A seminar, "Codex Alimentarius in Portugal", was held on 22 June in Lisbon for agri-food sector experts, public and private, including competent authorities and public bodies, associations of different production chains, universities and laboratories. Issues related to Portuguese participation in the elaboration of EU positions in Codex were discussed, with the division of competences between EU Member States and the European Commission. The main issues under discussion in each of the 19 Codex Committees were also presented by the different national [...]

Andean government representatives discussed on 7-8 March 2018 in Quito, Ecuador the challenges they face and the successes they celebrate in setting international standards used in trading plant products and food internationally. Contact points, representing members of the Codex Alimentarius and parties to the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), shared their experiences while seeking ways to boost subregional cooperation during a workshop, convened by the Secretariats of the two UN organizations and Corporación IG-DE. Over the course of two days, standards [...]

On February 20th 2018, the Government of Timor-Leste officially became the 188th Member of the Codex Alimentarius Commission. Dr Rajesh Pandav is the WHO Representative to the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste and he explained to Codex what finally convinced Timor-Leste to join the Codex Alimentarius Commission. A strong national food control system will play a critical role in ensuring safe food consumption. The government feels that a strong national food control system will play a critical role in ensuring safe food consumption, protecting [...]

In October 2017 Steve Mambu, Laboratory Director at the National Standards Laboratory in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry spoke about the launch of the National Codex Committee in Liberia. At a recent Codex workshop in Nairobi we caught up with Steve again and asked him for an update on progress. In Liberia food standards are key to facilitating trade. Steve: As a result of the assessment of the food safety situation in Liberia, it was recommended we establish a food law. So I can tell you we [...]

A two-day Regional Technical Workshop for National Codex Contact Points has concluded in Kenya's capital Nairobi, bringing together participants from close to 25 African countries, with the majority working within the areas of food safety and international standards. The workshop supported skills and knowledge development to increase practical capacity and ability of staff working in national Codex systems and to facilitate their successful operation in the Codex international standard-setting environment. This is through the use of electronic tools, such as [...]

One role of the regional coordinators in Codex is to bring to the attention of the wider Codex community topics of particular interest emerging from their regions relating to food safety and quality standards or trade. In a historic first for Codex, an Eastern European country — Kazakhstan — has taken the reins of the FAO/WHO Regional Coordinating Committee for Europe (CCEURO), as Regional Coordinator for Europe. Regional standard for mare’s milk Several meetings took place in 2017 with a producer of [...]

Bangkok October 11 2017 In some ways the premise is very simple: build stronger Codex coordination at the country level, use  Codex standards in national legislation, and then begin to influence which standards are developed in Codex to protect the needs of consumers or to seize a particular trade opportunity. However the realty in some countries is that the level of technical knowledge, skills, capacity and resources to actively and effectively participate in Codex is still under development. Countries need buy-in and [...]

CCAFRICA Coordinator and Executive Committee Member of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, Dr. Moses Gathura Gichia has recently announced his retirement from public service and as the Coordinator of the Joint FAO/WHO Regional Coordinating Committee for Africa. It has been a pleasure working alongside Codex. It was just an amazing yet a profoundly rewarding experience. Dr Gathura wished Codex "every success in shaping and mapping the global path towards a better level of protecting consumer health and fair trade practices in food”. 35 years [...]

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 [...]