NUTRITION

Food Safety. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) continues to push for food security and safety in the region already signing two new agreements this year with Chilean institutions. The first, signed January 3 with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will strengthen the Chilean Agency for Food Quality and Safety (ACHIPIA), reinforcing its institutional framework so that it can apply the National Food Safety and Quality Policy 2018-2030. The second agreement, signed January 9 with the University of Chile, promotes the exchange of knowledge and technologies to improve national food habits. Both institutions have already begun working with FAO and the initial results of the cooperation should be announced in the coming months. In addition, FAO is set to promote similar agreements with other Latin American countries.

The first agreement signed by FAO was with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile. It commits both parties to strengthen ACHIPIA’s competencies to expand the application of the National Food Safety and Quality Policy 2018-2030. It will consolidate the institutional framework of the National Food Safety and Quality System to improve the integrated national system of public laboratories that evaluates the safety of all food products marketed in the country.

On January 9, the international organization signed an information exchange and technology transfer agreement with the University of Chile to promote food security in the country. The agreement promotes research to develop new public health policies to reduce overweight and obesity. Finally, it will promote inter-institutional cooperation at the regional level with a view to achieving these objectives in each country of the region.

Next Steps

In 2019, FAO is expected to increase its advocacy campaign to improve food security and safety in the region. A central milestone have been the agreements signed with the government of Chile. FAO hopes to replicate this experience in the rest of the region. In the case of Chile, these agreements are already in force. The institutional strengthening of ACHIPIA as well as the results of the research of the University of Chile will begin to be known in the coming months. Meanwhile, FAO pledges that it will continue to promote similar agreements throughout Latin America to improve food security at the regional level.