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 [...]

En un webinario realizado el 14 de julio de 2020, titulado “Joint Action on COVID-19: Boosting our Global Response” [La acción conjunta contra la COVID-19: cómo reforzar nuestra respuesta mundial] se presentaron las siete áreas principales de intervención planteadas por la FAO en respuesta a la crisis de la COVID-19 y transmitió claramente el mensaje de que no es posible continuar trabajando de la manera usual. Si continuamos como siempre, habrá una gran pérdida de vidas. El director general de la FAO, [...]

En un momento histórico para la Comisión del Codex Alimentarius, el Comité Ejecutivo del Codex (CCEXEC) inició su 79.a reunión en forma virtual, como consecuencia de la pandemia de COVID-19, aún en curso. A lo largo de siete días (del 13 al 20 de julio de 2020) y cuatro reuniones en línea, el comité examinará una serie de normas para decidir sobre su aprobación, así como propuestas de nuevos trabajos formuladas por los comités que pudieron reunirse antes de marzo [...]

The FAO/WHO Codex Trust Fund Secretariat has announced eight successful applications from five Codex regions. The countries or groups of countries involved will receive funding to run activities geared towards building strong and sustainable national Codex systems with the ultimate aim of increasing their participation in the work of Codex. Africa:  Mauritius Asia:  group application from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar Europe:  Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan Latin American and the Caribbean:  Guyana, and group application from El Salvador and Guatemala Southwest Pacific region:  Samoa, Tonga A spokesperson for the [...]

by Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs (CCSCH) Secretariat Towards the end of 2019, a new strain of coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2, which showed unprecedented virulence and severity, was reported from Wuhan, China. Within about three months, the number of confirmed cases of infection, called COVID-19, had soared and the virus had spread to many countries across the world with exponentially rising infection and death rates. The outbreak was then declared a global health emergency, and on 11th March 2020, WHO [...]

Los miembros de la región de América Latina y el Caribe se reunieron en línea el 17 de junio de 2020 para debatir e intercambiar acerca de sus puntos de vista sobre el Codex, los efectos de la pandemia de la enfermedad por coronavirus (COVID-19) en curso y para definir las mejores prácticas a fin de proseguir con el trabajo del Comité antes de la próxima reunión. Diego Varela (Chile), Presidente del Comité Coordinador FAO/OMS para América Latina y el Caribe [...]

The European Green Deal sets out how to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. The Farm to Fork Strategy is at the heart of the Green Deal. The strategy is also central to the European Commission’s agenda to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. A shift to a sustainable food system can bring environmental, health and social benefits, offer economic gains and ensure that the recovery from the crisis puts us onto a sustainable path. The European Union [...]

Members from one of the most diverse regions in Codex met online on 26 May 2020 to review the status of the disrupted Codex meeting schedule and explore how to best proceed with work in the committee ahead of the next session. Timothy Tumukon, Vanuatu, Regional Coordinator, for the Coordinating Committee for North America and the South West Pacific (CCNASWP), said attendance from around the globe “showed the commitment from all countries to work of Codex and food safety, especially in [...]

The six regional committees are the backbone of the international dimension of the Codex Alimentarius and an early warning system for global food safety issues. In this episode of the Codex podcast the regional coordinators discuss COVID, the importance of food safety standards and opportunities for new ways of working. Guests: Mohammad Hussein AliAbadi (Iran), Sunil Bakshi (India),  Nailya Karsybiekova (Kazakhstan), Kimutai Maritim (Kenya), Diego Varela (Chile)   UNFAO · COVID-19: the regional view on Codex and food safety   Read more Visit the COVID-19 thematic [...]

Mary Kenny, FAO food safety and consumer protection officer for the Europe and Central Asia region spoke in a recent interview from Budapest about how all those involved in food safety will need to adapt in order to maintain the safety and integrity of the food supply chain and support international trade. Read the full interview here on the FAO regional web pages. Photo credit © UN Ukraine/Volodymyr Shuvayev