Uzbekistan has developed extensive capacity to ensure a stable food supply, including the cultivation, storage, processing, and export of agricultural products. The country has around 4 million hectares of arable land, storage facilities with a capacity of 1.5 million tons, and processing capacity of 3.5 million tons, enabling the supply of affordable, high-quality food to the domestic market while supporting exports worth $4 billion.
Uzbekistan aims to raise its food exports to $10 billion and expand its export reach to an additional 100 countries by 2030.
The meeting stressed that achieving these targets will require bringing the country’s food safety system fully in line with international standards.
It was noted that, until now, three separate agencies have been responsible for food safety and oversight. As a result, there is no unified database linking the sanitary, veterinary, and quarantine authorities, while some functions and responsibilities overlap. This fragmentation has created unnecessary challenges for businesses engaged in export and import operations.
The Plant Quarantine and Protection Agency is responsible for 100 functions, the Veterinary Agency for 115, and the sanitary-epidemiological surveillance system for 44, yet a fully integrated “farm-to-consumer” product tracking system has still not been established.
Challenges also remain in the export sector. In particular, the European Union has issued 25 warnings over pesticide residues detected in Uzbek products. This underscores the need for a fundamental overhaul of the product safety control system to improve competitiveness in international markets.
The regulatory bodies have largely focused on inspections of finished products, while insufficient attention has been paid to implementing international standards that ensure food safety across all stages of the production chain.
In this context, comprehensive reform of the food safety system is planned, including the creation of a unified centralized mechanism in line with international requirements.
A Food Safety Committee will be established to oversee all regulatory processes under the “farm-to-table” principle. The new body will be formed on the basis of the Agency for Quarantine and Plant Protection, the Veterinary Development Committee, and the food safety unit of the Committee for Sanitary and Epidemiological Welfare.
The new system is expected to eliminate outdated inspection practices that hinder entrepreneurial activity. Mandatory certification of food products will be abolished and replaced with a risk-based inspection and control system.
