The Food and Drug Authority (FDA) regularly monitors fast food restaurants to check on their performance and quality of service, Dr. Muhammed Al-Kanhal, Executive President of the Consumer Protection Society and member of the FDA's Executive Committee, has said. While addressing a symposium at the Saudi Arabian Specifications and Standards Organization SASSO in Riyadh on Monday, Al-Kanhal refuted allegations leveled against the Kingdom that it had compromised by allowing the import of genetically modified products in return for joining the World Trade Organization (WTO). Al-Kanhal said the Kingdom set conditions for the entry of a genetically modified product where the genetically modified substance should not be more than one percent, Al-Hayat Arabic daily said. Additionally, he said the condition also made it mandatory for manufacturers to write a warning on the packets indicating that the product contains genetically modified substances. He also mentioned that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry is coordinating with the Customs Department to prevent the entry of any product not in conformity with the Kingdom's specifications. “The specifications applied by the Kingdom to genetically modified products follows global standards,” he said. Al-Kanhal said the Kingdom has advanced and sophisticated quality control laboratories capable of tracing any harmful material in indigenous and imported food products. In some emergency cases, he said, SASSO sends specimens abroad, such as, in the case of melamine-tainted imported powder milk. Meanwhile, Dr. Muhammed Al-Hamad, President of the Consumer Protection Society, warned of the proliferation of unhygienic and unhealthy food among consumers of all ages in the Kingdom. He pointed out the latest survey indicates that 60 percent of the Kingdom's population is obese because of the junk food they eat. “Obesity causes diabetes, hypertension and arteriosclerosis diseases which are common among children and those below 25 years of age. It goes without saying that this constitutes a great loss of human resourses in the Kingdom,” he added. __
