2007
2005
Food control in Syria is shared by various Ministries:
i. The Ministry of Economy and Trade applies the anti fraud law of food control via various internal trade directorates and the laboratories present at governorates in Syria . The Ministry controls food on the domestic market and some imported and exported products.
ii. The Ministry of Health is responsible for analysing food samples obtained from restaurants, schools and baby foods.
iii. The Ministry of Agriculture applies the animal and agricultural quarantine by law.
iv. The Ministry of Local Administration and Environment applies the control on popular restaurants and street foods.
v. The Ministry of Finance is responsible for imported food through borders of entry by the responsible local customs directorates.
vi. The Ministry of Industry is specialized in issuing food standards through the Standardization and Metrology Organization. The Ministry is also responsible for controlling food manufactured in industrial plants during processing through local industry departments and industrial research laboratories. The Standards Institute relies on published Codex codes and standards in preparing national standards. It is important to note that Standards and Metrology Institute oversees foods in terms of issuing conformity certificates upon request. Additionally, the Institute hosts the National Codex Committee which contributes in studying documents obtained from Codex.
vii. The Atomic Energy Institution conducts food irradiation monitoring.
viii. Syrian Universities analyse samples submitted by Customs Centres.
ix. The Consumers Protection Association participates in studying food standard drafts. The participation is still considered weak.
The Consumer Protection Association was created recently in the Syrian Arab Republic , in Damascus more precisely at the beginning of 2002, while its Statutes were issued in 2003. It deals mainly at present with publishing comments and information in local newspapers on issues of interest to consumers, in addition to raising awareness through the various media. The Association is a member of the National Codex Committee. Also, a representative of the Association has been designated to the Standing Standards Committee. Therefore, its activities remain limited and needs to be strengthened and promoted. In the meantime, some governmental departments play the consumer protection role by controlling goods and products in the Syrian markets.
Information last updated - January 2007