To raise awareness of the importance of ensuring food safety, Korea is getting ready for the 22nd Korean Food Safety Day. The celebration events will be held on 12 May 2023 in Seoul, ahead of the official day, which falls on a Sunday, on 14 May 2023, and World Food Safety Day on 7 June 2023. The slogan for this year is ’Together for food safety, healthy South Korea’. On that day Korea will announce the winners of the food safety [...]

A Korean language version of the World Food Safety Day guide has now been added to those already available in all six official UN languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish). The guide, which was translated by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety of the Republic of Korea, has been published with over a month to go before World Food Safety Day on 7 June and ahead of the 22nd annual Food Safety Week in the Republic of [...]

Murray Watt, Australian Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Minister for Emergency Management, speaking via video message, welcomed delegates gathering in Hobart, Tasmania, and online, for the opening of the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS) taking place from 1-5 May 2023. Watt said that achieving sustainable productivity growth in agriculture was increasingly critical to meet global food security concerns arising from the world's growing population. It was also vital to deliver on international [...]

Speaking on Wednesday 26 Aprile, 2023, at the 22nd annual Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) Conference, in Atlanta, Georgia, the United States of America, Codex Chairperson Steve Wearne said: “Our systems for standards and trade have their foundation in the creation of Codex 60 years ago and the World Trade Organization more than a quarter of a century ago.  The global challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, soil, water and air quality, require us to think about how we might [...]

By John Oppong-Otoo, Food Safety Officer at AU-IBAR and Hakim Mufumbiro, Regional Coordinator CCAFRICA The Codex Africa Think tank comprised of 12 Member States (Cameroon, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, The Gambia, Uganda and Zambia), Regional Economic Communities with observer status in Codex (Economic Community for West African States and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa) and representatives from the African Union met from 15 to 17 March 2023 in Mahe, Seychelles to reflect on the [...]

As the sixteenth session of the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Foods (CCCF) drew to close in Utrecht, the Kingdom of the Netherlands on Thursday 20 April 2023, Japan took the floor to inform the Committee that this would be Yukiko Yamada’s last meeting. Yukiko began her Codex career initially in the Codex Secretariat in FAO in 1993 and over the last 30 years has served the Codex Alimentarius Commission, her Government but above all consumers in her inspirational and “unwavering [...]

In 2022 the Codex Secretariat began work on reviewing the formatting and layout of Codex texts to ensure consistency, to meet FAO and international publishing standards and to enhance readability. A digital object identifier has also been added to standards as they are published, providing a unique reference that can support tracking and citation of each text. The project is part of the Codex Secretariat’s contribution to the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Codex Alimentarius Commission. The Code of [...]

“In light of today’s global political and environmental problems, the work of the Codex Alimentarius members on ensuring the safety of food is more relevant than ever,” said Ernst Kuipers, Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport, for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, speaking via video message at the opening of the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Foods (CCCF) being held in Utrecht from 18 to 21 April 2023. Video message: Ernst Kuipers, Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport, for the Kingdom [...]

Three webinars for Latin America and the Caribbean will be held in 2023 to strengthen the implementation of Codex standards.  The webinar on future challenges in food safety will be held in April, followed by the webinar on the application of Codex standards (regional experiences) in July, and the webinar on food safety under the One Health approach will take place in October.  “The growing population worldwide, the increase in food demand, and the consequent growth of the food industry added to [...]

The challenges and opportunities posed by the emerging issues in agrifood systems identified by FAO’s foresight programme were outlined at a side event of the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Food in Utrecht on Tuesday 18 April. The role Codex might play in providing guidance on new foods and new food production systems was discussed by a panel that included Vittorio Fattori, FAO Food Safety Officer, Daniela Battaglia, FAO Animal Production Officer and Ong How Chee from the Singapore Food Agency, [...]