The Bhutan Agriculture and Food Regulatory Authority (BAFRA) under Ministry of Agriculture and Forests received an amount of USD 152,000 in April from Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations to strengthen food safety and standards in the country.

The project over a span of next two years, will primarily focus on the establishment of a reliable food control system including food safety policy, standards, risk based inspection and awareness of various stakeholders through development of training manuals and promotional materials.

The inspection system will address major food safety concerns like microbiological and chemical hazards.

A Senior Food Safety and Nutrition Officer of FAO for the Asia Pacific region, Dr. Shashi Sareen said that after the establishment of World Trade Organization (WTO), the demand by both governments and consumers for food quality and safety has increased.

With increased complexity in food production chain, she stressed the need to have adequate controls along the food chain to guarantee food safety to the consumers.

She said, “Food control needs to be driven by the government with active involvement of other stakeholders namely producers, processors, transporters, service suppliers, consumers etc”.

The Food Safety and Nutrition Officer of FAO for the Asia Pacific region also shared information on similar projects being carried out around the Asia Pacific region on food safety.

According the BAFRA officials, there is a need to establish a good food- inspection system. The project besides this issue pertaining to food safety will also work toward capacity-building to improve food safety along the food chain.

BAFRA officials said that food-contaminant monitoring will also be boosted with such projects in place.

The two-year project which will function till March 2014 will directly benefits general consumers through having access to safe and standard foods available. The project benefits will also extend to producers, industries, food service establishments and government institutions involved in food safety.

The project is also expected to indirectly benefit individual farmers or farmers’ group, commercial producers and its allied business partners and vulnerable groups especially the women engaged in food industries.

An FAO inception-workshop titled “Strengthening Food Safety and Standards in Bhutan” was also organized last week.

Husband arrested due to wife’s burglary charges

The police arrested a 59 year old man on suspicion of committing burglary in his wife’s house in Dhur, 15 kms away from Chamkhar town in Bumthang on 23 July.

The incident occurred when the woman was with her friends and families offering butter lamps and visiting few monasteries around Bumthang on the auspicious day.

However when she returned home she found that the bolt of the door was broken and as she entered inside the house she found that the metal box where she had saved Nu 60,000 was unbolted and the money was found missing.

The case was reported to the police the next day after the incident.

When the police reached the crime scene the woman said that she suspected her husband for being behind the theft and the police on the same day arrested the man.

The police while investigating the suspect retrieved Nu. 100,000 which the suspect claimed he had earned by selling cordyceps.

According to the victim’s statement, the suspect is her husband and she is currently in the process of divorcing him after she was manhandled by him. The case is currently going on in the Bumthang court.

However, the suspect denied the crime saying he did enter the house but did not pick anything from the house. The suspect is a former soldier and the police are still investigating the case.

Husband arrested due to wife’s burglary charges

The police arrested a 59 year old man on suspicion of committing burglary in his wife’s house in Dhur, 15 kms away from Chamkhar town in Bumthang on 23 July.

The incident occurred when the woman was with her friends and families offering butter lamps and visiting few monasteries around Bumthang on the auspicious day.

However when she returned home she found that the bolt of the door was broken and as she entered inside the house she found that the metal box where she had saved Nu 60,000 was unbolted and the money was found missing.

The case was reported to the police the next day after the incident.

When the police reached the crime scene the woman said that she suspected her husband for being behind the theft and the police on the same day arrested the man.

The police while investigating the suspect retrieved Nu. 100,000 which the suspect claimed he had earned by selling cordyceps.

According to the victim’s statement, the suspect is her husband and she is currently in the process of divorcing him after she was manhandled by him. The case is currently going on in the Bumthang court.

However, the suspect denied the crime saying he did enter the house but did not pick anything from the house. The suspect is a former soldier and the police are still investigating the case.