The ‘Coordinating Committee for Africa’ was established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission in 1972 with a mandate to “exercise general coordination in the preparation of standards relating to the region of Africa”. The committee held its first meeting at FAO in 1974, with 19 countries in attendance.
As the new regional coordinator begins their term, the Agreement of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which came into effect in May 2020, has reinforced the need for an efficient and effective system for managing sanitary and phytosanitary measures, in particular food safety, across the continent as its borders open for trade.
The regional coordinator is based in the Uganda National Bureau of Standards, a statutory body under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Co-operatives which oversees, as part of its mandate, the promotion and use of standards.
As regional coordinator, Uganda intends to engage closely with countries via surveys, webinars and workshops to identify needs and emerging issues, create awareness of priority food safety issues and of Codex standards. A pilot study will also explore the food safety situation in broader terms across the region. By strengthening engagement with regional bodies such as the African Union, the African Organisation for Standardisation and the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat, Uganda also aims to enhance advocacy work in the region.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), organized a Regional Meeting on Food Safety Regulation Convergence from 18 to 22 July 2022 in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. The meeting was attended by Codex Contact Point Officers, National Plant Health Protection Officers, Chief Veterinary Officers, Private Sector Representatives and other experts from fifteen ECOWAS Member States (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote [...]
By Maryann Kindiki Codex Contact Point, Kenya (pictured left)
The Codex Contact Point in Kenya in collaboration with the FAO Country Office held a national food safety workshop in Nairobi, Kenya on 20 July 2022 with the objective of building a solid collaboration between public and private sector towards achieving food safety at national level. The workshop was graced by the presence of FAO Country Representative for Kenya, Carla Mucavi (pictured second left).
The engagements at the workshop were through panel discussions [...]
By Shalini Neeliah Codex Contact Point, Mauritius
In 2020, when we signed the project document for the Codex Trust Fund Assistance, we knew we were in for a deep dive. As a developing country, we had a relatively new Codex structure, but we were very keen to improve it so that we fulfill all our obligations as a World Trade Organization member. Participation in Codex meetings was still sporadic, depending largely on the funding of the Codex Trust Fund (CTF).
As a [...]
In Tanzania, The Citizen newspaper published a series of articles about food safety and World Food Safety Day to raise awareness about food safety issues and about some of the initiatives being implemented across the country aimed at addressing those issues. Representatives of FAO and WHO, as well as other experts and NGOs contributed articles
Dr Nyabenyi Tipo, FAO Country Representative in Tanzania, , describes the global impact of foodborne illness and the aims of World Food Safety Day. “Fortunately, preventive [...]
For three consecutive years, the HACCP Academy Nigeria (HAN) have celebrated World Food Safety Day in Nigeria. This year 2022, HAN commenced a week of celebrations on 1 June with a visit to a farm. “It is our belief that 40-50% of food-related problems occur between the farm, transportation, storage and handling,” a spokesperson said.
Subsequent activities included:
Day 2 - a visit to a logistics company.
Day 3 – a visit to a public secondary school, where students were sensitized on the [...]
In Ghana, for World Food Safety Day, the quality assurance consultancy Safeforia produced educational material and a video for dissemination on social media.
For this campaign, the company produced a series of social media cards, each one with a call to action aimed at a different sector of society. Their message to consumers was: “Contribute by practicing safe food handling like washing of hands with potable water before cooking and after visiting the toilet, washing food well before cooking, keeping foods [...]
On the occasion of the World Food Safety Day 2022, WHO – Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office\ Regional Center for Environmental Health Action in collaboration with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN), WHO country office in Sudan and Central Public Health Laboratory- WHO Collaborating Center for Emerging and Re-Emerging Infections in Oman delivered a three days virtual training from 6-8 June on foodborne diseases outbreak investigation to 19 public health professionals from the [...]
The Cabinet d’Expertise Six Sigma, a food safety awareness organization in Chad, held a series of World Food Safety Day events in efforts to raise the profile of food safety in the country.
The events ranged from film viewings and speeches to conversations with people who have had foodborne disease, and with restaurateurs who talked about their food safety priorities.
The organization recorded these conversations and distributed awareness videos, and they invited the media to attend their events. In national TV coverage, [...]
In Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the National Food Safety Management Committee, organized a ministerial press briefing with the Honourable Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, MD, FWACS to mark this year’s World Food Safety Day.
The 7 June briefing was followed by hybrid virtual and in-person panel discussions on topical issues, under the title “Safer food for better health in Nigeria - the role of governments (federal and states), development partners, experts, private sector and the [...]
By Hakim Mufumbiro Regional Coordinator for the African Region
A total of 12 Member States within the SADC - Southern African Development Community (Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe) as well as the SADC Secretariat participated virtually in an online training on the Codex Electronic Working Group Platform and Online Commenting System from 25 to 27 May 2022, as one of the capacity building activities to enhance the skills and knowledge of stakeholders in [...]
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