Increased efforts are needed to improve awareness among rural communities in West Africa about the risks of contracting the Ebola virus from eating certain wildlife species including fruit bats, FAO warned today.

UN food standards body the Codex Alimentarius Commission this week adopted new standards to protect consumer health worldwide, including setting out maximum acceptable levels of lead in infant formula and of arsenic in rice.

The recent fall in prices of major crops is expected to continue over the next two years before stabilising at levels above the pre-2008 period, but markedly below recent peaks, according to the latest Agricultural Outlook produced by the OECD and FAO.

An FAO project to equip small fishing communities with the tools and know-how to dry fish on simple raised racks instead of on the sand has changed lives along the shores of Lake Tanganyika in Burundi.

An agreement signed by FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and the Thomson Reuters Foundation Editor-in-Chief Belinda Goldsmith outlines a number of joint activities to be undertaken by the Organization and the Foundation’s global team of journalists covering humanitarian issues, women’s rights, human trafficking, the human impact of climate change and corruption.

The FAO Food Price Index was down for a third consecutive month in June, a decline mostly influenced by lower wheat, maize and palm oil prices that reflected ample supplies and improved global production prospects for these commodities.

A “Top Ten” list of the world’s most damaging food-borne parasites has been released and new guidelines are being developed to control them.

Indigenous peoples, local communities and private smallholders own or manage a growing proportion of the world's forests and can play a significant role in tackling deforestation and reducing poverty - especially if they band together in producer organizations, say two new publications released today by FAO and a group of its partners.

FAO Director General José Graziano da Silva today congratulated African leaders attending the AU Summit here for "raising the bar" in the fight against hunger.

The FAO-managed Africa Solidarity Trust Fund today gave a green light to four new, continent-spanning projects at a ceremony during the African Union Summit, being held here this week. The President of Equatorial Guinea, Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, a key supporter of the fund, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, and FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva were in attendance.