ABU DHABI // A food safety law debate was nearly derailed when half the members of the FNC disappeared mid-session on Tuesday.
The speaker, Mohammed Al Murr, ordered the debate to be stopped with only 20 members in chambers. The session resumed after another member was fetched from the lunch room.
Federal law requires a majority to be present for the council to hold a session.
This was the first time this term that such an incident had occurred.
A 22-article law imposing prison and fines for those selling expired food was passed six hours later before Dr Rashid bin Fahad, the Minister of Environment and Water. Discussion was heated when the minister said the council had added too many definitions to the law, detracting from its purpose of tackling food security.
“This law now looks like we have produced a law on fodder, not food,” he said.
Afra Al Basti, from Dubai, said that emphasis was placed on fodder because it was important to ensure the safety of what animals were eating at the start of the food chain.
The minister reminded members that the country’s meat imports were not based on fodder and that the law should not put animal food on a par with human food.
osalem@thenational.ae
