Nutrition and consumer protection home page

THE FAO NUTRITION AND CONSUMER PROTECTION DIVISION AIMS TO:
Create sustainable improvements in nutrition, especially among nutritionally vulnerable households and population groups; provide information, assessments and analysis to combat hunger and reduce all forms of malnutrition; assist countries in identifying people who are food insecure and vulnerable to nutritional problems; promote food safety and quality, and prevent food-borne diseases; focus on consumer protection and fair practices in food trade.

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FAO's Food Quality and Standards is concerned with the maintenance and improvement of the quality and safety of foods at the international, regional, and national levels. It promotes the establishment and operation of national regulatory frameworks compatible with international requirements, in particular those of the Codex Alimentarius Commission. It also provides technical advice for capacity-building of food control systems and programmes at national and local levels to ensure food quality and safety throughout the food chain. It provides scientific assessments of food safety and related guidance to the Codex Alimentarius Commission and to countries. This includes the assessment of food additives, chemical and microbiological contaminants, naturally occurring toxicants, residues of veterinary drugs and foods derived from modern biotechnology.

NEWSLETTER:
Food Safety and Quality Update

International Portal on Food Safety, Animal & Plant Health

CODEX ALIMENTARIUS The Codex Alimentarius Commission was created in 1963 by FAO and WHO to develop food standards, guidelines and related texts such as codes of practice under the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme. The main purposes of this Programme are protecting health of the consumers and ensuring fair trade practices in the food trade, and promoting coordination of all food standards work undertaken by international governmental and non-governmental organizations.

SUSTAINABLE IMPROVEMENT IN nutritional well-being can be achieved through a combination of evidence-based and community-based actions to address local causes of malnutrition; improvements in national and sectoral policies and programmes; support to civil society institutions to enable poor households to acquire sufficient food and utilise it most effectively; and enhancement of education and public information for dietary improvement.

FAO Hunger Map