Representatives from Iran's Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and RIKILT Institute based in the Netherlands' Wageningen University and Research signed a Memorandum of Understanding on food health and safety on Saturday in Tehran.
“The essence of human beings' biologic system is made up of food, oxygen and water. As much as human beings consume food, it is exposed to food microbes. One of the tasks of governments is to make ensure the safety of food and this important issue is up to health ministry, in cooperation with different organizations, in Iran,” said Mohammad Aghajani, the President of Shahid Beheshti University at the signing ceremony.
He added that the medical universities in different provinces of Iran are the arms of the health ministry in executing food safety considerations.
“Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences has always been a pioneer in food safety in Iran and has always taken important steps on this path including the contact made with RIKILT Institute based in the Netherlands' Wageningen University and Research,” he asserted.
Under the recently signed agreement between the two research bodies, RIKILT Institute and Shahid Beheshti University will work on the ways to find out about the residues of pesticides and other poisons used during the course of cultivation of fruits in the final product of companies inside packed juices output to market.
The two sides also agreed to hold joint courses on training researchers with contributions from the scientists of the two countries.
RIKILT Institute of Food Safety was created in 1975 through the merger of the Government Dairy Station in Leiden and the Government Agricultural Testing Station Maastricht. The Wageningen-based institute was initially part of the Nutrition and Product Quality policy department of the then Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries.
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