November 2006
Extract from the Report of the 15th Session of the FAO/WHO Coordinating Committee for Asia, Seoul , Korea , 21 - 24 November 2006 (See http://www.codexalimentarius.net/download/report/664/al30_15e.pdf )
The Bhutan Agriculture and Food Regulatory Authority (BAFRA), the Ministry of Agriculture, is taking a lead role in food control, and is responsible for inspection and laboratory services. Under the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Codex Commission is the highest authority for food regulations and is responsible for food safety and setting commodity standards.
Bhutan is in the process of developing national food commodity standards by the Food Standards Committee, under the National Codex Committee. The major challenge is due to the lack of scientific data and subject matter specialists in the field. Although, the safety standards, guidelines, manuals and code of practices that have been developed so far are based on Codex standards. With regard to analytical testing, Bhutan really lacks laboratory testing facilities and skilled manpower. The possibility of further technical assistance is being sought from FAO/WHO and also the possibility of establishing regional cooperation in strengthening laboratory capacity.
Information last updated - January 2007