Food and Drug Organization program to deal with food fraud

The director general of food and beverage products of the Food and Drug Organization announced the implementation of targeted programs to identify risks, deal with food fraud, develop tracking infrastructure and facilitate processes in the food sector.

According to Ambassador Arjan, quoted by Ifdana, the World Food Day in 2026 will be held with the slogan "Innovation today; Tomorrow's Nutrition" emphasizes the necessity of using new solutions to improve food systems.

Abdul Azim Behfar, Director General of Food and Beverage Products of the Food and Drug Organization, said in this context: Food safety is the result of a series of interconnected actions in the stages of production, entering the market, distribution and consumption, and achieving it requires continuous assessment of risks and the use of scientific methods in quality control.

He stated that the efficiency of the food surveillance system depends on the speed, accuracy and proportionality of control measures with the level of risk, adding: the use of specialized data, the development of surveillance systems and the strengthening of monitoring after supply can accelerate the identification of non-conforming products and increase the possibility of intervention in accordance with health risks.

The Director General of Food and Beverage Products of the Food and Drug Organization, referring to the reform of the executive processes of this area, said: reducing the time of issuing IRC, making it possible to issue it daily and continuously follow up the clearance process, are among the measures that have been taken with the aim of increasing the speed of service delivery and removing administrative obstacles. At the same time, the development of the registration system for domestically produced products is also being pursued, and the information of 87 groups and categories and 158 products have been registered in it so far.

Behfar continued: In addition to facilitating the processes, developing guidelines for rear monitoring and evaluating and rating production units, forming a working group to deal with violations and determining the mechanism for dealing with non-conforming products are among the measures taken to improve the effectiveness of controls. This approach helps to deal with violations and determine the assignment of problematic products more quickly and coherently.

Emphasizing the importance of continuous monitoring of chemical and microbial risks in the food chain, he said: the implementation of the monitoring program for agricultural toxins, tracking the tracking of raw agricultural products and strengthening the control of incoming materials are among the important axes of monitoring food safety. It is also important to examine high-use products and plan for targeted sampling in identifying frauds and evaluating the compliance of products with health regulations.

The Director General of Food and Beverage Products of the Food and Drug Organization added: Coordination between the responsible agencies in inspection and sampling, formulation of assignment criteria and elimination of non-conforming products and increasing the presence of experts in targeted inspections will help the integration of control measures. In this way, documenting the results of monitoring and following up on non-compliance cases plays an important role in preventing the repetition of violations.

Referring to the responsibility of producers in maintaining the quality of products, Behfar said: compliance with technical requirements in the production process, control of raw materials and providing detailed information on product labels are important components of consumer health protection. Information about ingredients, nutritional value, storage conditions and use-by dates will allow people to make informed choices and will contribute to transparency in the food market.

He also considered the reduction of food waste and the responsible use of resources as one of the issues related to the future of food systems and added: improving food safety makes sense along with paying attention to the quality of nutrition, sustainability of resources and increasing public awareness. Innovation in this field reaches the desired result when scientific achievements are converted into practical solutions and there is effective coordination between regulatory institutions, laboratory centers and industry activists.

In the end, the director general of food and beverage products of the Food and Drug Organization noted: The approach of this general department is to improve the quality of supervision, facilitate executive processes, and strengthen mechanisms for identifying and controlling risks; A set of measures that are ultimately followed with the aim of protecting people's health and increasing confidence in the safety and quality of food products.