Cuba to develop a food contaminants database

 HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 28 (ACN) The Center for Radiation Protection and Hygiene (CPHR) announced in Havana that it will develop a national database on radioactive contaminants in food of animal and vegetable origin based on samples provided by clients and institutions.
 
Headed by Maryzury Valdés Ramos, head of the Group of Computer and Network Services applied to Radiological Protection of the CPHR, attached to the Agency of Nuclear Energy and Advanced Technologies, the project includes radiological monitoring operations bound to serve as an interface to the data on food contaminants that Cuba must export to the regional platform of Latin America and the Caribbean.
 
The launching of the Regional Database is being coordinated with the International Atomic Energy Agency, so Cuba is one of the first countries to contribute to the legitimization of these tools, which will make it possible for laboratories to communicate food safety risks to national authorities for evidence-based decision-making, the specialist said.
 
Cuba's first-ever regulation and code on this subject, published in January as Decree Law 9, was aimed, among other purposes, to laying down regulations and principles that guarantee safe and nutritious foods and provide health protection throughout the food chain, according to Sc.D. Nancy Fernández Rodríguez, Director-General of the National Bureau of Standards (ONN).