North America and South-West Pacific ready to tackle new challenges
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 [...]
15 June 2020
Codex podcast / the regional view on food safety in times of COVID-19
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 [...]
12 June 2020
FAO Interview - Europe and Central Asia - adapting to maintain food safety in times of COVID-19
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
11 June 2020
Webinar with Uganda highlights the importance of participation in Codex work
The current COVID-19 crisis has created an unprecedented change in how we think about and approach work, leisure, and life in general. Technologies are playing a crucial role in keeping our society functional in a time of lockdowns and quarantines. Codex Members and Observers had to adapt quickly to the new environment, implementing the use of online tools to actively participate in Codex work and ensure consumer health.
The Codex Secretariat has held training sessions in different regions and regularly showcases [...]
19 May 2020
Latin America and Caribbean region pioneers new ways of working in Codex
In October 2019 the 21st FAO/WHO Coordinating Committee for the Latin America and the Caribbean region (CCLAC) was interrupted after only two half days of discussions as demonstrations in Santiago, Chile forced the hosts to suspend the session. The region agreed to continue working electronically to complete the agenda and this work has culminated in an online session for report adoption that took place on 11 May 2020 with over 50 participants from 20 countries.
Welcoming delegates to the online adoption, [...]
11 May 2020
Protecting food security and facilitating food trade during COVID-19
Prepared by the Chairperson of Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS) in cooperation with Australia, Canada, the European Union, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States of America.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to threaten food security due to its impact on global food supply chains. Whilst the pandemic does not create new problems, it can exacerbate existing challenges as a result of changes to food supply. The importance of the global food trade and [...]
08 May 2020
COVID-19 likely to cause cancellation of a physical meeting of 43rd Codex Commission
The Chairperson of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, Guilherme da Costa, Brazil, has written to FAO suggesting the cancellation of the 43rd Codex Alimentarius Commission session planned for July 2020 in Rome and to explore the opportunity to hold an online Executive Committee session to ensure that standard setting work can continue.
In the communication, Da Costa expresses his concern that expert delegations will not be able to gather in Rome for the Commission not only due to global travel restrictions currently [...]
06 May 2020
COVID-19 / Codex Africa region holds first informal meeting online
The coronavirus outbreak has interrupted the schedule of physical meetings in Codex and led to a rethink of how countries within the Codex community, with its continuous cycle of committees and working groups, can stay connected when international meetings seem off the agenda for the time being.
On Tuesday 21 April 48 participants from 18 countries in the Codex CCAFRICA region, together with representatives from the African Union – Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources, the Economic Community of West African States, [...]
22 April 2020
COVID-19 / Codex discusses working online
Members of the Codex Executive Committee met up via online video conferencing technology for an informal meeting on 2 April 2020. Discussions revolved around the subsidiary body meetings that have either been cancelled or postponed and how to maintain the momentum of standards development work that is already underway.
The Chairperson of the Codex Alimentarius Commission Guilherme da Costa, Brazil, said: “This is a completely unexpected situation for us when we take a look at our field of work. Producers, transporters, [...]
17 April 2020
COVID-19 / Maintaining the momentum of Codex work
COVID-19 and the related response from governments across the globe has led to the postponement or cancellation of numerous Codex subsidiary body meetings scheduled to be held in 2020.
However, food safety remains an important issue and the Codex Secretariat is working together with Host Secretariats, Chairs of Committees and Chairs/Vice-Chairs of Electronic Working Groups (EWGs) to ensure that the standards development work can continue even if the committees cannot meet this year.
Tom Heilandt, Codex Secretary confirmed that electronic working groups [...]
28 March 2020
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