Assessment of the current food safety regulatory system in Afghanistan and its future with a new independent regulatory structure

This paper examines the current National Food Safety System of Afghanistan in contrast to some countries in the developed world. The main organizational structure of Afghanistan, its legal framework, the competent authorities and division of their responsibilities are discussed. Particularly, I examine the roles and responsibilities of different agencies in order to identify possible similarities and differences with food control authorities operating in the developed world countries and determine which features are considered most successful. Afghanistan is one of the Asian countries that have not yet implemented institutional or organizational changes to establish a single Food Authority or a similar organization on the national level. The existing food safety system of country is characterized by an “off-hand” addition of structures and division of responsibilities among different government agencies that are accountable to different Ministries. Therefore, the efforts to effectively manage the existing and emerging food safety risks are impeded due to duplication and overlapping of responsibilities among different agencies. The purpose of the paper is to bring together the basic principles underlying the successful regulatory system of food safety. In the end the paper makes some suggestions to the government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on how to establish the independent regulatory system of food safety based on other countries experiences and good practices in an effort to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the current system.