Food control system assessment tool: introductory booklet

Overview

National food control system plays a pivotal role in protecting the health of consumers and ensuring fair practices in food trade. When we are able to assess performance of the system in a comprehensive way, it can identify priority areas of improvement and plan sequential and coordinated activities to reach expected outcomes.

FAO and WHO jointly developed a comprehensive tool to assist Member states in assessing the effectiveness of national food control system. The FAO/WHO Food Control System Assessment Tool comprises 162 assessment criteria under 25 system competencies over 4 Dimensions. This introductory booklet is developed to facilitate application of the assessment tool.

Responsible government authorities can have an overview on the assessment tool with this booklet, and the overview will lead them to coordinate national assessments among multiple stakeholders during the entire process. This publication also includes several interactive options and links to better browse the document which facilitate your access to external resources and different sections in the booklet.

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