The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service is recognizing September as Food Safety education Month and encouraging consumers to follow good food safety practices to protect themselves and their families from foodborne illness. The guidance reminds consumers they should follow four simple steps for food safety: Clean, Separate, Cook, and Chill. Read the USDA press release here. Learn more about the four steps at Foodsafety.gov.  

Roberto Azevêdo was the sixth Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), serving from September 2013. In May 2020 he announced that he would be stepping down on 31 August of this year. Codex food safety standards, guidelines and codes of practice are designated by the WTO as the international benchmarks under its Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement. Codex Chairperson Guilherme Da Costa, Brazil, said: “I had the privilege of working directly with Ambassador Roberto Azevêdo from 2010 to 2012 when I [...]

The African Union is hosting a webinar on Wednesday 2 September 14-17h East Africa Time (GMT +3) entitled "Healthy Crops, Safe Food and Thriving Trade: Opportunities for Africa". Click here to download the programme (English), (French). Click here to register. 

Today Codex Secretary Tom Heilandt confirmed that the Codex Alimentarius Commission will hold its first ever virtual meeting in 2020. The 43rd Session of CAC, originally planned for July in Rome, will now take place in cyberspace while respecting the values of inclusivity and transparency of Codex. One hundred and thirty six Codex Members had endorsed the virtual session by the deadline of 23rd August (CET) exceeding the two thirds majority required for the virtual session to go ahead. [...]

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 [...]

On 10 August 2020, the WHO Regional Office for Europe in collaboration with the Eurasian Economic Commission organized a webinar on veterinary drug residues in food of animal origin – a public health issue. Dr Igor Gaevskii, Director of the Department for Sanitary, Phytosanitary and Veterinary Measures, Eurasian Economic Commission opened the webinar. He stressed that veterinary drug residues in food is an issue of concern and that the webinar provided an opportunity to share experiences between countries in East [...]

Today Codex Members were invited to endorse the first virtual session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission. The COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of all physical meetings of Codex Committees for this year and the Codex Secretariat together with the Chairperson and Vice-chairpersons of the Commission, Committee chairpersons and host countries have worked actively to find ways to ensure work continuity. With the support of the Codex Members, electronic working groups of subsidiary bodies are continuing their work and a [...]

“Not only was this session the first full Codex committee meeting held by correspondence, it also took place during the very challenging and unexpected COVID-19 pandemic.” reflected Richard Boyd, Chairperson of the Codex Committee on Processed Fruits and Vegetables (CCPFV) as he concluded the 29th Session of the CCPFV on July 29th 2020.  Having worked by correspondence from January to July 2020, the Committee proposed five standards for adoption by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. These include standards for dried fruits, [...]

Delegations from 85 Codex Members and 40 Observers met up virtually on 28th July 2020 in what may come to be seen as a trial run for the 43rd session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission planned for September 2020. Following on from the successful Executive Committee virtual meeting, the Codex community is now beginning to understand what will be needed, how to prepare and what to expect from a virtual Commission. “The COVID-19 pandemic unquestionably presents an era-defining challenge to public [...]

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 [...]