On Behalf of HRH Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, Crown Prince, Deputy Premier, Minister of Defense & Aviation, Inspector General and Chairman of SFDA Board of Directors, HRH Prince Naif bin Abdul Aziz, Second Deputy Premier, Minister of Interior and deputy Chairman of SFDA Board of Directors chaired yesterday, in Riyadh the 9th. SFDA’s Board of Directors Meeting in the presence of their Royal Highness and Excellency members of SFDA Board.
At the beginning of the meeting, HRH The Second Deputy Premier emphasized the importance of SFDA’s vital role of serving the Saudi community by insurance of food & drug safety, security and efficiency and setting medical devices standards in addition to conducting scientific researches and studies in its field of specialization
HRH has also referred to SFDA’s efforts and contribution in the field of consumer awareness where he said:” Citizens and expatriates hope to have safe and clean food in addition to safe and secure drug”

HRH Prince Naif praised the care and support efforts of the Saudi Government, under the leadership of The Custodian of The Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud and HRH Crown Prince in relation to all matters concerning the health of the citizens, wishing the audience all success.
After that, HRH The Second Deputy Premier and SFDA Board members viewed a presentation about SFDA’s Goals , objectives and projects.
Afterwards, the meeting discussed its meeting agenda, the most important of which are: Approval of Cosmetic Products Draft Regulations, Approval of SFDA’s Organization Structure, Approval of SFDA Final Account and Annual Report, in addition to discussion of selection of the External Auditor of SFDA and appropriate decisions were taken.
On the other hand, HRH The Second Deputy Premier launched a number of SFDA’s projects and programs in the field of Food & Drug Control, including 18 projects in Food, Drug & Medical Devices& Products Sectors: The Food Sector Projects included:
1. Food Imports Control Program in cooperation with GTZ, aiming to train and qualify professional National Human resources in this field
2.Monitoring &Control of Diseases carried by Food & Protection against them. The center monitors food toxins and infections and protection programs
3. The National Center for Monitoring & Control of Food Contamination. This project aims to assess the safety of food available in the local market and monitoring contamination of imported and locally produced food, and establishment of four specialized laboratories for this purpose
4. Safety of Food Containers and Packing Materials Laboratory Project , for assessment of the safety of food containers and packing materials
5. Food Safety Reports Tracking Center. Whereas the Kingdom imports food from around 150 countries worldwide, SFDA assumed that any global problem in this field may end in the Kingdom. Therefore, SFDA has established this center which implements an integrated system for management of food safety reports on 24 hour basis. The key objective of this center is to take the appropriate decision with regard to such repots either by banning import of the affected products to the kingdom, or warning the consumers and recalling the products from the market.
6.Food Factories & Warehoused Databases Project: The project includes databases of food factories and warehouses and their branches
7. Ongoing Food Safety Awareness Program: The project aims to make people aware of safe food handling practices of, provides information on useful food and warning about harmful food and provides indirect support to food factories and food stores.

The Drug Sector Projects included:
1. Saudi Drug Registration System (SDR), for registration of pharmaceutical products meant for human and animal use in the kingdom, that allows pre –market and post- market control of these products
2.The National Pharmaceutical Organizations Register ( SIJIL) : This is an electronic system for building a database for all local and foreign companies and factories working in the field of human and veterinary pharmaceutical products, registered in the Kingdom.
3.Products Import & Clearance Project (FASEH): This is an electronic system that controls and organizes the imports and clearance of human and veterinary pharmaceutical products and monitoring of local pharmaceutical products.
4. The National Drug Safety & Alerts Center( Tayaquz). The aim of the project is to monitor the affectability and quality of drugs and cosmetic products and it includes an electronic database for collection and assessment of pharmaceutical products side effects
50 The National Drug & Poisons Information Center. The project supplies health care providers with all information related to drug and poisons , based on scientific foundations
The Medical Devices & Products Projects included:
1. Medical Devices & Products National Register Project (MDNR): The purpose of the project is to list all medical devices & products organizations, manufacturers, agents and importers in the Kingdom. All project applications are run via the internet.
2. The National Center for Medical Devices Reports Project (NCMDR): This is a database management system for management all information related to the safety and performance of the medical devices & products, in order to take the appropriate decisions towards reported incidents and problems of these devices and products. The project also considers sharing of information related to medical devices & products incidents in order to reduce or eliminate them. The project proved its efficiency whereas the Kingdom has joined the Global Harmonization Team Reporting System
3. Medical Devices Clearance Project: This system is designed to link the various points of entry with the headquarter and with each other in order to facilitate obtaining of shipment information before it is delivered by importers.
4.Medical Devices Import License (MDIL) Project:
The key objective of this system is to ensure that organizations comply with manufacturers’ conditions in respect of storage, transportation and assembling of the devices imported or distributed by the organization.

The launched projects also included capabilities project, whereas SFDA is keen to adopt the latest technologies in the field of its operations and development of its technical and human capabilities.