Following the International Forum on Food Safety and Trade, held at the WTO, in Geneva, Switzerland, on 23-24 April 2019, with the support of FAO and WHO, a joint statement from the three organizations has highlighted the valuable work of the Codex Alimentarius. As global trade in food products expands and value chains become more complex, the development of international food safety standards for application at domestic levels and in international trade has become more important than ever before.  Consumers have [...]

Friday 7 June 2019 saw countries all over the world come out in support of safe food. From the islands of the South West Pacific to the heart of Europe, from all over Asia to North and South America and all countries in between, governments, producers, food processors and consumers underlined that food safety is everyone’s business. Prime Minister Modi, India offered his support and described the day “of prime importance for … well-being and health”, especially of women and children [...]

Representatives of government, food safety experts, industry and UN specialized agencies gathered in Rome on 7 June 2019 to ramp up efforts to combat foodborne illness and reaffirm that food safety “is everyone’s business” on the inaugural World Food Safety Day. Carlos Mora Gómez, Vice-Minister of Economy, Industry and Commerce, Costa Rica Carlos Mora Gómez, the Vice-Minister of Economy Industry and Commerce from Costa Rica underlined how national governments, as decision-makers and policy-makers, have the challenge of guaranteeing access to safe [...]

7 June 2019 is the first World Food Safety Day and later today at the United Nations in New York Codex Chairperson Guilherme da Costa will reinforce how Codex standards are a blueprint for safe food, highlighting how the international standard setting body - the Codex Alimentarius Commission - contributes to food safety and builds engagement in food safety, to protect consumer health and facilitate trade. The inaugural World Food Safety Day will call on all those who produce, supply, process, [...]

The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) has recently launched a new project, the OIE Observatory, to strengthen the implementation of OIE International Standards by Member Countries. The OIE Observatory is an ambitious project still at the concept level and with a multi-phased approach. OIE is currently collaborating with The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to develop the design of the Observatory. The project has a Reference Group, in which the Codex Secretariat participates. At the OIE 87th [...]

Interview with Kathy Twardek, the new chairperson of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling, ahead of the 45th session which gets underway in Ottawa, Canada on 13 May 2019. Kathy, thanks for taking the time to talk to us. To start, tell us where you work? I have been working for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) since it was established in 1997, and for a few years before that in various departments whose focus was on consumer affairs and food inspection. Why [...]

  A dedicated section on the Codex website, now highlights activities of Observer organizations. In addition to front-page news articles and features, information on how to apply for observer status  and details of all current Observers is available. Currently, there are 229 Codex Observers – of which 57 are intergovernmental organizations, 156 nongovernmental organizations and 16 UN agencies. Food safety is a shared responsibility “Food safety is a shared responsibility, so it is important that governments can interact directly with producers, industry, consumers, [...]

At the WTO International Forum on Food Safety and Trade held in Geneva, Switzerland, 23-24 April 2019, delegates learnt how food safety regulatory systems need to constantly adapt to challenges and how Codex needs to address emerging and new challenges in a timely and efficient manner, while keeping existing standards up to date. Speaking in the thematic session “Promoting harmonized food safety regulation in a period of change and innovation”, Reri Indriani, Deputy Chairperson in the National Agency for Drug and [...]

In a search for alternative sources of meat and in response to concerns over meat consumption, animal welfare and greenhouse gas emissions, scientists have developed the ability to grow meat from animal cells in a laboratory. The process involves taking tissue from a live animal and extracting stem cells which are then grown into muscle fibres in a bioreactor. Developing awareness of emerging issues such as this is a key component of strategic planning in Codex.   Marianne Ellis, Bath University, produces cultured meat [...]

Experts meeting in Macau, China 8 to 12 April 2019, will be discussing a proposal to provide an international reference guideline for biopesticides. The project would establish criteria to identify pesticides that generally pose fewer risks than conventional pesticides and are considered by many national regulators exempt from the need to set maximum residue limits. This Codex guideline would help countries such as Chile, which is leading the work, as they and many other countries base their regulations on the Codex [...]