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 [...]

On Thursday and Friday 24-25 May, 40 participants from 26 of the 33 countries in the Latin America and the Caribbean (CCLAC) region gathered in Asunción, Paraguay for training on the online web tools that form a central part of food safety standards development in Codex. Following successful workshops in Nairobi and Dakar, this third leg in the series of regional programmes in Paraguay was a valuable opportunity for those working in national standard setting structures and for Codex Contact Points [...]

Today at an event organised by Codex at FAO HQ in Rome, Ms Geannina Dinarte Romero, Minister for Economy, Industry and Commerce of Costa Rica, called on countries to support the initiative for a World Food Safety Day that would signal the right for all people to have access to safe and nutritious food in sufficient quantity.  There can be no food security, no zero hunger without food safety The Director-General of FAO Mr José Graziano da Silva, opening the meeting, stated [...]

Safe food to consumers should not be compromised regardless of the economic standing of the country. Greg Read is First Assistant Secretary in the Exports Division of the Australian Department of Agriculture and Water Resources and also chair of the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS).  Q: How does CCFICS work to ensure fair trading practices and facilitate international trade in foodstuffs, protecting at the same time the health of consumers? Read: CCFICs has developed a large [...]