The Food Safety Promotion Board (FSPB), one of the six Implementation Bodies established under the Belfast Agreement opened it’s new headquarters in Cork today.
The Safefood building was jointly opened by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, the Northern Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, Ms Bairbre de Brún and the Minister for Health and Children, Mr Micheál Martin.
Minister de Brún said the opening of the Safefood Headquarters, following on last week's North South Ministerial Meeting in Belfast, marked a "significant development in co-operation between the two parts of the island, on matters of mutual interest."
The FSPB has six well-defined functions:
- Promotion of food safety Research into food safety
- Communication of food alerts
- Surveillance of food-borne diseases
- Promotion of scientific co-operation between laboratories
- Development of cost-effective facilities for specialised laboratory testing.
- The authority will develop campaigns to promote food safety under the "Safefood" and "Biaslán" brands.
It will be the FSPB's responsibility to disseminate information on national and international food alerts, involving close liaison with the food safety authorities. These agencies remain responsible for policing food safety laws, while the FSBP will have a role in co-ordinating response protocols North and South.
The Food Safety Promotion Board helpline can be contacted on 1800 404 567 in the Republic and 0800 085 1683 in the North.