The Ministry of Agriculture strengthens the system of food chain supervision

The past years have presented serious challenges to all segments of the food chain, to which we must respond, so in the future the supervision of food chain safety will be managed by the national chief veterinarian as ministerial commissioner, and in order to increase supply security, the new deputy state secretary will be responsible for strengthening food economy and trade tasks, he announced according to the announcement of the Ministry of Agriculture (AM) on Friday, Minister of Agriculture István Nagy.

Developments are not only essential, but also guarantees for the future (Photo: Pixabay)

The minister recalled: the challenges of the past years highlighted the strategic importance of agriculture, and at the same time showed that its continuous and significant development is inevitable. The coronavirus epidemic and the war raging in our neighbor both make it necessary to increase the security of supply, while the increasingly aggressive animal health epidemics make it necessary to strengthen the food chain security – emphasized the head of the ministry, adding that both areas put masses of Hungarian people and businesses to a serious test every day. – Therefore, we are not in a position to allow ourselves to be lax, to take even one wrong or unprofessional step. – stated István Nagy, according to the announcement.

Development requires personal changes

In order to separate and strengthen the responsibilities, the head of the ministry asked the national chief veterinarian Lajos Bognár to supervise the area of ​​food chain safety as a ministerial commissioner, including as the professional director of the National Food Chain Safety Office (Nébih) to help organize the preventive and defensive works through which the the hygiene and animal health safety of the livestock sector can now stand on much stronger feet. By preventing epidemic situations, the Hungarian agricultural economy can avoid expenses of the order of hundreds of billions – reminded the minister. In order to increase the security of supply, the development of the food economy and food trade is also essential – underlined the head of the ministry, so in the future, a new but already proven specialist, Olga Felkai Beáta, will perform the tasks of deputy state secretary. For the Ministry of Agriculture, it is extremely important that the Hungarian people do not have to worry for a minute about what kind of food will be put on their family’s table in these dire times – said the minister.

MTI