The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has named Dr Evelyne Mbandi as the new Chairperson of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH) following confirmation by the United States Senate of former CCFH Chairperson, Emilio Esteban, as USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety.

As she takes on her new role, much of the CCFH work that Mbandi will be picking up will be revisions of texts that need updating, in particular a number of guidelines on the application of the General Principles of Food Hygiene to specific microbiological hazards. This includes a revision of the Guidelines on the Application of General Principles of Food Hygiene to the Control of Listeria monocytogenes in Foods, which was first adopted in 2007, the year she first became involved in Codex-related work. When she first joined the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), she said, “the Codex delegate was within the Office of Public Health Science, working on Listeria monocytogenes control. That was Kerry Dearfield at the time. My background is controlling Listeria and Salmonella in ready-to-eat meats. So, I was pulled into that project”.

She hasn’t looked back, as she became more involved, not only in work in the United States, but also abroad, carrying out international audits. “Looking at the world as a global village and trade, it’s really important the work that the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene is doing,” she commented. “So, when you think about trade and revisiting some of the work that the Codex did in the past – because we know science is evolving - it’s good to see the Committee go back to look at what was done, say, 10, 15 years ago.”

As much as she sees a need to look back to move forward, Mbandi can see how important it will be to continue Esteban’s work on constantly looking to the future and identifying emerging issues that CCFH will need to consider. She can already see the move to cellular-based food could become more widespread, but she is also keenly aware of the changing technologies, too, in pathogen characterization. “We’re moving away from traditional microbiological techniques (petri dishes) to subtyping using gene-based platforms - that would expedite  characterization of pathogens based on public health risk.”

With long-standing work on the control of Shiga Toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) nearing the final stages, and proposals to start new work on the development of guidelines for food hygiene control measures in traditional markets for food, Mbandi will have a busy time as CCFH Chair – and she’s pleased the Committee has been able to return to physical meetings: “I think in-person meetings are really, really productive,” she said.

Plainly, Dr Mbandi is keen to get her teeth into her new role – one that she seems very much cut out for. “I love botany,” she smiles broadly “You know, in high school, it was just looking at nature, being able to learn. And then microbiology too, it was something – it was just easy for me: second nature. With that, I learnt more about the different fields in microbiology. And I decided to go into food microbiology. I just had that passion for it - and then food safety – I just, you know, love it and know that I can make a difference.”

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Codex Committee on Food Hygiene

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