FAO Pakistan and PAFDA Discuss Strengthening Food Safety and Agricultural Trade Standards

Meeting explores laboratory accreditation, pesticide and aflatoxin testing, and export opportunities as Punjab moves to scale up food safety infrastructure

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Pakistan hosted a delegation from the Punjab Agriculture, Food and Drug Authority (PAFDA), led by Director General Dr. Talat Naseer Pasha, for discussions aimed at strengthening collaboration on food safety standards and agricultural trade compliance across Punjab.

Background: Food Safety as a Trade Priority for Pakistan

Food safety and phytosanitary compliance have become increasingly central to Pakistan’s agricultural export ambitions, as international buyers impose stricter requirements around pesticide residues, contaminants, and laboratory-verified quality standards. For export-oriented crops such as sesame, rice, and mangoes — all significant components of Pakistan’s agricultural trade — meeting these international standards is often a prerequisite for accessing higher-value markets, particularly in regions with stringent import regulations such as the European Union and parts of East Asia.

Punjab, as Pakistan’s largest agricultural province, plays an outsized role in the country’s food production and export capacity, making the strength of its testing and regulatory infrastructure a matter of national economic significance. PAFDA was established to oversee food safety and agricultural quality standards within the province, and its capacity to conduct reliable, internationally recognized testing directly affects the ability of Punjab-based exporters to compete in global markets.

FAO has long supported member countries in strengthening exactly this kind of regulatory and technical capacity, working to help national and provincial authorities align domestic food safety systems with international requirements set by bodies such as the Codex Alimentarius Commission and the World Trade Organization’s Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement.

Key Areas of Discussion

The meeting between FAO Pakistan and the PAFDA delegation covered a broad range of technical and policy issues central to strengthening the province’s food safety system. Discussions focused on collaboration around food safety more broadly, phytosanitary compliance, laboratory accreditation processes, and testing capacity for pesticide residues, aflatoxins, and heavy metals — three of the most common contaminant categories that can trigger export rejections or trade barriers.

The two sides also discussed antimicrobial resistance, an area of growing global regulatory attention given its implications for both food safety and public health, as well as the broader challenge of harmonizing Pakistan’s national standards with international requirements — a process essential to reducing friction for exporters navigating multiple, sometimes inconsistent, regulatory frameworks.

Plans to Expand Laboratory Capacity

During the meeting, PAFDA shared details of its plans to significantly expand laboratory services across Punjab, with a stated target of conducting up to 45,000 tests annually. Officials noted that this expanded testing capacity carries significant potential benefits specifically for Pakistan’s sesame, rice, and mango exporters, sectors that depend heavily on consistent, internationally credible testing to maintain and grow their access to export markets.

Discussions also explored several specific mechanisms for strengthening the link between policy and practical implementation, including the use of inter-laboratory comparisons to verify testing consistency and reliability across facilities, improvements to sampling procedures to ensure more representative and accurate testing outcomes, and the introduction of digital dashboards intended to improve transparency and data accessibility across the testing system.

International Training Collaboration

The PAFDA delegation also expressed appreciation for FAO Pakistan’s support in facilitating its participation in the Multilateral Seminar on “Biosafety Lab Management and Technology for Developing Countries,” running from May 27 to June 16, 2026. The seminar is being organized in collaboration with the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Pakistan, reflecting an additional avenue of international technical cooperation aimed at strengthening Pakistan’s laboratory and biosafety management capacity.

Why This Matters

Strengthening food safety infrastructure at the provincial level carries implications that extend well beyond regulatory compliance. For Punjab’s agricultural exporters, expanded and more reliable laboratory testing capacity could help reduce the risk of shipment rejections abroad, potentially opening access to more demanding international markets and improving the overall competitiveness of Pakistani agricultural products.

More broadly, the meeting reflects the kind of institutional and technical cooperation increasingly seen as necessary for developing countries seeking to align domestic agricultural systems with international trade requirements — combining local capacity-building efforts, such as PAFDA’s laboratory expansion plans, with international training and knowledge-sharing opportunities facilitated through partnerships with organizations like FAO.