What you should watch out for if you buy meat in Colombia: Invima warns about the risks of consuming it if it's from illegal sources.

The National Institute for Food and Drug Surveillance (Invima) called on both producers and consumers of meat and edible meat products in Colombia to ensure compliance with current health regulations in order to protect public health and avoid the consumption of contaminated or dubious products.

The agency noted that it is essential that the entire production chain, from animal processing plants to points of sale, comply with the following cold storage standards :

In addition, Invima urged citizens to be critical of the origin of the products they consume. The sale of spoiled or poor-quality meat should be avoided , as these products may lack sanitary controls and pose a serious health risk, including the possibility of disease transmission.

The Ministry of Health and Social Protection, with support from Invima (National Institute of Health), has issued technical guidelines for Territorial Health Entities to carry out Inspection, Surveillance, and Control (IVC) tasks on the transportation and sale of meat products . These entities are responsible for supervising retail outlets, supermarkets, neighborhood stores, and galleries.

Within this framework, we are working in coordination with the Departmental Committees to develop strategies to combat illegality, smuggling, and informality in the meat supply chain.

One of the main initiatives underway is the creation and strengthening of the Regional Roundtables against Illegality and Clandestinity in the Meat Supply Chain, led by Invima (National Institute of Agriculture). These forums analyze the progress of joint actions and define new lines of work.

Please note that illegally sourced meat is not subject to health surveillance and can pose a significant risk to public health. Therefore, Invima (National Institute of Food and Agriculture) and industry associations have launched educational campaigns with the following objectives:

When meat is packaged , it is recommended to check that it has the following mandatory information:

Finally, if a citizen detects irregularities related to the sale of meat, they should report them to the Territorial Health Entities or write to [email protected].

LATEST NEWS EDITORIAL