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Zambia

General Information

Key Legal Documents

Links to Organisations involved in Food Law

Information (listed by date)

2005

• Document: Report of the Sixteenth Session of the FAO/WHO Coordinating Committee for Africa.
• Source: Joint Fao/Who Food Standards Programme, Codex Alimentarius Commission, Twenty-Eighth Session Rome , Italy , 4 – 9 July 2005.
• Extract: The food control services in Zambia are distributed across few main stakeholders namely, Ministries of Health, Agriculture, Commerce, Trade and Industry and local government and Housing. The Ministry of Health is responsible for policy formulation, development and review of legislation pertaining to food safety and implementation is done through the Central Board of Health, created under the Act of parliament through its structural wings of District Health Boards. The Ministry of Agriculture provides the same service through the plant quarantine and the livestock development services whose responsibilities are for protection of plant and animal diseases respectively. The Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry is responsible for registration of food industries and also houses the National Food Safety Committee. The Ministry of Health is the Codex Focal Point in Zambia and it has not yet established the National Codex Committee due to lack of funds and a high turnover of staff as a result of structuring and movement of professionals to managerial positions with no replacements. This trend has greatly affected the effectiveness of proper Food Control services. The food legislation in use is the Public Health Act 295 which is now in the process of being reviewed. The Food and Drug Act cap 303 has not been reviewed since 1972 but the regulations were reviewed in 2001. The Food and Drugs Board with membership drawn across the Board advises the Minister of Health on issues related to food safety. The SPS Committee under the Ministry of Agriculture is responsible for issue of import and export permits for food products with the consideration of food safety. The Zambia Bureau of Standards is responsible for certification of food products and uses the voluntary standards as opposed to Ministry of Health which uses mandatory standards. Both the SPS and the National Food Safety Committee are weak and require financial support. Zambia has not placed food safety as one of the priorities and the funding to this programme is not sufficient.
• Link: http://www.codexalimentarius.net/download/report/632/al28_28e.pdf

• Document: Analysis of the Food Safety Situation in Zambia.
• Source: FAO/WHO Regional Conference on Food Safety for Africa, Harare , Zimbabwe , 3-6 October 2005.
• Abstract: This paper gives an overview of the national food control system in Zambia. The Zambia food control system is done by the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture and Co–operatives, Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Ministry of Science and Technology, Zambia Bureau of Standards, Zambia Consumers Association, Zambia Competition Commission, and the Local Authorities. It also pointed out the legislations developed to ensure the Safety and Quality of Food. The document mentions the challenges facing the food control system, among which is the street vended foods.
• Link: ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/meeting/010/af208e.pdf

Information last updated - 14 July 2006