Minister of Agriculture Noel Holder last Friday tabled two bills intended to ensure food safety and protections for animals.
The Food Security Bill 2016 provides for the creation of a Food Safety Authority, which would oversee the control of the production, handling, storage, and transportation of food and regulate the system of food safety in Guyana.
The authority to be established under the law is to comprise such units as a food safety laboratory, meat and agro processing, food service and hospitality, quarantine and border control, food borne illness and common food inspection. The bill also seeks to consolidate the various inspectorates related to food safety, such as the Food and Drug, Plant Health and Animal Health Departments into one authority.