Codex Members of the Latin America and the Caribbean region met in Panama City on 11 November 2018 to discuss the draft Codex Strategic Plan (2020-2025). Organized by the regional coordinator, Chile, the meeting brought together 22 participants from 11 countries, who were attending the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene. Constanza Vergara of Chile led the meeting on behalf of the Regional Coordinator. In light of the experience of the participants in Codex standard-setting and implementation, the meeting served as an [...]

Codex Members in the Europe region began a three-day meeting in Almaty, Kazakhstan today to improve their skills and knowledge of the online tools used by the food standard-setting partnership and to discuss the regional priorities to propose including in the Codex Strategic Plan (2020-2025). Zhandarbek Bekshin of the Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan, the country leading the Codex Coordinating Committee for Europe, opened the session with a call for establishing a joint position on food trade-related matters in the 51 [...]

At the next Codex Alimentarius Commission to be held in Geneva in July 2019, Codex Members are expected to adopt a strategic plan which will drive activities from 2020 to 2025 in parallel with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. At a two-day workshop held for the Asian region in Beijing, China and organized jointly by China and the Regional Coordinator India, 31 participants from 14 countries had an opportunity to discuss national and regional food safety and trade matters and to [...]

This week Brisbane, Australia, is playing host to the 24th session of the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS), discussing the latest technical aspects of international guidance to protect consumers and ensure fair practices in the international food trade. The meeting got under way on Monday with an aboriginal smoke-signal ceremony, a traditional Queensland custom granting permission to travelers seeking to cross its boundaries—a reminder that people have sought reciprocal understandings to protect their [...]

Ahead of the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS) meeting that opens next week in Brisbane, Australia, new Chair Fran Freeman spoke to Codex. Q. Many in the Codex world may not know you as you lead the upcoming CCFICS session for the first time. Can you tell us something about you? Having spent most of my career working on domestic and international issues affecting Australian agriculture, I am acutely aware how important it is for international [...]

A workshop organised by the European Union "Better Training for Safer Food" initiative took place in September 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa, for the Codex members of the African Region. The aim of the workshop was to provide the necessary tools to be effective delegates in Codex. In line with the strong and positive message of Jean-Claude Juncker President of the European Commission, Barbara Moretti, of the EU Codex Team, said that this was also an excellent opportunity to reinforce cooperation and [...]

The FAO/WHO Joint Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR) is currently underway at the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment in Berlin, Germany. Dr Roland Solecki, Head of the Department of Pesticides Safety of the Federal Institute hosting the event, highlighted the importance of JMPR’s work in supporting the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (CCPR) with scientific advice. He also noted its valuable contribution to enhancing collaboration between national and international organizations to assess the risk of pesticide residues in foods. This is [...]

The two-day training workshop held in Delhi earlier this month focussed on enhancing the ability of 17 Asian countries to operate successfully in the Codex Alimentarius international standard-setting environment. Led by the Codex Alimentarius Secretariat, the sessions focussed on the electronic systems and tools including: the new Codex website; Online Commenting System (OCS); Digital platform for Electronic Working Groups (EWG) and other web-based tools, such as the platform to collect information on Member countries’ food safety control systems. 30 participants from [...]

Honduran officials of the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, the Ministry of Health, the Agency for Health Regulation and the Honduran Organization of Normalization joined the national Codex Contact Point and others in Tegucigalpa to announce the start of a Codex Trust Fund 2 project. On 18-19 July two events were held to launch the efforts to strengthen food safety and international trade: a launch event complete with the signing of an inter-institutional Letter of [...]

At a meeting attended by over 650 delegates from 121 Member countries and 84 observer organizations, more than 30 standards were adopted and will now be published in the Codex Alimentarius or “food code”. In his closing remarks on Friday Guilherme da Costa from Brazil, the chairperson of the Commission thanked delegates for the flexible and constructive approach to what is often “a delicate negotiation process but one that has global effects on food safety and fair practices in trade.” Some of [...]