Diverse Southeast Asia, population 618,000,000, consists of two geographic regions: Maritime Southeast Asia, comprising Philippines, East Malaysia, East Timor, Indonesia, Brunei, and Singapore, and mainland Southeast Asia, comprising Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, West Malaysia and Vietnam.
Like many countries, national food safety programs in Southeast Asia may lack detailed knowledge of both the nature and extent of food safety problems, as well as the consequences of contaminated food on the nation’s health and economic development. Compounding these issues, there is a shortage of sound, cost-effective methods for identifying specific food safety problems in the region. The responsibility for ensuring food safety has been based on a multi-agency approach, and there has been lack of coordination among agencies. In addition, specific food safety policies are insufficient to ensure food safety in most countries. This situation has been further compounded by the presence of other areas of concern which compete for limited resources.
As the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) strive towards greater economic integration to achieve the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015, risk-based food safety control measures are becoming increasingly important to protecting public health and ensuring fair trade practices in food and agricultural products. To that end, many countries in the region are working towards harmonizing their national food safety standards with international standards such as Codex Alimentarius, and are looking to adopt science-based risk analysis as the basis for developing their food safety systems.
This symposium presents an overview of food safety issues, infrastructures and initiatives in Southeast Asia, specifically showcasing three nations, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.