The Indonesian Food and Drug Regulatory Agency (BPOM) is hopeful about Indonesian processed food products breaking into the Saudi Arabian market through a collaboration with the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA/BPOM Saudi Arabia). This partnership focuses on ensuring drug and food product quality and safety, particularly facilitating access to Indonesian food for Hajj and Umrah pilgrims in the Holy Land. Serving as the national competent authority for exporting food products to Saudi Arabia, BPOM expressed gratitude for SFDA's audit visit to fish processing units (UPI) and the NCA office, emphasizing that all exported food from Indonesia meets the highest safety and quality standards, following international guidelines such as the Codex Alimentarius Guideline.
During the visit, Mohanad Alkaldi, part of the SFDA delegation, emphasized that their visit aimed to enhance mutual understanding rather than evaluate. SFDA appreciated Indonesia's well-organized system and successful exports of domestic products to various countries. Topics discussed included the supervision mechanism for fisheries and marine products from cultivation to export, cooperation between KKP and BPOM, actions in response to non-compliance findings, fish diseases, surveillance of fisheries and marine products, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and radiation-related matters.
