New partnership to help Ukraine close gaps in food safety

Representatives of three major organizations gathered in Kyiv recently to tackle issues of food safety and sanitary service in Ukraine.

Hosted by Volodymyr Lapa, the head of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection, the meeting was attended by Marta Everard, head of the World Health Organization office in Ukraine, along with representatives of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the UN Environment Programme, and others.

The parties agreed to strengthen direct collaboration and conduct regular meetings on topical issues.

“The establishment of a higher level of cooperation among the State Service, WHO and FAO will help us to respond more effectively to challenges and to speed up the process of adapting internal requirements to EU regulations,” Volodymyr Lapa said.

The participants discussed the main tasks of the State Service and issues of food safety and the sanitary well-being of the population, along with the improvement of Ukraine’s legal framework for food safety and veterinary medicine.

The representatives of the State Service raised the issue of the usage of software for reporting and monitoring and its improvement needed to comply with international requirements.

All sides agreed to further develop a broad strategic partnership and join forces to achieve the globally adopted Sustainable Development Goal of good health and well-being.

FAO and WHO also agreed to work closely to put food safety in Ukraine on the international development agenda.

27 February 2018, Kyiv, Ukraine