The RCCs provide an incredibly important opportunity for dynamic discussion on major and emerging food safety and quality issues facing the region. There are six Codex regions each represented by a joint FAO/WHO Regional Coordinating Committee (RCC).They meet every two years. Each committee is responsible for defining the problems and needs of the region concerning food standards and food control. By working collectively at the regional level countries are able to highlight regulatory issues and problems arising from food control in [...]

The Codex Secretariat plays a key role in the running of over 20 international meetings per year. As the 2016-2017 round of joint FAO/WHO Regional Coordinating Committee meetings begins with the North America and South West Pacific Region in Vanuatu, two members of the Secretariat have travelled to Port Vila. Dr Annamaria Bruno is a Senior Food Standards Officer in the Secretariat with responsibility for CCFA, CCRVDF, CCASIA, CCMMP, CCGP, CCLAC as well as being Alternate Officer for CCFH, CCNASWP, CCSCH, CCPR, CCFFP. [...]

Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare J P Nadda has said that the government is committed to providing safe food for people throughout the food sector: from street vendors to major industries. Speaking to the reporters on the side-lines of a conference organised by the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) in New Delhi, Nadda said the government has given training to 23000 vendors on food safety in Delhi and has certified them too. “Demand for this training [...]

Global leaders will meet at the United Nations General Assembly in New York next Friday - 21 September 2016 to debate the emerging challenge posed by medicine-resistant "superbugs". Only on three other occasions (HIV, noncommunicable diseases and Ebola) has the General Assembly held a high-level meeting to discuss such matters, clearly indicating the global threat that AMR represents. FAO Action Plan FAO has pledged to help countries develop strategies for tackling the spread of antimicrobial resistance in their food supply chains.  Supporting the food [...]

28th session from 12th-16th September - Washington D.C. This Codex commodity committee (CCPFV) has a mandate to elaborate worldwide standards and related texts for all types of processed fruits and vegetables, including canned, dried and frozen products as well as fruit and vegetable juices and nectars. The meeting will be focusing on completing the revision of the the Standard for Canned Pineapple which will become one of the annexes to the Standard for Certain Canned Fruits. It will also complete the revision of [...]

All new and revised Codex texts now available on line. The Codex mandate is to develop harmonised international food standards, which protect consumer health and promote fair practices in food trade. The 39th Commission held last July in Rome, adopted 39 Codex texts (Standards, Guidelines and Codes of Practice)  If national governments adopt these standards, as with all Codex standards then barriers to trade are removed and all consumers can benefit from safe food of good quality. One of the new standards deals with nutrition [...]

New timing to boost strategic planning in Codex. From Tuesday 29th August to Thursday 1st September the Executive Committee of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CCEXEC) will be meeting at the World Health Organization HQ in Geneva. CCEXEC brings together strategists and technical experts from the global Codex community  This meeting less than two months after the 39th session of the Commission (CAC39) marks a change in the recent organisation of Executive Committee meetings. Codex Secretary Tom Heilandt explained the reasons for this new [...]

During its most recent 2016 session, the Codex Alimentarius Commission adopted two key guidelines that use sound science for setting a baseline for the fair and transparent trade in food. Most importantly, once implemented, they will have immediate and long term consequences for public health. One of them has to do with the control of Salmonellosis and the other with foodborne parasites. We asked Dr Jose Emilio Esteban, Executive Associate for Laboratory Services in the Food Safety and Inspection Service at [...]

On September 25th 2015, countries adopted a set of goals to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all. The full title of the goals is "Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" and the UN declaration recognizes that: eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development. How is Codex working to achieve these goals? 6 goals for safer, better food for everyone, everywhere. The first SDG [...]

The Codex Online Commenting System (OCS) is an innovative tool that will revolutionise the way Codex develops standards. Moving from a paper based system to an online platform will encourage greater global participation in the work of standard setting and faster, simpler solutions for forumlating Codex texts and building consensus on the standards themselves. The platform was launched at the 39th session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, held in Rome from 27 June to 1 July 2016 where delegates had the opportunity [...]