Momodou Lamin Nget, the principal food standard officer and director of Food Standard Quality and Hygiene Enforcement, has said that food safety is an integral part of food security.

He observed that this cannot be guaranteed without access to food both physically and economically. In the drive towards accessing food economically and physically, Nget disclosed that the government of The Gambia recently introduced the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) programme, being implemented at all the levels of the national strata for development, to reduce the level of poverty in the country which will bring about economic access to food.
 
He said the government also introduced the "back-to-the-land" policy, which when adhered to, will bring about access to food physically. "In the drive to ensure the general well-being of its population in the area of food safety, the government of The Gambia swiftly responded to a proposal that was made by WHO member states in the African region to come up with a food control legislation and an act to control the production, manufacture, sale, distribution, importation and exportation of foods cited as the Food Act of 2005," he noted.
    
According to him, this Act has outlined all stakeholder responsibilities, thereby avoiding overlaps as mandates are clearly spelt out. "The responsibilities for the co-ordination of this Act are vested on the National Nutrition Agency (NaNA), under the auspices of the Office of the Vice President," he remarked.
 
He revealed that out of 45 countries in the continent, only 13 countries have responded to the proposal and that The Gambia is one of them. "The government of The Gambia under the able leadership of President Jammeh, has instituted special directorate of food safety called Food Safety, and Hygiene Enforcement, which replaces the former Food Hygiene and Safety Unit that I was heading, to further broaden the unit to enable it take the challenges of contemporary on food safety," he concluded.