Lead:
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam held an urgent meeting at the Grand Serail on Monday to address multiple cases of food poisoning and suspected fraud in foodstuffs. The session brought together ministers of finance, interior, agriculture, industry, and public health, alongside food safety officials and the attorney general. Salam stated that food safety is a non-negotiable responsibility and ordered comprehensive inspections of slaughterhouses and warehouses nationwide.
Details:
According to Al-Akhbar and An-Nahar, Salam declared that "food adulteration is a crime and moral degradation," signaling zero tolerance for violations in the food supply chain. The prime minister tasked the Lebanese Food Safety Authority, headed by Professor Eli Awd, and security agencies with carrying out immediate inspections of all slaughterhouses and food storage facilities. He instructed relevant ministries to investigate all reports and circulating information related to food poisoning incidents with full transparency and accountability.
Finance Minister Yassin Jaber, Interior Minister Ahmad Al-Hajjar, Agriculture Minister Nizar Haani, Industry Minister Joe Issa Al-Khoury, and Public Health Minister Rakan Nasser Al-Din all participated in the session. The Discriminatory Attorney General, Judge Ahmad Rami Al-Hajj, was also present. The meeting followed mounting public concern over a series of poisoning cases and suspected adulteration of food products in circulation.
Salam stressed that no government body can afford complacency on this issue. He emphasized that the cabinet would pursue violators with full legal force and coordinate across all relevant agencies to prevent future incidents. The emergency session underscores tensions between public health mandates and the fragmented enforcement capacity of Lebanon's administrative bodies, particularly as economic collapse has strained resources for inspection and monitoring infrastructure.
Watch For:
— Timeline and scope of announced slaughterhouse and warehouse inspections; whether specific cases are referred for prosecution within days. — Whether the Food Safety Authority issues public lists of tested products or affected vendors, addressing transparency demands. — Coordination gaps between the attorney general's office and health inspectorates, and any resulting delays in enforcement actions.