Food Safety

Food Safety in the Czech Republic

Published: 28 June 2017

 

Food Safety system chart
The largest volume of activities in issues of food safety in the Czech Republic has been provided by the organisations within the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Health. Further important partners are except government offices representatives of supervisory organisations, scientific committees and panels, and consumer organisations, that means members of the inter-ministerial Food Safety Coordination Unit.

The Ministry of Agriculture
is acentral competent authority for agricultural, food industry and for issues of veterinary care, phytosanitary care, foodstuffs and animal protection.

The Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed in the Czech Republic (RASFF) has been effective since 1 march 2005.

The tasks fulfilling was provided by respective members of the Food Safety Coordination Unit. Its members are informed on the work of the European Food Safety Authority, on activities of Working Groups established by the Co-ordination Group and on activities Scientific Committees. Interministerial Food Safety Co-ordination Unit was established in 2002 in conformity with the Strategy to Assure Food Safety in the Czech Republic. The objective is primarily to co-ordinate the activities of individual ministries and to establish priorities, to ensure mutual co-operation between relevant competent authorities performing official control, Scientific Committees, consumers and state administration, and to establish co-operation with national food safety institutions in EU Member States and with the EFSA.

There are five Scientific Committees in the Czech Republic – for the veterinary field, for phytosanitary and environmental matters, for issues of animal nutrition, for food and for genetically modified food and feed. In the past period the mutual communication among the Scientific Committees was deepened and improved.

The coordination of the monitoring and control programmes – data are handed over to the application by organisations, which cooperate on the providing for the contaminants monitoring in food chains within the Ministry of Agriculture sector (State Veterinary Administration of the Czech Republic, Central Institute for Supervising and Testing in Agriculture, State Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority).