Members and Observers from over 30 countries will meet in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico from 7 to 11 October 2019 to develop standards at the 21st session of the Codex Committee on Fresh Fruits and Vegetables (CCFFV). Chaired by Alfonso Guati Rojo Sánchez, Director General for Standards in the Ministry of Economy, Mexico, the meeting will examine a range of standards where the committee is close to proposing adoption to the Codex Alimentarius Commission, including kiwifruit, garlic and ware potatoes. Countries [...]

The first ever World Food Safety Day was celebrated on Friday, 7 June 2019, a partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization. With two major initiatives planned for the day, the team of Renata Clarke, FAO Sub-regional Coordinator along with Karen Polson-Edwards Advisor, Climate Change and Environmental Determinants of Health - PAHO/WHO Office for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean started early with a 7:30AM journey to the Starcom Network studios for two [...]

To celebrate World Food Safety Day, Nicaragua has been promoting an initiative to increase the visibility of food safety and its importance, through the creation of murals in health centers of 153 municipalities nationwide. The murals reflect the degree of commitment of the country towards Food Safety and the importance of raising awareness among the population, with the message that "Food Safety is everyone's business". The murals highlight important aspects such as hand washing and the five keys to food safety. Other [...]

The Chilean Codex Alimentarius Secretariat, ACHIPIA, organized a seminar on 5 June 2019 entitled “Codex Alimentarius: Strengthening food safety in trade”. The aim was to attract and increase the participation of different sectors of the food industry in the national sub-committees. Speakers from the food industry association explained to participants how Codex standards and their application in production processes, help them in complying with national and international regulations on food safety and facilitating food trade, using concrete examples in which [...]

The Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH) is gathering for the 50th time. This year the meeting, chaired by the United States of America, is co-hosted by Panama, whose Vice Minister of Health, Eric Ulloa, set the tone for the week-long meeting. “Challenges are ahead,” he told the Committee, outlining the forward-looking agenda, which includes: revising one of the earliest Codex standards (the General Principles of Food Hygiene) and covering new topics, such as allergen management, microbiological foodborne outbreak management [...]

Codex Members of the Latin America and the Caribbean region met in Panama City on 11 November 2018 to discuss the draft Codex Strategic Plan (2020-2025). Organized by the regional coordinator, Chile, the meeting brought together 22 participants from 11 countries, who were attending the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene. Constanza Vergara of Chile led the meeting on behalf of the Regional Coordinator. In light of the experience of the participants in Codex standard-setting and implementation, the meeting served as an [...]

Earlier this year, the Codex Secretariat launched a series of workshops  in the six Codex regions that are having a direct impact on the operational capacity of countries to engage in the standard-setting process. More participants are now expressing national positions via the Online Commenting System (OCS) and the Digital platform for Electronic Working Groups. Linked to the workshops, the Codex Secretariat is currently holding a series of follow-up webinars  tailored to users’ requests and may include the use of the OCS and [...]

Constanza Vergara and Claudio Canales of the Chilean Codex Committee (ACHIPIA) used a methodology that combines science with creativity to build the capacity of food safety risk managers and communicators to analyse risks in a workshop on 28-30 August in Santo Domingo. The training session was part of the twinning programme of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) aimed at strengthening the Codex Alimentarius in the region. "We believe that the experience of Chile will be very useful to [...]

Honduran officials of the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, the Ministry of Health, the Agency for Health Regulation and the Honduran Organization of Normalization joined the national Codex Contact Point and others in Tegucigalpa to announce the start of a Codex Trust Fund 2 project. On 18-19 July two events were held to launch the efforts to strengthen food safety and international trade: a launch event complete with the signing of an inter-institutional Letter of [...]

The 41st session of the Commission finished last week and the CCLAC region led by their coordinator Diego Varela from Chile put together a videoblog which provides a fascinating behind the scenes look at the week from their perspective. With such a varied mix of countries in CCLAC it was great to see active participation and discussion especially around issues such as the standard for quinoa that is so relevant to Latin America. We look forward to hearing much more from Chile [...]