On Wednesday 7 June Members of the Codex Coordinating Committee for the Near East (CCNE) gathered for a hybrid session in celebration of World Food Safety Day, titled “Food Safety: A shared responsibility”. Organized by the CCNE Regional Coordinator, Khalid Al Zhrani, the event included the participation of Dr Sarah Cahill from the Codex Alimentarius Commission Secretariat and Engineer Ahmed Albashah from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Standardization Organization (GSO).

CCNE members highlighted this year’s slogan on how food standards can save lives by discussing the importance of standards in maintaining community health and food safety on the national and international levels. The session included the perspective of the national authorities with speakers from Egypt, Iran, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the United Arab Emirates. In addition, the role and responsibility of universities and health-related authorities in ensuring the safety of food was presented by King Saud University, the Ministry of Health, and the Public Health Authority in Saudi Arabia.  

The session celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Codex Alimentarius Commission with a warm round of applause filled with appreciation for the major efforts and great achievements done in the previous 60 years by the Codex team, delegates and observers.

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