By the Codex Contact Points of the European Union, France, Germany and the United States of America A high-level event titled “Celebrating Codex Alimentarius: A U.S.-EU Commitment to Safe Food” took place on 5th September at the French Embassy to the United States of America. The unprecedented gathering was jointly organized by the United States, the European Union, France, and Germany to provide a platform for the transatlantic partners to reflect on their collaboration and reaffirm their commitment to upholding international [...]

In a bid to help countries address the global threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), FAO developed an Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance 2021–2025. The Plan outlines five key areas of focus – of which one aims at supporting countries to strengthen surveillance and research for evidence-based decisions on AMR in the food and agriculture sectors. This work is now aided by the newly launched International FAO Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring (InFARM) system, which helps countries improve capacities to collect, collate, analyse, [...]

A new success story has been published highlighting some achievements of the Action to support implementation of Codex AMR texts (ACT) project in the Plurinational State of Bolivia. The ACT project is working to help six countries improve surveillance, governance, awareness and best practices to minimize and contain foodborne antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This success story focuses on the establishment by the Government of Bolivia of a multisectoral AMR containment committee, CC-RAM, and efforts by various stakeholders to improve surveillance and monitoring [...]

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia On 29 August 2024, a significant workshop was held virtually at the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA). The workshop focused on the experiences and practices of the Codex Contact Point and the Codex Coordination Advisory Committee in Saudi Arabia, with the aim of sharing insights with various food and health sectors from the Kingdom of Bahrain. Dr Eva Alzian from the WHO Regional Office delivered an in-depth presentation on regional food safety issues, highlighting the importance of [...]

A pre-session webinar has been organized in advance of the upcoming 27th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS) to give delegates the chance to better understand how to actively participate in the meeting, which will be held in Cairns, Australia, with virtual participation also possible via Zoom. The webinar will be moderated by the Codex Secretariat, who will introduce the new CCFICS Chairperson, Tom Black, a regular and well-known contributor to CCFICS [...]

Last year, with the support of the Codex Trust Fund, Mauritius developed a National Codex Manual, a Standard Operating Procedure for a transparent standard-setting procedure and also organized an extensive training programme on the Codex process in which a mock Codex session was also facilitated. Mauritius has now embarked on yet another milestone for harmonizing National food standards with those of Codex. A training programme on implementation of a strategy for this purpose was conducted today in Port Louis at the [...]

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) had a busy 2024 World Food Safety Day, much of it focused on the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Feed The Future EatSafe project, which concluded in July 2024. The Alliance focused on the key message around the theme of this year’s campaign, including the importance of effective communication, multisectoral collaboration, food safety plans, and shared responsibilities, which tied in well with the findings coming out of EatSafe on how best [...]

Nigeria's National Policy on Food Safety and Quality and its Implementation Plan 2023 (NPFSQIP) was officially launched by the federal government of Nigeria on 7 June 2024 during the World Food Safety Day commemoration activity in Abuja. The document aims to advance food safety in Nigeria through a comprehensive and sustainable system with coherent action plans. It includes a situation analysis, policy framework, institutional and legislative framework, implementation plan, funding mechanism and information on monitoring and evaluation. The Global Alliance for [...]

Phnom Penh, 21 August 2024 Over 200 stakeholders from the agriculture, food, and nutrition sectors gathered in Phnom Penh to commemorate Cambodia’s World Food Safety Day 2024. This year’s event, led by the Council for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) and supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), International Development Enterprises (iDE), Helen Keller International, World Vision International and the Church of Jesus [...]

The FAO-implemented and Republic of Korea-funded Action to support implementation of Codex AMR texts (ACT) project supported activities in the Plurinational State of Bolivia and in Colombia in commemoration of World Food Safety Day this year. In the Plurinational State of Bolivia, events were organized by the Servicio Nacional de Sanidad Agropecuaria e Inocuidad Alimentaria (SENASAG), in coordination with food producers and processing companies. On 6 June, World Food Safety Day was launched in the Gandarillas Hall of the Ministry of Rural [...]