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Food Law Internet Project (F.L.I.P)

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Sudan

General Information

Key Legal Documents

Links to Organisations involved in Food Law

Information (listed by date)

2005

• Extract from "REPORT OF THE THIRD SESSION OF THE FAO/WHO COORDINATING COMMITTEE FOR THE NEAR EAST REGION" Amman , Jordan , 7 - 10 March 2005. Available from: http://www.codexalimentarius.net/download/report/637/AL28_40e.pdf

Food safety in Sudan is the concern of all the governmental, private sector and consumer associations. The laws determine the responsibilities of each agency, their role and relations with the others.

The Sudanese Standards and Metrology Organization (SSMO) plays the leading role in standard setting, inspection and quality control of exported and imported goods in national ports and entry points. Beside its basic role in standards settings and their implementation, other relevant ministries have other responsibilities. The Ministry of Agriculture, in addition to the extension and pesticide responsibilities, is solely responsible for plantquarantine.

The Ministry of Health has responsibilities for manufactured and ready to eat foods as well as on health quarantine. The Ministry of Animal Wealth deals with animal health, products, veterinary quarantine and slaughterhouses. Other Ministries such as Foreign Trade, Industry and Customs have their roles. The main means of collaboration is through the national councils. The National Codex Committee is composed of the different relevant ministries and agencies in addition to the private sector, consumer associations and scientists.

The Ministry of Health has the food consultative committee, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has the National Insecticide Council and the National Council, and the Ministry of Environment has the High Environment Council. In the SSMO, a national committee for food safety was established recently to deal with industrial establishment safety issues. In all these national committees and councils, all the related governmental and private sector agencies are represented.

Consumers participation is vital in ensuring food safety throughout the food chain, especially in Sudan where most food ingredients are consumed or exported in raw form. Consumers are organized in a consumer protection association that was established and officially registered in Khartoum in 1997. The Association now has more than six branches in the capital and other major Sudanese cities. This association is one of the nine Arab consumer associations that established the Arab Federation for Consumers in 1998.

This association actively participates in many standards committees, along with other government and private sector representatives. They also participate in public awareness activities through seminars, lectures or any other media forum. It has a regular page in one of the leading newspapers. The association is represented in the following standards committees: Milk and milk products; Sugar and sugar products; Meat and meat products; Packing and packing materials; Environment; National Codex Committee; National safe food; Mycotoxins; Chemicals industries; Medicinal and aromatic herbs industries; Cereals and cereals products; Industrial and investment activities; Gum; Food additives and contaminants. They are also closely linked with a jurisdiction unit established for consumers protection cases.

2004

• Document: Farm -to-Fork Food Safety Approach: The Role of Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in Production of Fresh Agricultural Products for Consumption - Prepared by Sudan.
• Source: Second FAO/WHO Global Forum of Food Safety Regulators Bangkok , Thailand , 12-14 October 2004.
• Extract: Ministries in Sudan such as the Ministry of Planning and Finance, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Irrigation, Ministry of Animal Wealth and Fisheries play very important roles in the food production process. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry plays the leading and most important role by virtue of the country's characteristics and its specialization. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry being at the federal level is mainly responsible for the strategies, policies, planning, federal legislations, training and the overall monitoring and evaluation at the national level. In all these activities, though the food security is a major objective, but safety of food as well as facilitation of food trade are important objectives. The state Ministries of Agriculture and the localities play these roles within their boundaries but according to the federal directives. The direct administrative and field work is more concentrated at the state and localities level. In Sudan the food industry is not yet well developed and thus most of the agricultural products are consumed or exported fresh or raw or semi-raw. This magnifies the role of the Ministry of Agriculture in aspects of food safety. The farm -to- fork approach reflects that it is the responsibility of all agencies to adopt the scientific, administrative and legal systems and means that will assure the production of safe food for the consumers. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in Sudan adopts this approach at the farm level through the application of the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) system.
• Link: http://www.foodsafetyforum.org/global2/crd_en.htm

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