On Wednesday, a workshop on food safety was held in the World Bank Country Office in Uzbekistan. After an over two week long study visit, a team with food safety experts from the World Bank, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) presented their findings for the actors that they had met with during these past weeks. Participants in the workshop included representatives from government agencies, the private sector and non-governmental organizations. During their stay, the team had over 45 meetings with up to 10 persons in each meeting. More that 40 persons participated in the workshop.

The study that the team is carrying out looks into areas such as the institutional set-up for food safety, capacity of testing facilities, risks in the value chain of certain food products and the implications on trade that the existing food safety system has for Uzbekistan. An important aspect is that of other countries’ experiences in terms of disease outbreaks and trade bans due to the lack of an adequate food safety system, but also other countries’ experience in strengthening their food safety institutions and complying with internationally accepted food safety norms.

The team found that the present food safety institutional system is complex compared to many other countries and that there are many actors involved. At the same time, many of the institutions such as laboratories and monitoring agencies have limited capacity to properly carry out their functions. While there is little food processing in the country, food safety is a concern also for non-processed products but many preventive measures can be taken already at the agricultural production level, i.e. before harvest and slaughtering. Thus a more integrated approach throughout the entire value chain is important.

With regards to trade, there is limited demand for rigorous food safety standards from the part of processors and retailers in Uzbekistan and until now, there have also been little requirements other than compliance with the GOST standards from traditional export markets such as Russia and Kazakhstan. However, the CIS region is undergoing rapid changes with increasing retailer dominance and WTO accession processes underway, which will have implications for Uzbek food exports in terms of food safety requirements.

Following the presentations, the participants discussed the findings of the team. Whereas everyone agreed that this is an important topic and that ensuring the safety of food products is a concern, the method for how to ensure this was debated. Several participants were of the opinion that the regulatory framework is sufficient, but that there is a need to strengthen the capacity for monitoring and surveillance. Others argued that especially export of Uzbek products is disadvantaged due to an insufficient food safety system and that an internationally recognized food safety system would be beneficial for the Uzbek agro-food sector. Communications and information sharing to consumers, producers and international counterparts were seen as important means to improve food safety. Finally, the workshop was a good occasion for a broad range of actors to come together and discuss food safety and the expected responsibility of the different parties involved.

Available documents:
Food Safety Uzb Intro - Russian version (134KB, PDF)
Competitiveness - English version (103KB, PDF)
Competitiveness - Russian version (133KB, PDF)
Institutions and Regulatory Framework - English version (169KB, PDF)
Institutional Analysis - Russian version (161KB, PDF)
Sanitary Epidemiological Service - English version (353KB, PDF)
Sanitary Epidemiological Service - Russian version (399KB, PDF)
Standarts - English version (123KB, PDF)
Standarts - Russian version (161KB, PDF)
Value chain - English version (148KB, PDF)
Value chain - Russian version (191KB, PDF)