As the Codex food hygiene committee (CCFH) begins deliberations in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, delegations from around the world have emphasised the importance of one of the main items on the agenda. The revision of the Codex General Principles of Food Hygiene (GPFH), has been described by Udo Wiemer from Germany as “the most important item of the upcoming session”. In many countries the Codex text forms the basis of national legislation. “In Indonesia GPFH are adopted identically to be [...]

The China International Food Safety & Quality (CIFSQ) Conference is currently underway in Beijing, China 30 to 31 October 2019. CIFSQ brings together 700 regulators, scientists, industry executives, and academics to share insights on food safety and protecting public health. The conference focuses on addressing critical food safety issues and seeks through dialogue and collaboration to identify advances in science, standards and the latest developments in innovative technologies that can serve governments and industry in safeguarding food. Codex Secretary Tom Heilandt Tom [...]

La cuenta de Twitter del Codex @FAOWHOCodex utiliza habitualmente la etiqueta o hashtag #CodexFamily♥, pero este alegre símbolo de amistad y unidad adquirió un nuevo significado la semana pasada a medida que las alteraciones en Santiago obligaron al Comité Coordinador FAO/OMS del Codex para América Latina y el Caribe a finalizar prematuramente la reunión después de solo dos días de deliberaciones. El Codex, donde el mundo se reúne para ocuparse unos de otros Con una seguridad personal sumida en la incertidumbre y [...]

Delegates from 16 member countries are gathered in Santiago, Chile 22 to 25 October, 2019 for the 21st FAO/WHO Coordinating Committee for the Latin America and the Caribbean region (CCLAC). Diego Varela, Chairperson of the committee and International Affairs Coordinator at the Chilean Agency for Food Safety and Quality (ACHIPIA), extended a warm welcome to those present recalling the importance of collaboration and communication within countries to address food safety and trade issues in the region. Based on science. Marisa Caipo, Food Safety [...]

La región de América Latina y el Caribe tiene un tercio de los recursos de agua dulce del mundo, así como más de un cuarto de las tierras con potencial medio a alto para el cultivo. Es una de las mayores regiones exportadoras netas de alimentos del mundo y su producción agrícola sigue aumentando. Chile, elegido Coordinador Regional por primera vez en 2015, está desempeñando un segundo mandato que concluirá en 2020 en el 43.º período de sesiones de la [...]

The Codex European region comprises 52 countries with widely diverse economic, historic and climatic backgrounds as well as differing levels of experience in engaging with Codex. Many countries in the region joined Codex in the early 1960s at the birth of the Codex Alimentarius and some, especially from the East European region only became members since 2000. One of these is Kazakhstan, a Codex member since 2003, now leads the region as Regional Coordinator. From 4 to 8 February 2019 a [...]

Twenty representatives from Codex Contact Points (CCP) in the North America and Southwest Pacific region met in Port Vila, Vanuatu on 28-30 October 2018 for a workshop on the online systems that are an essential part of contributing to Codex standard-setting. Participants also came together to discuss regional input to the Codex Strategic Plan 2020-2025 and to continue work on two regional Codex standards, for noni juice and kava, both local beverages. The countries present were Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States [...]

Tom Heilandt, Codex Secretary, welcomed the CEO of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), Pawan Agarwal and other representatives of FSSAI to the Codex Secretariat at FAO in Rome last week for a round table discussion on broad themes of mutual interest. Codex India is hosted by FSSAI and has lead the Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs (CCSCH) since its inception in 2014. India is also the current regional coordinator for the Asia region and extremely [...]

Constanza Vergara and Claudio Canales of the Chilean Codex Committee (ACHIPIA) used a methodology that combines science with creativity to build the capacity of food safety risk managers and communicators to analyse risks in a workshop on 28-30 August in Santo Domingo. The training session was part of the twinning programme of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) aimed at strengthening the Codex Alimentarius in the region. "We believe that the experience of Chile will be very useful to [...]

The Codex Secretariat held a webinar in conjunction with the WHO Country office, in which the Mongolian Codex Contact Point and colleagues had the opportunity to improve their knowledge of the Online Commenting System (OCS) and digital platform for Electronic Working Groups (eWG). Participants actively engaged in the hands-on session by asking questions and interacting with the Codex Secretariat afterward. The documents used during the training can be downloaded and other relevant materials may be requested of the trainers. “A beneficial experience” – [...]