On July 13, 2022, Nailya Karsybekova, Regional Coordinator for Europe, arranged a meeting with Codex contact persons of the post-Soviet countries - Central Asia, the Caucasus, Ukraine, and Russia. Those in attendance carried out an analysis of the work for the entire period of Kazakhstan’s coordination since August 2017 and discussed achievements, lessons learned, an arsenal of new tasks, and proposed solutions. Participating countries also discussed the current work of Codex at the national level, and the importance of countries taking an [...]

As part of the new AMR Codex Texts (ACT) project, laboratory experts from FAO led a mission in June 2022 to assess the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance system in Mongolia. In addition, the mission also engaged stakeholders from the food and agriculture sectors to raise their awareness of foodborne AMR. “The aim of this mission was to assess the ability of the national laboratories to detect AMR in the food and agriculture sectors. The assessment considered activities related to data collection [...]

By Shalini Neeliah Codex Contact Point, Mauritius In 2020, when we signed the project document for the Codex Trust Fund Assistance, we knew we were in for a deep dive.  As a developing country, we had a relatively new Codex structure, but we were very keen to improve it so that we fulfill all our obligations as a World Trade Organization member.  Participation in Codex meetings was still sporadic, depending largely on the funding of the Codex Trust Fund (CTF).  As a [...]

Opening the 53rd session of the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (CCPR), being held virtually from 4-8 July 2022 , Chief Veterinary Officer LI Jinxiang from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, China, said: “The work of the CCPR not only has a significant influence on the development of national pesticide residue standards, but also plays an increasingly important role in strengthening the exchanges and cooperation in pesticide residue control.” He looked forward to a productive meeting where delegates [...]

At a school in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, students celebrated World Food Safety Day this year by learning all about the WHO’s Five Keys to Safer Food. They then made posters and videos about what they had learned in order to raise awareness in their families and amongst their peers. The activities were an initiative from Corbridge Middle School’s science teacher, Meryl Batchelder, who said “Our Year 7 pupils love getting creative in science. Raising awareness [...]

World Food Safety Day was celebrated in Cambodia on 30 June, in an event jointly organized by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in partnership with the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) under the leadership of Deputy Prime Minister Yim Chhay Ly, Chairman of the Council for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) together with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the Ministry [...]

As the 53rd Session of Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (CCPR) gets underway virtually from 4 to 8 July, 2022, the Codex Secretariat spoke to the new Chairperson of the committee Guibiao YE, from hosts China. Tell us about your role in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs/ICAMA? I have been engaged in the management of pesticide registration in the Institute for Control of Agrochemicals of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs for nearly 30 years. Over the last three [...]

Mongolia is one of the first countries to start assessing their national antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance system in the food and agriculture sectors. This is part of the new AMR Codex Texts (ACT) project. The project was highlighted on three national TV networks as prime-time news. “We trained 25 specialists from eight laboratories, we also conducted a workshop on the ATLASS tool with more than 100 stakeholders, assessed one regional laboratory, conducted a workshop to introduce the findings along with recommendations [...]

WHO Maldives supported the Maldives Food and Drug Authority to conduct a Virtual Run to raise awareness on Food Safety and Physical Activity on the occasion of World Food Safety Day 2022. The run started off on the 7th of June 2022 on the Food Safety Day, continued on for 2 weeks with a total of 1000 registered runners from across the country. The closing of the run was attended by state ministers, DGHS, WHO team and the public which was [...]

In Tanzania, The Citizen newspaper published a series of articles about food safety and World Food Safety Day to raise awareness about food safety issues and about some of the initiatives being implemented across the country aimed at addressing those issues. Representatives of FAO and WHO, as well as other experts and NGOs contributed articles Dr Nyabenyi Tipo, FAO Country Representative in Tanzania, , describes the global impact of foodborne illness and the aims of World Food Safety Day. “Fortunately, preventive [...]