By KEMBOU Etienne, Nutrition & Food Safety Focal Point in the Multi-Country Support Team (MCAT) Burkina Faso; Mr Dominique Ouedraogo, Codex Contact Point, Burkina Faso

From 21–23 November 2023, 33 national experts in Burkina Faso underwent capacity building and training on the generation of quality data usable by the Codex Alimentarius.

Specifically, the experts were trained on five themes: procedures for developing Codex standards; basic principles and procedures for food safety risk assessment; the role of scientific expert bodies (FAO/WHO JECFA, JMPR and JEMRA) involved in risk assessment in support of Codex standard setting; procedures for generating, sharing and managing scientific data and methods of using toxicological data in scientific expert bodies and; understanding of the quality of data requested by FAO/WHO expert bodies.

This training, coordinated by the Codex Contact Point and the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene (MSHP) of Burkina Faso, was carried out thanks to the technical support of WHO, which provided an international expert to facilitate the work. It brought together national experts working in various fields, including : food technologies, process engineering, biomedical technologies, human nutrition and health, biochemistry and microbiology, standardization, veterinary medicine, physical and chemical quality control, agronomy and phytosanitary control, health and environment, hygiene and the environment, antimicrobial resistance and epidemiology.

Three scientific working groups were formed to support the activities of the National Codex Alimentarius Committee of Burkina Faso. These are: the “Pesticide Residues and Veterinary Drugs Residues” group; the “Contaminants in Food” group; and the “Microbiological Criteria and Food Hygiene” group. At the end of the training, a roadmap focusing on three points made it possible to define the next steps. This training played a part in strengthening Burkina Faso's participation in the scientific process that supports food safety in the country, by strengthening its contribution to the development of Codex Alimentarius standards through the regular production of quality scientific data. The training was considered a success.

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