This year, 30 May marks the first ever observance of International Day of Potato, which is facilitated, at the request of the United Nations General Assembly, by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The Day will be marked by a special event hosted at FAO headquarters and online, under the theme of “Fundamental role of the potato value chain in global food security.” The event will highlight the significance of this important staple food, which, over the [...]

The FAO-implemented and Republic of Korea-funded Action to support implementation of Codex AMR Texts (ACT) project has conducted a pilot exercise in Nepal to assess the country’s legislation as it pertains to Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and Antimicrobial Use (AMU) in the country. The exercise involved an assessment tool, known as the ACT Tool, that helps to identify the strengths in a country’s legislation relevant to AMR and AMU, as well as aspects of legislation that could be improved. This tool [...]

By: Maryann Kindiki- CCP, Kenya Kenya is in top gear in its preparations for World Food Safety Day 2024. On 30 April the national planning committee convened to engage media for a briefing on the theme of this year’s World Food Safety Day commemoration. This is aimed at guiding the media on the theme to ensure informed reporting. The planning committee is chaired by the Ministry of Health and comprises government agencies, academia and research, private sector alliances and associations, media and [...]

The 33rd session of the Coordinating Committee for Europe (CCEURO) is meeting physically this week, for the first time in five years. The Regional Coordinator for the Committee is now Germany and delegates are meeting in the country’s capital, Berlin. The meeting opened Monday 27 May, with State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Ms Silvia Bender, who welcomed delegates to the meeting and outlined Germany’s ambitions as Regional Coordinator. These are to ensure that all Members of [...]

The 33rd Session of the FAO/WHO Regional Coordinating Committee for Europe (CCEURO33), scheduled on 27-31 May 2024, will open the next round of Regional Coordinating Committees (RCCs). As the meeting approaches, we spoke to Anne Beutling, Chairperson of this Codex Committee: in this interview Anne talks about her background, the agenda of CCEURO33 and the role RCCs can play in Codex.  Q. Anne, thanks for your time. This is going to be the first time for you to chair a Codex [...]

The 43rd session of the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling concluded Saturday 18 May with the adoption of the report and… a recipe for an Asian soup. The Committee had covered a lot of ground during the week, with the endorsement of methods of analysis for the Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs (CCSCH) and the Codex Committee on Fats and Oils (CCFO), with endorsement or proposed revocation of methods for olive oils and olive pomace oils, [...]

On 15 May, Masanori Kotani, President and Secretary General of Japan’s Food Safety Management Association (JFSM) delivered an online lecture to second-year students at Hokkaido Shizunai Agricultural High School on food safety and the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) “5 keys to safer food”, information on the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points food food safety system and on the World Food Safety Day theme for 2024 and slogan. Following the last year’s lecture, the session included quizzes, which helped make [...]

The FAO-implemented and Republic of Korea-funded Action to support implementation of Codex AMR Texts (ACT) project aims at “increased recognition and use of Codex standards”. In the Latin America and Caribbean region, one of the activities designed to help achieve this objective is a webinar series which has been devised to increase awareness on Codex standards and associated opportunities and challenges, and topics of interest for the Latin American and the Caribbean region. The sixth webinar in the series  took place [...]

The second Asia-Pacific Food Regulatory Authority Summit (APFRAS), convened by the Government of the Republic of Korea, is taking place in Seoul, Republic of Korea this week. Several Asia-Pacific countries are participating in the meeting, including Australia, China, New Zealand and the International Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), representing Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. Corinna Hawkes, Director of the FAO Division of Agrifood Systems and Food Safety and Codex Secretary ad interim is attending as a [...]

The 43rd session of the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling (CCMAS) opened Tuesday with introductory remarks from representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The session was officially opened by Dr Márton Nobilis, the Secretary of State responsible for food chain safety at the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture. Dr Nobilis underlined the long-standing nature of CCMAS and its importance to the food standards setting process. He also [...]