On June 19 and 20, 2023 the Reference Conferences of the National Food Center (CNA) of the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN) took place online.

This is an event held annually in which the Official Food Safety Control Laboratories of Spain meet with the Competent Authorities that designate them for this official control, with the aim of sharing the latest developments of interest in the field of work of the CNA as National Reference Laboratory for 19 networks of official food safety control laboratories in the European Union. This year 450 attendees from all regions of the country took part.

The celebration of these Conferences coincides with the 60th Anniversary of the Codex Alimentarius. The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) is the body responsible for all issues related to the implementation of the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Program and a pillar of food risk management at the international level. In this sense, the President of AESAN, Rafael Escudero, in his inaugural speech, recalled that "the Codex Alimentarius is a set of food standards agreed by all the countries of the world to protect people's health through food consumption and facilitate fair trade at an international level" and highlighted the important role that laboratories play in both risk management and risk assessment at an international level, providing quality scientific evidence and providing confidence to food control systems.

Victorio Teruel Muñoz, Deputy Director General of Food Safety Management of AESAN, gave a presentation in this regard: "Food standards and their evolution in history, referring to the 60th anniversary of Codex".

Victorio Teruel heads the Codex Contact Point in Spain and will lead the Spanish delegation that will chair the Codex coordination meetings in the Council of the EU during the Spanish Presidency of the EU (in the second semester of 2023).

The Director of the CNA, Ana López-Santacruz Serraller, will be part of the Spanish Presidency team for the coordination of the CAC, which will take place in November.