With three sessions of CAC43 already completed, ten standards and six new work proposals have been adopted by the Commission, meeting for the first time ever virtually. Over 120 Members and more than 50 Observer organizations have participated so far and the next plenary session will be on Monday 12 October, 12:00 CET. Listed below are the standards, guidelines and codes of practice that will be adopted into the Codex Alimentarius and the proposals for new work that have been approved. As [...]

The Directors-General of FAO and WHO, the parent organizations of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, set the stage for five days of decision-making on food standards with a message about getting ‘better’. More than 800 registered delegates joined the first-ever virtual Commission, now in its 43rd session, held remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  In congratulating the Commission for ‘jumping into the digital world’, FAO Director-General Dr QU Dongyu noted that science is the driving force for setting Codex food standards. “When [...]

The webinar organized by the Codex Secretariat on Friday 11 September 2020 was well attended with 86 countries and the European Union, plus 34 observer organizations taking part and numbers of attendees peaking at over 300. In opening the session, the Chairperson of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, Guilherme Da Costa, Brazil paid tribute to the global Codex Contact Points who play a key role in managing the practical work for Codex Members. “Through them, everything happens in the organization and without [...]

As Codex Members and Observers prepare to take part in the first ever virtual session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, which starts on 24 September 2020, the Codex Secretariat has organized a training webinar to prepare delegates for the online meeting. This webinar will take place on Friday 11 September 2020, at 12.00 (CET). Delegates will hear from the Chairperson of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, Guilherme Da Costa and from Codex Secretary, Tom Heilandt, how it was possible to arrange for [...]

The COVID-19 pandemic will have an unprecedented impact on global and regional trade. According to the World Trade Organization, world merchandise trade in 2020 could fall by as much as 32 percent. New policy guidance, part of the FAO COVID-19 Response and Recovery Programme, describes how the current economic recession is raising serious concerns about hunger and malnutrition. It goes on to explain how ad-hoc trade restrictions, including food safety measures that may not be science based, have worsened the situation [...]

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 [...]

The ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic has brought challenges to our way of living, interacting and working. The way we have worked internationally to date has been turned on its head. With the cancellation of almost all physical Codex meetings for 2020, it is now essential to look to new ways of continuing the work. The 79th session of the Executive Committee of the Codex Alimentarius Commission successfully met virtually between 13 and 20th July 202. In the current context, if [...]

أوصى الاجتماع التاسع والسبعون للجنة التنفيذية لهيئة الدستور الغذائي بأن يتم ارسال النصوص الرئيسية الصادرة عن الدستور الغذائي بشأن نظافة الأغذية وإدارة مسببات الحساسية في الاغذية، إلى جانب سلسلة من المعايير الإقليمية والعالمية الخاصة بالسلع- من الكافا (نوع من أنواع الفلفل) إلى صلصة الفلفل الحار وفاكهة الكيوي والثوم واليام – ليتم اعتمادها في الاجتماع التالي للهيئة: أي الدورة الثالثة والاربعون لهيئة الدستور الغذائي. وسيُعقد هذا الاجتماع بشكل افتراضي ابتداء من أواخر أيلول/سبتمبر في حال وافق أعضاء الهيئة على الطرائق التي [...]

A webinar held on 14 July 2020 entitled ‘Joint Action on COVID-19: Boosting our Global Response’, presented the seven main intervention areas that FAO has developed in response to the COVID-19 crisis with a clear message that business as usual is not a possibility. If we carry on as usual we will see major loss of life. FAO Director-General QU Dongyu told participants that with 4.5 billion people dependent on food systems for their jobs and livelihoods it was time for FAO [...]

In an historic moment for the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the Executive Committee (CCEXEC) began its 79th meeting online due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Spread over seven days (13-20 July 2020) and four online sessions, the committee will examine standards for adoption and proposals for new work from those committees that were able to meet before travel became impossible in March this year and all subsequent Codex meetings were cancelled. The recommendations of the CCEXEC will go forward for consideration [...]