The theme for World Food Safety Day, 7 June, this year is “Food safety: prepare for the unexpected,” which was chosen to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the launch of the FAO/WHO International Food Safety Authorities Network, or INFOSAN. The World Food Safety Day campaign in 2024 is inspiring preparedness on food safety, which includes in an emergency situations when it is necessary to quickly identify the nature and extent of an international outbreak, or potential outbreak, of foodborne illness. [...]

World Food Safety Day is fast approaching! If you want to hold an event or activity to help raise awareness about food safety, join us on 10 May for the World Food Safety Day Planning Webinar! Representatives of FAO and WHO, together with members of the World Food Safety Day team, are running a webinar 13:00–14:00 CEST to explain this year’s theme, “Food safety: prepare for the unexpected,” and to talk about how to inspire action to prevent, detect and manage [...]

A first-of-its-kind pilot surveillance study in Mongolia is coming to an end. In October 2023, as part of the FAO-implemented and Republic of Korea-funded Action to support implementation of Codex AMR Texts (ACT) project, a team of researchers from the State Central Veterinary Laboratory (SCVL) in Mongolia collected samples from cattle to look for the presence of antimicrobial resistant (AMR) pathogens. The SCVL undertook this study in response to the recommendations of a Mongolia-hosted mission for the “FAO Assessment Tool [...]

Based on the recent publication, Food safety implications from the use of environmental inhibitors in agrifood systems, FAO has organized a webinar, which will take place on Thursday, 9 May 2024 from 14:30 to 15:30 CEST via Zoom, to stimulate discussion on the food safety aspects that need to be considered and addressed when using environmental inhibitors in agrifood systems.  “Among the approaches that are being developed to increase the sustainability of agrifood systems, environmental inhibitors help reduce negative impacts on the environment while improving the production [...]

The 54th meeting of the Codex Committee on Food Additives (CCFA) has concluded in Chengdu, China, with some landmark agreements, and at a pivotal moment in the Committee’s workplan, according to Dr Yongxiang Fan, Professor of the China National Centre for Food Safety Risk Assessment (CFSA), and Committee Chairperson. “I believe one day when we look back, CCFA54 will be seen as a remarkable starting point for the planning of future CCFA work,” he said. “We have identified the outstanding [...]

The 54th meeting of the Codex Committee on Food Additives (CCFA) has started in Chengdu, China, with Dr Xuetao Cao, Vice Minister, National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China giving an opening speech. Representatives of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and Codex all offered opening remarks before the session was set in motion with the adoption of the agenda, under the chairmanship of Dr Yongxiang Fan, Professor of the [...]

The Codex Committee on Contaminants in Food (CCCF) has concluded its 17th session in Panama City, Panama, with the Committee Chairperson, Dr Sally Hoffer, saying she was “happy with our progress”.  She went on to say: “I would like also to highlight that we are continuously trying to better our work, so in the last three days, we have also discussed how we are doing the right things in the best possible ways and we are clearly updating our work [...]

As we prepare for the 54th session of the Codex Committee on Food Additives (CCFA), we caught up with the Committee Chairperson, Dr Yongxiang Fan, Professor of the China National Centre for Food Safety Risk Assessment (CFSA), to find out more about the Committee and the issues to be discussed at this year’s session, which will take place in Chengdu, China, in the week of 22–26 April 2024. Q: Fan thanks for your time. You have a long experience in CCFA, [...]

The 17th session of the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Food (CCCF) was declared officially open in Panama City, 15 April, following speeches from His Excellency the President of the Republic of Panama, Laurentino Cortizo Cohen and other distinguished guests. The opening ceremony paved the way for what promises to be an intensive week of discussions around a variety of current CCCF texts and future work for the Committee. His Excellency the President expressed appreciation that Panama was chosen to co-host [...]

In March 2024 in the Plurinational State of Bolivia, as part of the Action to support implementation of Codex AMR Texts (ACT) project plan to improve surveillance capacities in the country, a workshop was held in coordination with the country’s National Laboratories Unit (UNALAB) of the National Agricultural Health and Food Safety Service (SENASAG). Twelve professional bacteriologists working in the area of food safety and animal health from UNALAB Santa Cruz and UNALAB Cochabamba laboratories participated in the workshop, together [...]