Speaking at the margins of CAC42 at a side event on capacity building initiatives, representatives of FAO and WHO emphasized the importance of the tools they develop based on relevant Codex texts, which enable countries to better understand and apply standards in their national context. The latest in the series is the Joint FAO/WHO Food Control System Assessment Tool, which has been piloted in numerous countries across several regions.

“A system will only work if all its components are looking towards the same objective”, said Catherine Bessy, Food Safety and Quality Officer, FAO, with each component bringing its specific and complementary contribution. Beyond supporting in-depth and rigorous assessments of national food control systems and learning what food control is all about, in all instance when it was tested, the process in itself proved to be instrumental in building a strong connection among participating competent authorities and unlocking a lack of mutual confidence, or resolving diverging views. “We had a lot of enthusiastic feedback letting us know how much participants in the trials had actually learnt during the process”, she said. So more than an evaluation “it was an actual capacity development experience in its own right”, said Bessy.

In addition to the English version, the Assessment Tool is currently undergoing translation into Arabic, French, Russian and Spanish and these versions will also be available shortly to facilitate use of the tool globally.

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Food safety in FAO

Food safety in WHO

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(c) FAO/Bob Scott