First Lady Sajidha Mohamed stated today that success in ensuring food safety cannot be achieved through the efforts of authorities alone, and that it can only be accomplished if every individual takes responsibility.
Speaking as the chief guest at the ceremony held in F. Nilandhoo to mark World Food Safety Day, she noted that food safety is directly linked to the health of every individual. The First Lady stated that this is also evident from this year's theme.
The theme for the day is "Safe food in every environment. A solution to disease."
The First Lady stated that if a country ensures food safety at a high standard, it reflects its level of civilization and the strength of human morality within that nation.
First Lady Sajidha noted that many scientific methods for growing fruits and vegetables are now being used at home, and that doing so introduces additional challenges to food safety. Therefore, she highlighted that addressing this through rules and regulations remains an available opportunity.
The First Lady emphasized that maintaining food safety from the farm to the table is extremely important.
"This cannot be done through the efforts of authorities alone. It is the responsibility of every individual. Otherwise, this cannot be achieved," she said.
She also noted that food safety brings health, moral, and developmental benefits.
She stated that food safety is connected to a nation's awareness, morality, and civilization, and that its health significance would be understood from this.
"To build a nation properly, such laws and principles must be structured. The reasons that compromise food safety are also varied. Sometimes it includes a lack of technical capability, and other times a lack of robust principles. Even when regulations exist, there are things that cannot be enforced due to gaps within how those regulations are structured," Sajidha said.
She added that the regulations and principles currently being formulated by the MFDA will be better than before.
During the ceremony, a program to raise public awareness on food safety and the transition of the service to OneGov were officially launched.
