WORLD FOOD DAY FAO celebrates World Food Day each year on 16 October to commemorate the founding of the Organization in 1945. Events are organized in over 150 countries across the world, making it one of the most celebrated days of the UN calendar. These events promote worldwide awareness and action for those who suffer from hunger and for the need to ensure food security and nutritious diets for all. The theme for World Food Day 2016 is “Climate is changing. [...]

In September 2016 the Italian magazine CiBi published an edited version of this article as part of an ongoing collaboration between FAO and CiBi. The CiBi articles aim to raise awareness with the magazine's readership about the different areas of work in FAO. St Anthony's Fire In the Middle Ages a type of food poisoning called ergotism, also commonly known as “St Anthony’s fire”, was prevalent in northern Europe amongst high consumers of rye bread. Eating food contaminated with ergot would lead [...]

The FAO/WHO RCCs provide an incredibly important opportunity for dynamic discussion on major and emerging food safety and quality issues facing the region. There are six Codex regions each represented by a joint FAO/WHO Regional Coordinating Committee (RCC).They meet every two years. Each committee is responsible for defining the problems and needs of the region concerning food standards and food control. By working collectively at the regional level countries are able to highlight regulatory issues and problems arising from food control [...]

The Online Commenting System (OCS) is a new way for Codex members and observers to provide input during the standard setting process. The Codex OCS uses the Please Review software by PleaseTech All users of the OCS, including Codex members and observers can now download the updated OCS user manual, available in English, French and Spanish. The OCS user manual is available at the following page, along with additional training material: http://www.fao.org/fao-who-codexalimentarius/ocs/en/  Here are the direct links to the English, French and Spanish versions. For [...]

The second of the Joint FAO/WHO Regional Coordinating Committees (CCASIA) meets 26-30 September in New Delhi India. Each committee is responsible for defining the problems and needs of the region concerning food standards and food control. By working collectively at the regional level countries are able to highlight regulatory issues and problems arising from food control in order to strengthen food control infrastructures. New Initiatives for 2016-2017 New features for the regional meetings include: a keynote speech highlighting issues and challenges of particular [...]

OPGA/WHO/FAO/OIE Joint News Release Collective effort to address a challenge to health, food security, and development 21 September 2016, New York – World leaders today signalled an unprecedented level of attention to curb the spread of infections that are resistant to antimicrobial medicines. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) happens when bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi develop resistance against medicines that were previously able to cure them. For the first time, Heads of State committed to taking a broad, coordinated approach to address the root causes of [...]

The RCCs provide an incredibly important opportunity for dynamic discussion on major and emerging food safety and quality issues facing the region. There are six Codex regions each represented by a joint FAO/WHO Regional Coordinating Committee (RCC).They meet every two years. Each committee is responsible for defining the problems and needs of the region concerning food standards and food control. By working collectively at the regional level countries are able to highlight regulatory issues and problems arising from food control in [...]

The Codex Secretariat plays a key role in the running of over 20 international meetings per year. As the 2016-2017 round of joint FAO/WHO Regional Coordinating Committee meetings begins with the North America and South West Pacific Region in Vanuatu, two members of the Secretariat have travelled to Port Vila. Dr Annamaria Bruno is a Senior Food Standards Officer in the Secretariat with responsibility for CCFA, CCRVDF, CCASIA, CCMMP, CCGP, CCLAC as well as being Alternate Officer for CCFH, CCNASWP, CCSCH, CCPR, CCFFP. [...]

Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare J P Nadda has said that the government is committed to providing safe food for people throughout the food sector: from street vendors to major industries. Speaking to the reporters on the side-lines of a conference organised by the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) in New Delhi, Nadda said the government has given training to 23000 vendors on food safety in Delhi and has certified them too. “Demand for this training [...]

Global leaders will meet at the United Nations General Assembly in New York next Friday - 21 September 2016 to debate the emerging challenge posed by medicine-resistant "superbugs". Only on three other occasions (HIV, noncommunicable diseases and Ebola) has the General Assembly held a high-level meeting to discuss such matters, clearly indicating the global threat that AMR represents. FAO Action Plan FAO has pledged to help countries develop strategies for tackling the spread of antimicrobial resistance in their food supply chains.  Supporting the food [...]