The ‘Coordinating Committee for Africa’ was established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission in 1972 with a mandate to “exercise general coordination in the preparation of standards relating to the region of Africa”. The committee held its first meeting at FAO in 1974, with 19 countries in attendance.
As the new regional coordinator begins their term, the Agreement of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which came into effect in May 2020, has reinforced the need for an efficient and effective system for managing sanitary and phytosanitary measures, in particular food safety, across the continent as its borders open for trade.
The regional coordinator is based in the Uganda National Bureau of Standards, a statutory body under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Co-operatives which oversees, as part of its mandate, the promotion and use of standards.
As regional coordinator, Uganda intends to engage closely with countries via surveys, webinars and workshops to identify needs and emerging issues, create awareness of priority food safety issues and of Codex standards. A pilot study will also explore the food safety situation in broader terms across the region. By strengthening engagement with regional bodies such as the African Union, the African Organisation for Standardisation and the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat, Uganda also aims to enhance advocacy work in the region.
Kenya, in an effort to streamline and increase efficiency for participation in Codex work recently reconstituted its National Codex Committee. On Tuesday 2 March 2021, the Codex Contact Point, housed in the Kenya Bureau of Standards held an induction programme for the newly reconstituted committee. “This move was to ensure maximum representation from all key food safety players,” said Maryann Kindiki who is the new Codex Contact Point for Kenya. Among the issues discussed were how the Codex Alimentarius Commission [...]
A joint seminar/webinar organized by FAO Animal Production and Health Division, the Statistics Division and the FAO Livestock Technical Network entitled:
How can we improve data gathering on antimicrobial usage at national level? Lessons from Uganda.
will take place on Thursday 15 October 2020 from 11:00-12:00 (GMT+2).
Zoom Registration.
Click here for further details.
The African Union is hosting a webinar on Wednesday 2 September 14-17h East Africa Time (GMT +3) entitled "Healthy Crops, Safe Food and Thriving Trade: Opportunities for Africa".
Click here to download the programme (English), (French).
Click here to register.
This year’s World Food Safety Day’s theme was Food Safety Everyone’s Business. The Authority adopted this theme to conduct a campaign on food safety. Several health reports indicate that there has been arise in the number of food borne illnesses globally, this campaign is therefore aimed at raising awareness on the risks people are exposed to through consuming unsafe food. It is also to boost safety measures for consumption of food among the general public, detecting and managing of food [...]
In Ghana, the Food and Drug Authority (FDA) led a celebration of World Food Safety Day with food safety public education in the week running up to 7 June 2020. Food safety information was shared on various local radio and TV stations across the country and on the FDA social media platform. The celebration culminated on 8 June with a webinar on the topic 'The Food Safety Situation in Our Food Business Environment during this COVID-19 period'. A recording of the webinar [...]
Food safety is a shared responsibility. The Zimbabwe 2020 WFSD commemoration will bring together, through a webinar, all key players in the food system to discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their operations, posed threats to food safety and how these threats are being managed. The stakeholders will also discuss what they are doing to ensure food safety in their work, the challenges they are facing and what support they require to ensure their efforts yield results.
The event will [...]
Awareness raising on food safety in the context of COVID-19 at the heart of the commemoration
The National Codex Committee is taking part in the response efforts to the COVID-19 pandemic within the framework of the commemoration of the second World Food Safety Day in Burkina Faso. The activity was launched at the premises of the General Meat Society of Ouagadougou, one of the model units for the sale and distribution of meat products.
In partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization [...]
“On June 7 we celebrate World Food Safety Day, because every person has a right to safe food for a nutritious and healthy diet.
However, each year, 91 million people in sub-Saharan Africa suffer from acute food-borne illness and 137,000 sadly lose their lives.”
These were the opening words of the video message WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, recorded for World Food Safety Day.
Watch the video.
In the context of World Food Safety Day celebrations in Angola, FAO - together with WHO, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, and the Ministry of Social Action, Family and Women Empowerment - launched an awareness campaign about food safety.
Messages focused on the need for salespeople to apply good hygiene practices and handle food with clean hands, as well as the need to display products on clean surfaces. Consumers, on the other hand, are advised to wash their food well [...]
TV news report from Senegal (in French) on the celebrations for World Food Safety Day.
Radiodiffusion Télévision Sénégalaise: http://live.rts.sn/home/player/11859
