By Codex Contact Point, Kenya The Kenya Codex Contact Point at Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) in conjunction with the national Codex committee held an consultative workshop on 29 March 2022 with manufacturers, importers/exporters,  local traders, consumer organizations and the general public. The workshop aimed to create awareness amongst various stakeholders who are potential users of Codex standards and have a responsibility for safeguarding consumer health. The objectives of the workshop were to enlighten the participants on the use and importance of [...]

In line with the SPS Agreement, a new World trade Organization (WTO) publication on easing trade bottlenecks recommends land-locked developing countries (LLDCs) actively participate in the standard-setting processes  – under the Codex Alimentarius, the Organisation for Animal Health and the International Plant Protection Convention – to ensure that WTO sanitary and phytosanitary standards meet their needs. The WTO SPS Agreement sets out the basic rules for food safety and animal and plant health standards. SPS measures are technical in nature and [...]

The agreement reached at the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses on a new guideline on Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTF) means there will now be an official document that can serve as a reference for national governments to use in their policies for nutritional treatment of childhood wasting, says Alison Fleet of UNICEF’s supply division. This guideline is expected to be used as a tool for regulation of RUTF products that are given to vulnerable populations, and [...]

Hosted by the United States, the meeting is running from 12 to 16 July 2021 and has so far discussed several items from a full programme of business. The committee has heard concerns regarding carryover in feed and transfer from feed to food of unavoidable and unintended residues of approved veterinary drugs. Delegates concluded that the provisions in the current Code of Practice on Good Animal Feeding (CXC 54-2004) already provide sufficient advice to Codex Members on unintended carryover of [...]

This week saw wide interest in trade standards that will be deliberated at the upcoming 25th meeting of the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS25), to be held virtually from 31 May to 8 June 2021. Two webinars held on Tuesday and Thursday 23 and 25 March 2021 brought together over 300 Codex Members and Observers as part of the series of Codex technical sessions updating delegates on topics on the agendas of subsidiary bodies [...]

A webinar taking place on 5 February 2021, 12:00-13:30 CET, entitled Feed safety – Good Practices for the Feed Sector Matter, will bring together experts from FAO and the International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF) to discuss the importance of feed safety in the sustainable production of safe food of animal origin. The event will also see the launch of a new manual on implementing the Codex Alimentarius Code of Practice on Good Animal Feeding. Primary producers, including farmers and the feed [...]

Steve Wearne, Vice-Chairperson of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, from the United Kingdom, spoke at the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Agreement (or SPS) committee’s thematic session on 3 November 2020, to explain the value that voluntary third-party assurance (vTPA) can add to National Food Control Systems.  Participants heard about the UK experience of using vTPA data in a new approach to animal feed inspection and enforcement, which has achieved an 83 percent reduction in official inspections, while investing more than ever [...]

According to data published by FAO in The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020, global fish production in 2018 is estimated to have reached about 179 million tonnes with fisheries and aquaculture playing a significant and growing role in providing food, nutrition and employment. Fish accounts for 17 percent of the global population’s intake of animal protein. This updated version of the Code of Practice for Fish and Fishery Products delivers key technical guidance on the harvesting, processing, transport and [...]

In times of self-isolation and quarantine we all rely more than ever on a safe and efficient food supply chain to ensure that food is readily available in every home.  As food shopping in stores and markets becomes more difficult for consumers because of the measures to reduce contact and avoid the person-to-person spread of coronavirus, governments are doing all they can to keep food available on the shelves. To ensure this, the food itself and the people working hard to [...]

Experts gathered in Geneva, Switzerland 16-17 July 2019 for the first meeting of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meetings on Nutrition (JEMNU). The Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU) is currently discussing the most appropriate nitrogen to protein conversion factor (or factors) to use in estimating protein content of soy-based ingredients and milk-based ingredients used in infant formulas and follow-up formulas. The current approved Codex methodology to determine protein is to detect nitrogen and then convert to protein [...]