To support Egyptian food security, a workshop at the Standards and Quality Authority

The Egyptian General Authority for Standardization and Quality organized a two-day workshop entitled “The Role of Egyptian Standards From Farm to Table”, with the participation of representatives of a number of concerned authorities, including the Chamber of Food Industries, the Ministry of Industry, the Foreign Agreements and Trade Sector at the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade, and the Consumer Protection Agency.

This comes within the framework of efforts to achieve food security and all sustainable development goals, by enhancing food safety and raising the efficiency of the food production system, in a way that supports responsible consumption and production patterns and preserves resources.

From this angle, it sheds light The Earth Guards Foundation Highlighting the latest activities of the Egyptian General Authority for Standardization and Quality, which stem from the spirit and goals of the national agenda “Egypt Vision 2030”; With a desire to develop the Egyptian economy and raise the competitiveness of the Egyptian product…so read on.

First day: Standard specifications before harvest

The sessions of the first day of the workshop dealt with the role of standard specifications in the pre-harvest stage. The discussions touched on the specifications of sowing and harvesting machines, and there the Authority’s lecturers gave a presentation on fertilizer specifications and pesticide specifications.

The sessions also discussed the role of the various parties in this stage, in addition to developing a future road map and recommendations that include topics Linked to the cultivation of jojoba, known as “desert gold,” and the moringa plant, and new specifications for them.

During the sessions, irrigation water specifications, the maximum permissible limits for pollutants and heavy metals were reviewed, in addition to the rules of good practices to reduce contamination of vegetables and fruits, and the quality specifications of the soil and the raw materials used in lining it.

Day Two: Standard specifications after harvest

Then the activities of the second day of the workshop were devoted to discussing the role of standard specifications in the post-harvest stage, including specifications for vegetables and fruits, storage and refrigeration, and packaging specifications, in addition to specifications for the carbon footprint of food products.

This is in addition to reviewing the role of other relevant parties and developing final recommendations It serves the Egyptian food system based on the “farm to table” principle. This achieves food sustainability, and thus achieves the goals of the national agenda “Egypt Vision 2030”.

An integrated journey from farm to table

Regarding this, Dr. Khaled Sofi, “Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Egyptian General Organization for Standardization and Quality, and President of the International Organization for Standardization,” confirmed that the food path from farm to table begins with multiple stages, which include:

• Agriculture
• Harvest
• Transportation
• Storage
• Manufacturing

Then Dr. Khaled Sufi explained that this sequence makes it a standard specification An element present at every stage of this journey, and not only technical requirements applied to the product in its final form; It is an essential part of an integrated system to ensure quality and safety.

The head of the Egyptian General Authority for Standardization and Quality pointed to a number of challenges facing Egyptian agricultural and food products, most notably the high rates of waste in the post-harvest stage, in addition to the difficulties facing some Egyptian products when entering foreign markets, in addition to the continuous changes in international technical requirements and legislation.

Specifications Check Food Security

The head of the Standards and Quality Authority added that developing the standard specifications system is an essential pillar for supporting Egyptian product in both the local market and export markets, in line with the directives of the Ministry of Industry aimed at raising the competitiveness of the national industry and enhancing Egyptian exports, within the framework of the eighth goal of the Sustainable Development Goals: Decent work and economic growth.

From this standpoint, Dr. Khaled Sufi explained that the workshop came to be a platform to listen to the various parties concerned with the food production chain, identify the actual challenges on the ground, and exchange experiences between the participating parties, with the aim of coming up with practical, applicable recommendations that achieve integration between the links of this chain from farm to table.

In view of all those axes on which the workshop “The Role of Egyptian Standards From Farm to Fork” was based, the The Earth Guards Foundation To emphasize how important the issue of food safety is, and that it begins – in one way or another – when the product reaches the factory, and does not end when it is placed on store shelves; In fact, it is an interconnected chain that can be weakened by a single gap at any stage, no matter how far it may seem from the consumer.

Therefore, the development of Egyptian standards should be viewed as an investment in the future of Egyptian food security; An investment that links product quality to efficient use of resources, food safety to export capacity, and protection of the Egyptian consumer.