The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has refuted allegations made by Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC) and Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC) that the food it supplied to the western hilly district, Jajarkot was not edible.

UNWFP's country representative in Nepal Richard Ragan said, WFP has no confidence that the food samples supplied by INSEC to Food Technology and Quality Control Lab were drawn using the appropriate sampling methodologies or procedures, in a press statement issued Saturday.

Each consignment of food supplied in Nepal is tested either by a private lab, the Centre for Quality Surveillance (CQS), or through the testing center of the government-owned Nepal Food Corporation to confirm it is safe for human consumption before it is delivered to the beneficiaries, Ragan has mentioned in the statement.

The process involves WFP staff, suppliers, transporters, implementing partners and both government and private testing centres to ensure food quality throughout the entire food pipeline, the statement says. WFP has also threatened to suspend operation in Nepal if the food it supplied is found substandard.

"If the Government of Nepal concludes that our food doesn't meet the requirements then we are willing to suspend operations," Ragan has said in the statement.

WFP has also urged to move the debate forward from unproven claims, and refocus it on humanitarian priorities which include how people can protect themselves from water borne diseases and how can we all work together to ensure that all people in Nepal have enough food to eat.

A broadsheet daily had quoted (DFTQC) officials saying the food supplied by WFP in Jajarkot was not edible. INSEC had supplied the food samples to DFTQC for tests. nepalnews.com