Dr. Joseph Matta, invited by Dr. Nazir Hawi, Coordinator of FNAS and FNHS at NDU-SC, delivered a valuable lecture on Food Chemistry on Wednesday, May 12, 2010.

In the lecture, Dr. Matta explained that ensuring the healthfulness of food supplies has gained an increasing importance in public health. Food contamination imposes heavy economic and social costs on communities and their health systems. Moreover, trade, whether on a national or international level, is increasingly dependent on quality, and hence on issues of hygiene, control and food security.

Therefore, Dr. Matta emphasized that it is imperative to ensure the wholesomeness of foods. To this end, new internationally recognized methods and policies have been developed, in addition to the care given to quality in production. To achieve this, it is essential to adhere to a quality system (ISO 9001), set guidelines for a food safety management system (ISO 22000), and validate feasible analytical techniques (ISO 17025) using precise methods and international norms.