Current issues of ensuring food safety in the Republic of Kazakhstan
Актуальные вопросы обеспечения пищевой безопасности в РК 24.12.2019

The World Health Organization estimates that 600 million people worldwide fall ill every year after eating contaminated food. Unsafe food products are the cause of more than 200 acute and chronic diseases.

In the Republic of Kazakhstan over the past 10 years, there have been 91 cases of mass food poisoning and acute intestinal diseases associated with food items, with a total number of victims of 2888 people. In 60% of cases of poisoning are associated with public catering facilities, in 25% with educational organizations, more than 10% are retail facilities, and there are also poisonings associated with medical institutions. From 2008 to 2017, the Committee for Quality Control and Safety of Goods and Services rejected more than 13,427,526 kg of unsafe food products; more than half of the rejected products were produced in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The Committee for Quality Control and Safety of Goods and Services is pursuing a policy to support business activities, has simplified the procedure for obtaining permits, and reduced the number of inspections by introducing a risk-oriented approach. In this connection, today, out of 57,435 food items, no more than 16% are checked. Along with the reduction in inspections, there is a tendency for the number of consumer complaints to increase. In this connection, the question arises of increasing manufacturer responsibility and reducing consumer risk. The application by entrepreneurs of the best practices for food safety management, based on the principles of HACCP, will help minimize the risks and economic losses associated with the production of unsafe products.

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The “National Center of Expertise” of the KKBTU Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan has developed a roadmap for training specialists and providing assistance to food enterprises in managing food safety and introducing a system based on the principles of HACCP at food facilities. In accordance with the roadmap, a number of events were carried out to train the center’s trainers and discuss current legislation with the involvement of international experts, the Atameken National Chamber, interested government bodies and organizations. Based on the results of the implementation of the roadmap, 15 events were planned in 2019, 12 were implemented in a timely manner, and work on the rest continues.

As part of the roadmap, training was organized in the city of Nur-Sultan on issues of ensuring food safety at the national and international level, the basics of introducing the principles of the HACCP system and increasing the efficiency of laboratory control during inspections. The training was conducted with the participation of international food safety expert Irina Karpikova and representatives of the Committee for Quality Control and Safety of Goods and Services of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan. 25 specialists from the National Center of Expertise completed the training.   

On the basis of the National Center of Expertise, seminars were held with the participation of the Committee for Quality Control and Safety of Goods and Services, representatives of the Codex Alimentarius on food safety issues. International food safety experts from the Asian Development Bank shared their experience on ensuring food safety in other countries and the implementation of best hygienic practices and the HACCP system in food enterprises. Also, at the meeting, issues were discussed with an overview of the risk analysis process in the development of Codex Alimentarius standards and ongoing activities to prevent food fraud.

CEO's councelor

RSE on REM "National Center of Expertise" 

KKKBTU Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan Sharipova S.F.