Kuwait relies on imported food to supply more than 90% of its food consumption, and food import control is essential in the area to protect public health and food security. The Food and Drugs risk food control system provided by the FAO/WHO Risk-Based Imported Food Control Manual (2015) is used in this paper to assess the imported food control system in Kuwait. The descriptive qualitative paradigm was used, which incorporated documentary analysis of the related legislation and a structured evaluation checklist and semi-structured interviews with 15 major officials of the Public Authority for Food and Nutrition (PAFN). The assessment involved control processes applied to imported foods, legal and institutional environment and facilitating services. Findings reveal good performance on the legal system, the administrative system and the post-border inspection processes, which demonstrates a well-developed enforcement-based system. Nevertheless, significant loopholes are still present in risk-based food classification, pre-border responses, inter-agency coordination, and strategic management of financial and human resources. Compliance on an overall basis was 68 on a documentary scale and 62 on a perceptions scale. The results highlight the necessity of specific reforms to enhance preventive, risk-based control and make the food import system of Kuwait to match the international standards.
Al-Daihani et al. (Tue,) studied this question.