See JOINT FAO/WHO FOOD STANDARDS PROGRAMME FAO/WHO COORDINATING COMMITTEE FOR AFRICA, Seventeenth Session, Rabat, Morocco, 23-26 January 2007 "INFORMATION ON NATIONAL FOOD CONTROL SYSTEMS AND CONSUMER PARTICIPATION IN FOOD STANDARD SETTING" (CX/AFRICA 07/17/5): Reports from Ethiopia, Mali and Morocco. Available at: ftp://ftp.fao.org/codex/ccafrica17/ca17_05e.pdf
See JOINT FAO/WHO FOOD STANDARDS PROGRAMME FAO/WHO COORDINATING COMMITTEE FOR AFRICA, Seventeenth Session, Rabat, Morocco, 23-26 January 2007 "INFORMATION ON THE USE OF CODEX STANDARDS AND RELATED TEXTS AT NATIONAL AND REGIONAL LEVELS" (CX/AFRICA 07/17/6): Reports from Ethiopia, Mali and Morocco. Available at: ftp://ftp.fao.org/codex/ccafrica17/ca17_06e.pdf
Key Legal Documents
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Links to Organisations involved in Food Law
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Information (listed by date)
2005
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: The Kingdom of Morocco has established and transferred all food control functions to a single government department called l’Agence du contrôle de la qualité de la sécurité sanitaire des aliments (ACQSA). The establishment of ACQSA yielded several benefits including the modernization of the food control system, improvements in the efficacy of risk analysis, efficient use of material and financial resources, as well as increased visibility and credibility.
Extract: Food control activities are distributed between various ministerial departments and are also implemented in the whole country including its borders according to predefined intervention procedures. These activities are based on a large number of jurisdictional and regulatory texts many of which are outdated. Coordination in this field is carried out within consultative bodies such as the Permanent Interministerial Committee for Food Control Fraud Repression on Foods or the National Codex Alimentarius Committee established in 1997. Concerned with the need to increase efficiency of food control activities, Morocco with the assistance of FAO, has recently undertaken to implement two TCP projects with the objective of recognizing and reviewing the National Food Control system and to reformulate the food legislation in use. These activities have led to the preparation of two draft Food Laws presently being considered for adoption. In Morocco, the first association of consumers was created in the early 1990’s and its activity has significantly developed thanks to the creation of the National Codex Committee in 1997. It currently consists of more than 20 associations organized under two federations which participate in the work of the NCC and the working groups. There exists a law on fair market practice whose general objectives are to protect the consumer from deceptive practices in commerce. A draft law on the protection of the consumer has been finalized and is being adopted.
Source: FAO/WHO Workshop on the effective systems for food control -
Rome, 24 January 2005.
Abstract: In Morocco, the mandate for food quality control is a public responsibility; Relies on legal tools and aims at consumer protection and fair trade; is applied on the whole territory and at borders according to a set of defined procedures. The system’s limits and inadequacies are: evaluating risk and control strategy; Enforcing Law; organizing structures and coordinating actions; Intervening procedures and support structures; Communicating with professionals and consumers.Future Vision of the food control in Morocco are reorganizing structures responsible for food control which will result into eliminate overlapping and improve available resources management; h armonize procedures and ensure independence of management compared to risk evaluation; e nsure effective action by applying inspection regulation in a uniform and coordinated way; promote quality and improve competitiveness of Moroccan products by institutionalizing self-control and implement a single authority for all economic players.
Document:Report of the Fifteenth Session of the FAO/WHO Coordinating Committee for Africa.
Source: Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme, Codex Alimentarius Commission, Twenty-Sixth Session 30 June – 5 July 2003.
Extract: In the past few years, Morocco has been giving particular importance to food safety. A draft law has been elaborated on Food Quality and Safety. Similarly, a programme on quality management of fish products has been completed and another project on canned vegetables is underway. In addition, two other projects have been undertaken relating to the reorganization of the national system for risk management. The first of these includes the setting up of a single entity for risk management and the second relates to the establishment of an independent risk assessment agency.
Document:Improving Efficiency and Transparency in Food Safety Systems
Sharing Experiences.
Source: FAO/WHO Global Forum of Food Safety Regulators,
Marrakesh, Morocco, 28 - 30 January 2002.
Extract:
The document describes food legislation and food control in Morocco and then gives a list of examples of technical assistance/cooperation (bilateral with France, Canada and Germany and with FAO). It proposes the development of tools to facilitate the capacity building and technical assistance effort and through new approaches such as partnerships in the field of food safety and food control. The document recommends; the creation of an independent scientific body responsible for food safety and risk assessment; the development of the food control system throughout the food chain; the implementation of a traceability system so as to guarantee the effective retrieval and removal from the market of unsafe food; the need for prompt FAO study on the feasibility of establishing a unique Food Inspection and Control Agency; the improvement of national laboratory facilities and capabilities; capacity building of the food testing laboratories to face evolution in technology and food control requirements (Dioxins, PCBs, GMOs, HAP,...) including training and human resource development programmes; the need to set up a national coordinated training programme for food inspectors; long-standing education, information and sensitization actions towards consumers regarding food safety concerns; the support given to consumer associations; the increase of government assistance to small and medium size food industries in their challenge to produce safer food and to ensure quality of Moroccan food products; the awareness raising among food retailers about their role and responsibility over the safety of their products; the scientific evaluation of sanitary (safety) and nutritional quality of traditional foods and spring, river and well waters used in particular in rural areas and the status of sewage treatment infrastructures and domestic wastes and other waste facilities and economic impacts of pollution from cities; and the need for more integrated approach in FAO technical assistance projects.
Extract: The Delegation of Morocco highlighted the comprehensive revision of the national food legislation that was supported by a FAO technical assistance project during the last five years. Three main legal texts on Food Quality Control, Consumer Protection and Involvement, and the Principles of Ethics for Fair Trade Practices were being finalised. The implementation of those texts would reduce differences related to food safety between domestic and exported foods. The Codex Contact Point is located in the Fraud Tracking Division which belongs to the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development, Waters and Forests. This Division served also as the secretariat to the National Codex Committee, established in 1997. Since then it has been placed under the responsibility of a Permanent Interministerial Commission responsible for food control and fraud tracking.
