BackgroundJordanian Food Official SectorFood control SystemFood Safety- Current SituationFood Legislations and Legislations EnactingFood LawJFDA ActFood Inspection SystemImported Food Control

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Outbreaks, Food Related Crises, A Scandal or Catastrophe Occur.Market Requirements (WTO).New Technology in Food Science & Food Production/ Scientific development (metrology) National / International LegislationGlobalization of Problems and SolutionsIncrease of Consumer Awareness and Interest in Food Hygiene and Food Quality.

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The craftsmanship and profession law no 16 of 1953 and the relevant revision “MMA”.

Public Health Law, Act 21/1971, Chapter 16, Food & Drug “MoH”.

The Law no 54 of the year 2002: to replace law no. 21/ 1971 where food safety and control related parts were removed.

The current food control regime in Jordan falls under two laws: Agriculture Law No. 44 of 2002 and Jordanian Food Control Law 79/2001.

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After enforcement of food control law 79/2001, and in the case of any discrepancies/ conflicts between the 16/1953 and 79/2001, the 79/2001must prevail, and those in 16/1953 considered as cancelled.

Enforcement of food law is under the umbrella of MoH until April 2003, JFDA was in charged by law to held these responsibilities.

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The Jordanian food sector is governed by multi-official authorities:

1.MoH/ JFDA; responsible according to the Food law no. 79/2001 and Public Health Law no. 54/2002.

Departments involved: Food Control, Disease Control, Health Safety Education, Food laboratories, border control committees and District Health Directorates

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2. Ministry of Agriculture according to the Agriculture law no. 44/2002.

Departments involved: Veterinary, Plant protection, Pesticide residues center, Veterinary laboratories and border agricultural centres).

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3. Ministry of Industry and Trade

Registration and licensing.

4. Jordanian Institute of Standards and Metrology according to their JISM Law no. 22/2000.

5. Ministry of Municipalities according to Municipal law and Slaughterhouses by-law no.1/1985

Public health, Slaughterhouse, Food and Meat laboratories.

6. Aqaba Special Economic Zone (ASEZA)

Directorate of Health and Food Control. Ben Hayyan- Aqaba International Laboratories

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To Develop a Food Control System the following criteria must be Established, Implemented, and Maintained:

Reliable food legislations and up-to-date valid standards and rules.

Successful food safety strategy requires the integration and co-ordination of food controls and Centralized general administration to lay food control policies and regulations, and supervise the implementation and of these policies and regulations.

Bodies for enforcement of active legislations.

Suitable laboratories services to support the food control activities.

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Jordan is a member in the World Trade Organization WTO (April 2000), and international standard setting bodies(Codex Alimentarius, Word Organization for Animal Health, and International Plant Protection Convention, and ISO).

Jordan have developed modern food control systems based on risk management to monitor and control the safety of domestically produced and imported food.

Jordan has established a food and drug authority, Law 31/2003.

Acting on assuring well-functioning foodborne surveillance systems and reporting mechanisms.

Jordan has embark on unifying food safety activities from farm to fork.

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Reliability of food safety agencies

Harmonization of Food laws (new proposal 2007).

New technologies (currently for additives, GMO’s are to follow).

The followings are emerging:TraceabilityAnimal CloningNanotechnologyIrradiation

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As a member of the WTO, Jordan has accepted the responsibility of the terms of Membership.

This means that the measures imposed in protecting the public health against hazards associated with food from imported sources must not be trade restrictive, arbitrary, or disguised technical barriers to trade.

Measures are also to be scientifically justified using risk assessment methods acceptable at the international level

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Food legislations in Jordan have been updated to reflect current developments and requirements.

Food regulations in Jordan classified into:

NationalCodex AlimentariusCountries exported to.

The basic legislation that regulates food control in Jordan is The National Food Law no.79/2001.

According to the food law, JFDA is the responsible official agency entrusted to regulate and supervise food control activities in Jordan.

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A number of enabling food regulations is available, among the most important are:

Regulations for the Transport, Storage and Display of food products;

Sampling Plans for Imported Food;Regulations for the Licensing of Food Plants.

Other legislations related to food safety include “Agriculture Law” which identifies the role of the MoA in the areas of animal health, plant health, and the use of pesticides, feed, fertilizers and growth promoters.

