Gulf set to introduce new food safety alert system

A new rapid alert system is set to be introduced in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) before the end of this year, to warn government agencies and consumers about food-borne disease outbreaks, contaminations and recalls, and curb the spread of food poisoning in the region.

The Gulf Rapid Alert System for Food (GRASF) is currently being developed by GCC Committee for Food Safety and is modelled around an existing system in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) executive director for Executive Directorate for Monitoring Centres and Crisis Management for food sector Dr Hamad Abdulrahman Al Kanhal said the web-based system would enable GCC countries to take quick and uniform actions whenever there are concerns related to food safety.

"When there is any food-borne disease outbreak, or food contamination, or withdrawal or rejection of any food product in any of our borders or in the retail market, the system will issue warnings to all the national focal points in GCC countries and consumers," Kanhal said.

The GRASF system will issue an alert if a company attempts to re-export products rejected in any of the GCC countries, thus preventing the entry of rejected products in the region.

The system, with its central point in Riyadh, will closely monitor any disease outbreaks and food contamination reports from across the world and report them to the GCC countries.

In addition, the system will also issue warning to the public regarding rejected products by giving details such as the batch number of the affected product and the level of risk in the country.

According to SFDA, UAE and Saudi Arabia are already connected to the new system and other GCC countries are expected to be linked by this year.

The development of the new system was announced by the SFDA at the ongoing 7th Dubai International Food Safety Conference.

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Image: The Gulf Rapid Alert System for Food will enable GCC countries to take quick and uniform actions whenever there are concerns related to food safety in the region. Photo: Dino Quinzani.

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