The November 3 meeting between Nawaf Salam and the Director General of State Security, Edgar Lawandos, specifies the mechanism mobilized after the meat alerts. The investigation must involve monitoring services, the Lebanese Food Security Authority and judicial authorities. This organization is based on an essential distinction: inspecting an establishment, confirming a health risk and establishing criminal responsibility are not a single operation.
The interview is part of the follow-up to the emergency meeting on 2 November. It does not correspond to the announcement of a new authority replacing ministries. The priority is to work together the bodies already concerned, from retail to storage, slaughterhouses and the origin of the products.
Food controls in Lebanon: central coordination
The Lebanese Food Security Authority is placed at the centre of the Government’s announcement. It is responsible for coordinating with departments the review of facilities, including slaughterhouses and meat warehouses, and for assessing their compliance with the requirements.
This role aims to monitor the food chain as a whole. A finding made in a restaurant can call a check at its supplier. An anomaly in a warehouse may, on the other hand, lead to the search for the outlets that received the products. Coordination should allow this information to be linked rather than treating each control as an isolated file.
It does not exempt administrations from their technical missions. The Minister of Health, Rakan Nassereddine, mentioned in particular the mobilization of health and agricultural inspectors and the cooperation with the Ministry of Industry. The resources of several services are therefore sought, without a total mobilized staff being made public.
Health follows cases, Economy lists circuits
The Ministry of Health is involved in patient reports, epidemiological investigations and examinations necessary to identify infections. Its results can guide the search for a food or place of exposure. They must then be reconciled with the material collected from the products.
On 3 November, the Ministry of Economy and Trade issued a specific instruction on consumer protection: to identify meat warehouses, including those without an authorisation, within 48 hours. It also requires checks on the origin, storage, refrigeration and validity of meat.
The information should be forwarded to the Food Safety Authority. This census is a tool for tracking and monitoring. It does not mean that each identified company is in breach, and the absence of authorisation, when found, does not alone prove contamination.
State Security investigates under judicial supervision
In the follow-up presented on 3 November, the State Security participates in the search for offences and suspicions of fraud. Its intervention is coordinated with the Authority, the ministries and the administrations concerned, under the supervision of the Public Prosecutor ‘ s Office.
The presence of a security service does not replace health expertise. Nor does it turn a suspicion into a conviction. The analyses establish what a sample contains; The investigation must then document its origin, the operations it has undergone and any responsibilities.
This separation also protects the quality of public information. Administrative closure, seizure, judicial investigation and court decision describe different situations. Bringing them together under the same charge would prevent us from understanding what was actually established.
The Authority’s resources remain a concrete challenge
On 2 November, the Parliamentary Health Committee discussed the difficulties of starting up the Authority. Its president, Bilal Abdallah, requested that she have the skills, resources and stable seat necessary for its operation, and then a strengthened administrative and field apparatus.
The MP advocates continuous control, from the origin of food to the consumer. Its request highlights a separate point from the current urgency: announced coordination is not sufficient to provide a permanent capacity for inspection. The Minister of Health admits a lack of inspectors in his administration.
To assess the results, it will therefore be necessary to look beyond the number of meetings. The expected elements are establishments actually monitored, analyses carried out, documented anomalies and administrative or judicial follow-up. This assessment will make it possible to distinguish a one-off campaign from an organisation capable of monitoring food risks in a sustainable way.
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