The
Gambia Standards Bureau has organised a daylong sensitisation workshop on
packaging standards at its premises last Thursday.
The
forum served as a platform for the participants to have a discussion on the
relevance and importance of packaging in the food processing and manufacturing
industry.
Speaking
on behalf of the director general of the Gambia Standards Bureau, Bai Dodou
Jallow said food packaging is very important for it shows the production and
expiry date of a product.
Amadou
Jallow, a staff of the Gambia Standard Bureau, said packaged foods are better
than those that are not packaged.
The
workshop was organised as part of a grant the bureau received from the Enhanced
Integrated Framework (EIF) of the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Regional
Integration and Employment to develop key food packaging standards.
The
grant was to ensure the development of food packaging standards and make it
readily available for use by processors and manufacturers in the food industry.
A
technical committee, including different stakeholders in the food packaging
industry, was set up and had reviewed a number of standards for adoption as the
national standards.
Officials
of the bureau said the standards would be put on a 60-day public commenting.
In
addition, as part of the ELF support, the bureau is to conduct a nationwide
sensitisation on the standards, when completed.
