Food Safety Lab in Qatar designatedas IAEA’s collaborating centre

Move marks the first-of-its-kind milestone in the Middle East region

Qatar News Agency
Doha

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has designated the Food Safety Laboratories of the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) as an IAEA’s international collaborating center in food safety and quality for four years, (June 2024 to June 2028).

The move marks the first-of-its-kind milestone in the Middle East region, in terms of food safety and quality through which the MoPH’s laboratories will work as an international reference for theoretical and practical trainings, so as to conduct scientific research and tours in this field.

The designation was announced during the participation of MoPH’s Food Safety Department in the International Symposium on Food Safety and Control, organized recently by IAEA in Vienna, Austria.
Director of the Food Safety Department at MoPH Wasan Abdullah Al Baker hailed this global designation to build human capacities and give foremost priority to the least developed countries in training, in addition to capitalizing on infrastructure and knowledge transference, in accordance with the Memorandum of Practical Arrangements co-signed by MoPH and IAEA last November, in implementation of the recommendations of the fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5) hosted by Qatar in March 2023.

The contribution of the MoPH’s Food Safety Laboratories as a collaborating center is primarily part and parcel of the State of Qatar’s pledges to live up to its international obligations, since it is a first-of-its-kind designation, in terms of ensuring food safety in the region, Al Baker added.