Shoura wants tough action against unlicensed herbal practitioners

The Shoura Council on Tuesday urged the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) to take stringent punitive measures against those practicing and promoting herbal treatment and herbal mixtures without a license or specialization.

The council session, chaired by its Deputy President Muhammad Al-Jafri, called on SFDA to expedite preparation of rules and regulations to curb unethical and illegal practices in the food and drug fields and submit them to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman for the approval. The authority has also been directed to reexamine its vision and strategic plans keeping pace with the Kingdom’s National Transformation Program, according to Yahya Al-Samaan, assistant president of the council, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

He said that the council took this decision after reviewing the report of the Health Committee after taking into consideration of the viewpoints and opinions of the members during the deliberations on the annual report of SFDA.

The report was read out by Dr. Abdullah Al-Otaibi, deputy chairman of the committee.

The council urged SFDA, in cooperation with the Saudi Standards, Quality and Metrology Organization to develop standard specifications for the sale and safe storage of foodstuffs. It also called the authority to compel the concerned authorities to publicize which are the allergy-causing food.

Al-Samaan said the council also discussed the report of the Transport, Communications and Information Technology Committee about the draft Law of Transfer and Nationalization of Technology.