The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), meeting from 26-27 February 2020, in Geneva Switzerland at WTO headquarters, seeks to ensure that technical regulations and standards, including packaging, marking and labelling requirements do not create unnecessary obstacles to trade. Just as with the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement, the TBT Agreement encourages members at all levels of development to participate in relevant standard-setting bodies. This is important to ensure that these bodies produce standards on products [...]

To strengthen Cambodia’s capacity for better and more effective participation in Codex work, FAO in collaboration with the General Directorate of CAMCONTROL, Ministry of Commerce organized a training workshop from 18- 20 February 2020. The training is part of a wider five year programme sponsored by Japan which supports capacity building for international food safety standard development and implementation for ASEAN countries.  A total of 40 officials from various sectors including government officials from CAMCONTROL, (the national Codex Contact Point), relevant ministries, [...]

Pesticides are potentially toxic to humans and especially for those who work or come into close contact with them. Yet pesticides also play a key role in food production; protecting or increasing yields and the number of times per year a crop can be grown on the same land. This is particularly important in countries that face food shortages. FAO and WHO are responsible for assessing the risks to humans of pesticides – both through direct exposure, and through residues in [...]

At the Executive Committee of the Codex Alimentarius Commission held at the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva on 10-14 February 2020, Bukar Tijani (pictured left), FAO Assistant Director-General for the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Department emphasized the need for Codex to remain alert to emerging issues that will impact its work. Describing the nature of diseases that can spread from animals to humans and then cross borders, Tijani said that outbreaks such as African swine fever or COVID-19 [...]

Madagascar depends heavily on food imports to meet its food requirements. Effective and efficient control of food imports is therefore essential to facilitate food trade on the island and to protect the health of consumers. “Several different authorities carry out inspections of those products according to their respective competences”, said Dominique Lantomalala, Codex Contact Point, Madagascar. “Most of the time, there is a lack of coordination and synergy between these actions. Faced with imports, local industries suffer and it is not [...]

As the 78th session of the Executive Board of the Codex Alimentarius Commission got underway at the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, Naoko Yamamoto (main photo), Assistant Director General, WHO, reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to work closely with FAO in order to enhance the role of the Executive Board to review and optimize the operations of the whole Codex Alimentarius Commission. Acknowledging WHO’s role in working closely with member states and FAO to strengthen food systems and improve [...]

The Executive Board of the World Health Organization has endorsed a draft food safety resolution and will now send it for consideration by the World Health Assembly (WHA) in May 2020. Two thirds of Executive Board members took the floor and strongly supported the resolution. Many member states are now sponsors of the draft resolution, which was negotiated with the European Union as chair. Dirk Lange, European Commission, said: “This WHA resolution will put food safety high on the international political [...]

La Secretaría del Codex puede confirmar que la 52.ª reunión del Comité del Codex sobre Aditivos Alimentarios (CCFA), cuya celebración estaba prevista del 2 al 6 de marzo de 2020 en Lanzhou (China), ha sido aplazada debido a la situación creada por el brote del nuevo coronavirus. En colaboración con la Comisión Nacional de Salud de China y la Secretaría hospedante del CCFA, la Secretaría del Codex está estudiando la posibilidad de celebrar la reunión en China, en un lugar todavía [...]

The Codex Secretariat is monitoring the current situation in China regarding the outbreak of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) via WHO daily updates and the advice from the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee. Codex is also consulting closely with the Chinese authorities via the Codex Committee on Food Additives (CCFA) and Pesticide Residues (CCPR) Host Secretariats. As reported on the WHO website on 29 January 2020, the Emergency Committee on the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) will be reconvened by the World Health Organization [...]

A team from the FAO Food Safety and Quality Unit together with representatives from the Codex Secretariat and the FAO Nutrition Department travelled to Parma, Italy today to meet with the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA). The meeting was an opportunity to find common ground and share insights on a range of issues including scientific opinions, risk communication and possibilities for cooperation on major campaigns such as World Food Safety Day and the International Year of Plant Health. Bernhard Url, Executive [...]