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Food Rules and Standards;

Available are more than 300 food standards and technical regulations issued by JISM in cooperation with other official concerned agencies. Most of these standards are Codex-based, ISO methods also adopted.

Labelling Requirements;

Labeling and marking requirements issued by the JISM.

Legal requirements for labeling are fairly standard although a statement of ingredients in order of preponderance is not required.

All labels must either be in Arabic or have a stick-on label in Arabic.

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Labelling Requirements; cont.

In general, the label should contain the name of the products, the manufacturer’s name and address, net weight, fortifying matter, lot number and “use before” or “best before” date. Local labeling requirements do not include Recommended Daily Intake (RDIs).Shelf life: The requirement of shelf life become as the -“Best Before”- standard.Requirements Specific to Nutritional Labeling is mandatory in certain categories of food such as infant formula, …etc.

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Packaging And Container RegulationsNo restrictions are applied to either packaging or

container type.No specific restrictions are applied on the type of

packaging used.Food Additive Regulations Regulated by JISM and JFDA. In general, permissible additives and their

concentrations are those approved by the CAC.The technical standards for foods contain specific

lists for food additive and their permissible levels of use.

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Pesticide And Other Contaminates

There is a laboratory capabilities for testing pesticide residue, MoA, ASEZA and (RSS)

The technical standards for food and agricultural products require that pesticide residues not exceed the recommended maximum residue levels of the CAC.

Pesticides used in Jordan must be approved for use and registered/ Pesticides Registration Committee MoA.

Anyone who attempts to import unregistered pesticides is subject to civil penalties.

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Other Specific Standards for Imported Food All imported foods should conform to the Jordanian

standards issued by (JISM). All agricultural products may be imported by the

private sector (with the exception of wheat and barley) if the products meet local quality standards, which are set by JISM on the basis of the CAC.

In 2003, JISM instituted a pre-shipment inspection program, which is entirely voluntary for food importers.

Import licenses are not required for most imported goods.

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Other Specific Standards for Imported Food Products require prior approval from MoA to insure that these

products meet local health standards:

fresh, chilled and frozen meat and

frozen animal semen and

powdered milk for adults and babies.

Products require prior approval from MoA and MoI&T: special flour and powdered milk for manufacturing purposes.

Importation of rice, sugar, and wheat derivatives has been liberalized. The private sector may import these items into Jordan if prevailing customs duties and taxes are paid and the product meets local quality standards.

Alcoholic beverages may be imported into Jordan but high tariffs are applied (50-180%) – as a revenue source for the government

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Laws1.All laws issued through Legislation and Opinion Bureau, based

on Jordanian Constitution, and with coordination of Council of Ministers.

2.Prime minister declare his convocation on passing proposed/draft law (as project) submitted to the House of Representatives.

3.House of Representatives passes or rejects or amends the project.

4.When passed, the project is submitted to Senates (Assembly of Notables’).

5.When passed its obligatory to be submitted to bicameral Jordanian National Assembly (if officially held, other wise the law may passed through the council of ministers considered to be interim law (the same powerful of law).

6.The H.M. the King signs and executes all laws and they are enforced according to a Royal Decree.

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Regulations

1.Regulations issued through Legislation and Opinion Bureau, based on Jordanian Constitution, and with coordination of Council of Ministers.

2.Council of Ministers prepares and enacts the regulations. Regulations’ projects prepared by Legislation and Opinion Bureau then passes and submits the project to Council of Ministers.

3.House of Representatives do not involve.

4.The H.M. the King signs and executes all regulations and enforced according to His Royal Decree.

5.Regulations effectively enforced after 30 days of publishing on the official journal.

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Instructions

1.All instructions are issued through and by Council of Ministers or related Ministry.

2.Instructions are issued to enact article or more of Law articles, and they are enforced directly after their publishing in the official journal.

3.Bicameral Jordanian National Assembly has nothing to do with instructions.

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Food Rules and Standards

JISM is the official body for the preparation and publication of Jordanian Standards.

The main tasks of JISM are to

1. prepare, approve, revise and amend Jordanian mandatory or voluntary standards and monitor their application; this is performed by a technical committee related to food item, 75% of votes is needed to accept the standard.

2. Maintain a national system for metrology and supervise its implementation;

3. Approve quality marks and certificates of conformity;

4. Adopt and approve standards of other countries and of Arab, regional and international organizations, provided that such standards were issued in Arabic or English; and

5. To cooperate and coordinate with Arab, regional and international institutions in the area of standardization and metrology.

