MoPH begins implementing ISO requirements for inspecting imported food

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has started to implement the requirements of the international quality system ISO 17020 in the areas of inspection of imported foods by training inspectors of those working in the various state outlets to apply the new standards.

The training that is done by the technical team at the Food Safety Department includes all fields of inspection, which includes document checking, visual inspection, and sampling according to standard work methods consistent with international best practices.

The training comes under the framework of preparing to receive an international accreditation in this matter, that will ensure the standards and methods of inspection of imported food are consistent with international standards to rise the credibility and transparency of these procedures similar to the procedures applied in developed countries.

Manager, Food Safety Department at MoPH Wasan Abdulla al-Baker stated that the project to acquire international accreditation in the inspection of imported food according to the ISO 17020 system comes along with a package of projects that the ministry is currently taking efforts on, including international accreditation in local control, online system for food control, and many other projects that mainly aim to ameliorate the food safety system in Qatar by following the global approach in food control to reach the highest possible level of food safety across the entire food chain.

She also said that the training stage is the last stage before applying for international accreditation, as this stage was taken by enormous efforts with more than several months in preparing standard working documents such as a quality handbook, standard work methods, and other necessities that were accomplished by the specialised team although the struggles due the Covid-19 pandemic was highly disturbing.

Ministry of Public Health international quality system inspecting imported food Qatar News Qatar Day Qatar