TEHRAN – The Iranian health minister said on Saturday that he expects the judiciary to speed up the process of punishing food safety violators who have been identified.

Hassan Qazizadeh Hashemi, who was speaking on the sidelines of a conference to mark World Food Day, said that no serious reform has taken place in the food sector over the last year, Tasnim reported.

World Food Day is observed globally on October 16.

“What embarrasses us is that why we cannot spot all food safety violators. Or when we ban some unhealthy products, why do they return into market?” Qazizadeh Hashemi said, adding that the problem is in the type of the punishment which has failed so far.

“We are determined not to allow [anybody] to play with people’s health at all and we take measure against [law violators] but we need judicial system as well as executive power to support us,” he stressed.

Somewhere else in his remarks, the health minister emphasized it is not right that the punishments to be limited to penalties but a revision needs to be taken in regulatory resources.

The health minister also said that consumers now pay more attention to food safety regulations than producers.

He also noted that that strokes and heart attacks stand for 50 percent of deaths in the country, calling on people to be more cautious in using oil.

The number of overweight citizens is increasing, he added.

Qazizadeh Hashemi warned that consumption of salt and sugar is very high in the country and it is not possible to improve the habit in one day or a year.

PT/PA