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Objectives of Food Law:

To pursue/ overtake the assurance of a high level protection of human life and health.

It establishes the general principles governing food quality and safety at national level.

Lays down the means to provide a strong science base, efficient organizational arrangements and procedures to strengthen decision-making in matters of food safety.

Shall pursue the protection of consumers' interests in relation to food, including fair practices in food trade.

It shall aim at the prevention of:

Unsafe food handling Fraudulent or deceptive practices; The adulteration of food; and Any other practices which may mislead the consumer.

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Scope of the Law:

This law shall apply to all stages of handling of food during the whole food chain.

It shall not apply to primary production, products for private domestic use or to domestic preparation, handling or storage of food for private consumption.

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Food Law 79/2001 contains 31 articles.

In consideration with the valid agricultural law, JFDA will be the only party responsible for food supervision and health control including suitability for human consumption on all its handling processes whether locally produced or imported in coordination with any formal party concerned. Article3.

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Article 4, lists the tasks which must be taken to accomplish the laws’ objectives.

Articles 5-9, describe the High Committee for Food Control, and the formation of technical committees and their role meetings and schedules.

Articles 10- 12 describe in detail the basic principles of preparation, approving, revising, applying, advertising, notifying and publishing of health regulations, method of their applications, and JFDA effective contribution with national and scientific parties involved in these regulation.

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Articles describe the good food, false food, adulterated/ mislead food, food handling and premises 15- 18.

It is the responsibility of the DG (Article 19) to issue directives for obligating any producer or importer of the food within the period specified by him to carry out the following:

Document showing the food contents.Details of the ways of using and utilizing food.

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Juridical articles(20, 21) describe in detail the food control process.

Penalties in case of violation (22, 23, 24).

Role of MoH/ Minister to coordinate with other ministries, detailed on article 25.

General rules for authorities’ delegation, articles (26-31).

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Successful food safety strategy requires the integration and co-ordination of food controls. As a result of this understanding, JFDA was established under the JFDA Act, 2003, which came into effect on 16 April 2003.

The JFDA is a statutory, independent and science-based body, dedicated to protecting public health and consumer interests in the area of food safety and hygiene. It comes under the umbrella of the Minister of Health, who chairs a board of ten members.

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Committees: Higher Committee of food control" – chaired by the Director General of the Administration that assists and advises the board. (17 members).

Technical Committee: chaired by the Director of Food Control.

B.S.E Committee.

Food Additives Committee.

Special foods Committee.

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Under the JFDA act, 2003, the JFDA has overall responsibility to ensure that food legislation is enforced.

This responsibility is carried out through various official agencies such as the Ministry of Health (MoH), Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Jordan Institution for Standards and Metrology (JISM), zones free/ ASEZA and several municipalities.

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Control of imported food in Jordan is carried out at the border inspection points (BIPs) under direct control from JFDA, while inland food inspection is carried out according to JFDA standards and procedures by 21 Health Directorates distributed all over the country as well as large municipalities (especially AMMU) within their jurisdiction.

JFDA is essentially responsible for the enforcement of food law applied after the level of primary production rather than the law governing other influences on food safety such as animal health, animal feed or animal medicines.

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The official agencies involved are accountable to JFDA for food safety enforcement activities, programmers and standards of work.

In July 2003, the JFDA entered into its first “memorandum of understanding” with the MoH, which details duties and responsibilities of the MoH and JFDA in the area of food control.

Other memorandums of understanding with other agencies are followed.

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The memorandums of understandings outline an agreed level and standard of food safety activity that agencies perform.

It is understood that overtime JFDA will assume responsibility for the functions currently residing with other official agencies. However, and until this is reached, it is essential that activities of these agencies are coordinated, so that any gaps or overlaps are eliminated.

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Monitoring of imported food for compliance with food regulations is based on a risk based system. Food products have been classified to three categories (high, medium, and low risk) based on the potential health risk associated with each category. Based on this classification, levels of inspection and sampling operations for laboratory analysis have been identified.

The control is conducted through the computerized selectivity module of the Automated System for Custom Data (ASYCUDA).

RBS adopted at ASEZA Customs Center in May 2002 and at Amman Customs Center in January 2004.

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