Food safety first as national laboratory opens

News from Vientiane Times:

Food security and control in the country has been boosted with the first official National Food Safety Laboratory opened on Monday in Vientiane.  The new laboratory is the first of its kind in Laos, serving as a ready reference centre for the control of food quality throughout the country. The new laboratory commenced construction in 2015 with 1,200 m2 through grant assistance provided by the French not-for-profit Fondation Merieux (Merieux Nutri Sciences) at a cost of about US$1.5 million. It comes as part of the organisation’s commitment to protecting global populations from food-borne diseases.

In attendance at the inauguration ceremony held at the Laboratory located in Chanthabouly district in Vientiane were Minister of Health, Associate Prof. Dr Bounkong Syhavong and President of Merieux Foundation, Mr Alian Merieux along with French Ambassador to Laos, Mrs Claudine Ledoux and fellow participants.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Dr Bounkong said this new laboratory was of great importance to   food quality control system development in Laos.

For several years, food security control for Laos had been forced to rely on the health systems of neighboring countries.He said the spread of infectious disease by food as a vector is still seen in Laos.   The food quality control system is not yet high enough to prevent such cases.

As such this new laboratory has an important role to play in food quality control and infectious disease prevention, he said. The purpose of the laboratory was to safeguard local populations against food borne diseases by analysing and certifying the quality of imported, exported and domestic food supplies as well as ensuring safety across the food chain, a senior official from the Ministry of Health confirmed.

The new laboratory complex is a two-storey building with 25 laboratories and sophisticated testing platforms able to detect for different kinds of contamination.

The new laboratory complex is associated with the food and drug quality control centre which is managed by Ministry of Health, he said. Merieux Foundation delivers a wide range of testing and consulting services to the food and nutrition, agrochemical, environmental, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries worldwide, he added.  Food borne disease remains a major global public health threat according to the World Health Organisation.

In South –East Asia including Laos food borne disease cause 175,000 deaths annually. The region contributes to one third of global deaths due to diarrhea in children under five years of age.

Food-borne illnesses are mainly caused by contamination with harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites, toxins or chemicals.  Microbial and chemical risks can be introduced at the farm level by industrial waste or poultry farm waste affecting irrigation of crop.Such risks may also emerge during processing, transportation or storage of food and production processes through poor handling or accidents.