The Rwanda Bureau of Standards (RBS) has set an ambitious plan aimed at greatly reducing food contamination in the value chain. Dr. Mark Cyubahiro Bagabe, the RBS director general, said the body would develop more standards, provide technical assistance to stakeholders and work with enforcers in the food sector as part of the strategies to reduce contamination in processed food by 80 per cent by 2018.He added that they will recruit more staff and retrain and motivate the current personnel to make the food safety section more productive. He said they target to generate about Rwf900m annually when the section is fully equipped and staffed.Cyubahiro was speaking at a workshop to discuss the body’s 2013-2018 food security strategic plan in Kigali on Friday.“We want to build the capacity of our laboratory staff and other personnel, as well as acquire new equipment to be able to provide better services to stakeholders,” Cyubahiro explained.Judith Katabarwa, the National Capacity Building Secretariat manager for strategic operations and quality assurance, pledged the organisation’s support to ensure quality in the food value chain across the country. She also noted that it is important to create a good working relationship with standards enforcers, arguing that they are key players in efforts geared at improving food safety in the country. According to RBS, there are over 200 food safety standards, covering all the levels of the food value chain.
