Laws that prevent food fraud can help protect food safety and people’s health and thus reduce healthcare costs, said Health Minister Hassan Hashemi at a recent meeting of the Planning Council for Health Promotion and Quality of Life. “In Iran and all over the world, adulteration in food production occurs with the motive to earn more profits, posing grave risk to public health; therefore it is necessary to take appropriate measures to prevent production of spurious and fake foods,” he said quoted by Mehr News Agency. He referred to the ban on use of palm oil in dairy products last year and said, “Earlier, the factories violating the rules were sentenced to pay only a paltry fine of $900,” although they were earning several million dollars annually. “The meager fines for environmental offences are not enough to deter violators.”
