Welcoming delegates to the opening of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU), taking place virtually from 19 November to 1 December 2021, Julia Klöckner, Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, Germany, said food and health policy must respond to the need to fight hunger as well as combat overweight and obesity at international level. CCNFSDU plays a central role in this and “health protection and the removal of trade barriers are more important than ever [...]

Day nine of the 44th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC44) was unable to see completion of report adoption in the time allotted and the Codex Secretariat will now outline a process to enable this final part of the business of the Commission to be completed. With agreement on a series of new and revised Codex texts, the Commission has demonstrated for the second year in succession that it is able to face the challenge of working online and throughout [...]

FAO and WHO will launch their Food Control Assessment Tool which assists countries in assessing the effectiveness of their food control system, on Tuesday 16 November 2021 with an online event. The tool was published in 2019 and is based on the Codex Principles and Guidelines for National Food Control Systems (CAC/GL 82-2013). During the launch, participants will learn more about the tool, its application and the potential outcomes of an assessment.  National food control systems play a pivotal role in protecting the [...]

The 44th Codex Alimentarius Commission taking place virtually for the second year in succession has successfully adopted a range of international standards on topics as broad as antimicrobial resistance, cadmium contamination in chocolate and third-party assurance. Highlights of standards adopted at CAC44 As day six got underway from the Rome studio, with over 450 delegates participating on a Saturday, discussions moved from standards already set to the future of food and an innovative area labelled “new foods and production systems” (NFPS). FAO [...]

“Codex benefits almost everyone around the world, even though most people will never hear of it,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, greeting over 600 online delegates at the opening of the forty-fourth session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, which is being held virtually from 8 to 18 November 2021. Tedros went on to underline the critical role Codex standards play in improving the safety and quality of food, protecting and promoting consumer health and nutrition, and protecting fair [...]

Welcoming participants to the 81st session of the Executive Committee of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, Naoko Yamamoto, Assistant Director-General WHO, said the past year has shown the critical place and role of food safety and healthy diets in the development agenda, as well as the important results that can be achieved together and in partnership. “Regarding Codex, you know very well the critical role of its standards and guidelines in ensuring safety and quality of food commodities to improve consumer [...]

Speaking at the opening the celebrations of World Food Day 2021, FAO Director-General QU Dongyu recognized all those around the world who continue to work against the odds to ensure everyone has food to eat, and called for the transformation of agri-food systems to make them more efficient, more resilient, more transparent and more sustainable. World Food Day highlights the role countries can play to ensure that all people everywhere have access to enough affordable, nutritious and safe food and and [...]

A virtual event hosted live from the roof of FAO in Rome and the adjacent Caracalla Roman Baths kicked off the first World Food Forum (WFF) with high level messages, poetry and music from around the globe. WFF runs from 1 to 5 October 2020 and is a youth-led movement and network to transform our food systems to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular “zero hunger”. WFF brings together youth to drive awareness, foster engagement, and mobilize youth-led [...]

In officially opening the UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) on 23 September 2021, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said: “Food is life, food is hope. Changing food systems is not only possible but necessary, for our planet, for people, for prosperity.” Everyone must take action to transform the way the world produces, consumes, and thinks about food. “Food Systems can and must play a leading role in realizing the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda,” he said. Although it did [...]

The Codex Committee on Food Additives has adopted its final report confirming consensus reached on recommendations that include over 500 food additive provisions already in the Codex step procedure and 90 proposed provisions that will all now proceed for consideration by the Codex Alimentarius Commission in November 2021. The committee, hosted by China, met virtually from 1 to 10 September 2021 and emboldened by the support from the Executive Committee maintained its word that the business of debating and agreeing on [...]