The government of Lebanon has decided to form a committee to address food safety issues in the country.
The decision came after the health ministry received brickbats from the ministers for publicly 'naming and shaming' food establishments selling diseased food. Recently, Lebanon announced plans to shut down six dairy factories in the country over failureto meet health safety standards.
The Daily Star reported Lebanon Economy Minister Alain Hakim as saying that the new committee will enable coordination among the ministries of economy, health, tourism and agriculture to monitor sources of food.
Hakim was quoted by the news agency as saying: "We agreed to form a technical, coordinating committee between concerned ministries to follow up on the food safety issues and daily consumption.
"We will not wait for the approval of a food safety law in Parliament and we will implement regulations already in place at the request of Prime Minister [Tammam] Salam."
In addition, Health Minister Wael Abu Faour argued for the establishment of a special public prosecutor office to deal with food safety violations.
He also unveiled a new list of food companies that are violating food safety standards during a press conference.
