By Jojo Lamaria
BAGUIO CITY, Oct. 27 (PNA) – The Philippine Food Safety Forum (PFSF), a nationwide advocacy, campaign and commitment to food safety in the advent of the integration of the Association of South East ASian Nations (ASEAN), was conducted Monday at the Crown Legacy Hotel here.
About 100 participants from the different government agencies nationwide gathered in the third forum which ushers food safety towards the ASEAN integration 2015.
In the opening session, Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Assistant Secretary for Internal Management and chief planning officer Cathryne Jonne Licudine-Dalen re-introduced the ASEAN Integration 2015 through the three pillars of cooperation between the 10 member nations.
Dalen represented and read the speech of PCOO Secretary Sonny Coloma who lauded the efforts done by the Quality Plus Management Consulting to smoothly bring the Philippines to the vision of the ASEAN Economic Integration carrying the theme, “One vision, One identity, One community”.
In an interview, forum director Henry Palaca explained that the PFSF was organized by the Quality Plus Management Consulting Company in cooperation with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the Department of Health (DOH), the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the local government units (LGUs).
Palaca added the PFSF was created by virtue of the Philippine Food Safety Act of 2013, with the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of which are still being polished.
Topics discussed in the forum included Food Safety Preparedness of the Philippines; Philippine Food Safety Act Implementation updates; Trends and Solutions in Combating Food Fraud; Food Technologies to Extend Shelf Life and Food Safety Standardization Certification; Sustainable Agriculture Perspective on Food Safety; and Best Practices and Current Trends in Managing Food Safety in the Food Service Industry.
The forum is a nationwide advocacy, campaign and commitment to food safety, Palaca said.
Now on its third year, the theme of the event was, “Strengthening Food Safety of the Philippine Food Supply Chain”, Palaca said. (PNA)