other Acts e.g. Milk & Milk Product Act, Food and Drugs Act, Public Health Act, MBS Act, and some Local Government By-Laws are in force. The food law is implemented at Central level, Provincial level and Local level under the Min. of Health & Population, Min. of Local Government, Malawi Bureau of Standards, and the Consumer Association of Malawi (CAMA). The implementation of the food laws face constraints such as; s tandards when are set, traders are reluctant to enforce them; lack of capital investment by manufacturers to meet set standards; inadequate qualified personnel; lack of funds; and inadequate laboratory services. However, the national food standards do not differ from Codex Standards.
Document: International, Regional, Sub Regional and National Cooperation in Food Safety in Africa by WHO Regional Office for Africa, BP 06, Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo.
Source: FAO/WHO Regional Conference on Food Safety for Africa, Zimbabwe , 3-6 October 2005.
Extract: In Malawi, the Ministry of Health and Population, Ministry of Local Government, Malawi Bureau of Standards and Consumer Association of Malawi are all responsible for the implementation of Food Laws.
Document:Situation Analysis of Food Safety Systems in Malawi.
Source: FAO/WHO Regional Conference on Food Safety for Africa, Harare , Zimbabwe , 3-6 October 2005.
Extract:
This paper explains the situation analysis of food safety systems in Malawi. Malawi has various laws and regulations that have been enacted over the years to regulate and enhance food safety to preserve the health of the public and facilitate international trade requirements. However, there is no unified policy and a single food law in Malawi that regulate issues of food safety. Various ministries and sectors involved in food safety and quality control have their own pieces of legislation that govern their operations according to their area of focus. This paper pointed out the major institutions in the country that are responsible for ensuring food safety and quality control and the laws and pieces of legislation in the country that govern issues of food safety.
