For World Food Safety Day 2020, the Aftropic Cocoa Processing Company will highlight the importance of food safety among staff with a series of initiatives. The facility, based in Accra, Ghana, will: Launch 10 golden rules on food safety; Feature a pep talk at the beginning of every shift of workers (12 max), who will observe social distancing and wear masks; Post the WHO/FAO World Food Safety Day posters on the facility to create more awareness; and Share chocolate with every worker at lunch.     [...]

For the celebration of this second World Food Safety Day, FAO and WHO have decided to raise awareness about the importance of the provision of safe food in markets through the International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN). In this context, the INFOSAN Secretariat organized in May three webinars (English, French and Spanish) for the members of the network to present the topic detailing what everyone can do to improve food safety in markets. The webinars were attended by 245 INFOSAN members and [...]

China National Centre for Food Safety Risk Assessment (CFSA) will celebrate the second World Food Safety Day (WFSD) in various publicity campaigns on 7 June 2020. The major initiatives planned for the Day include online interactive games, popular science animation videos, popular science lecture videos, popular science picture books and flyers that depict a food safety topic or issue. These initiatives will focus on raising awareness towards food safety among consumers and implementing "food safety, everybody’s business" as the theme of [...]

The current COVID-19 crisis has created an unprecedented change in how we think about and approach work, leisure, and life in general. Technologies are playing a crucial role in keeping our society functional in a time of lockdowns and quarantines. Codex Members and Observers had to adapt quickly to the new environment, implementing the use of online tools to actively participate in Codex work and ensure consumer health. The Codex Secretariat has held training sessions in different regions and regularly showcases [...]

The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) is in full gear, promoting this year's World Food Safety Day campaign among its community as a key moment to raise awareness and urge action. GFSI’s own plans to observe World Food Safety Day: 5 days, 5 videos, 5 calls to action!  In the week leading up to 7 June, GFSI will post a brief video every day, each addressing one of  the 5  calls to action. They invite your engagement throughout the campaign for World Food Safety Day [...]

Raj Rajasekar, Senior Programme Manager, Ministry for Primary Industries - New Zealand. The Executive Committee informal virtual meeting held on 12 May 2020 provided a timely opportunity to reflect on the impact of the current pandemic on the work of Codex and some of the strategic challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. COVID-19 has spread rapidly across the world since the beginning of the year has had a huge impact on the work of Codex and many other multilateral institutions. The [...]

If you review the history of Codex committees since 1963 there are occasional gaps in the meeting schedule and most of these in the early years of Codex as the programme gradually developed and expanded. Some committees do not meet every year and so the average number of sessions through the 1970s, 80s, 90s and up to the present day has grown from less than 10 in any calendar year up to 20 in 2019. What then to make of the [...]

In October 2019 the 21st FAO/WHO Coordinating Committee for the Latin America and the Caribbean region (CCLAC) was interrupted after only two half days of discussions as demonstrations in Santiago, Chile forced the hosts to suspend the session. The region agreed to continue working electronically to complete the agenda and this work has culminated in an online session for report adoption that took place on 11 May 2020 with over 50 participants from 20 countries. Welcoming delegates to the online adoption, [...]

Prepared by the Chairperson of Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS) in cooperation with Australia, Canada, the European Union, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States of America. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to threaten food security due to its impact on global food supply chains. Whilst the pandemic does not create new problems, it can exacerbate existing challenges as a result of changes to food supply. The importance of the global food trade and [...]

The Chairperson of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, Guilherme da Costa, Brazil, has written to FAO suggesting the cancellation of the 43rd Codex Alimentarius Commission session planned for July 2020 in Rome and to explore the opportunity to hold an online Executive Committee session to ensure that standard setting work can continue. In the communication, Da Costa expresses his concern that expert delegations will not be able to gather in Rome for the Commission not only due to global travel restrictions currently [...]