Recently two training sessions have taken place in Mali (a training session on Codex for the national media on 3 August 2023 and a training session on Codex for the country’s Economic, Social, Environmental and Cultural Council on 10 August 2023) as part of the 3-year Codex Trust Fund (CTF) project being implemented in the country.

A key component of the project involves awareness-raising activities for members of the country’s Economic, Social, Environmental and Cultural Council and for journalists. The training will ensure improved knowledge about Codex at the policy level and also among newspaper, radio and television professionals, who will be better able to inform consumers.

“We are at a crucial moment,” stated Blaise Ouattara, FAO Regional Food Safety and Quality Officer for Africa, as he addressed the Council Members during their training session. He continued that “we need to reflect on the measures necessary to give consumers access to food that meets their needs and does not represent a health hazard.”

Approximately twenty journalists were trained in a session in which Abdoulaye Aziz Kossibo, FAO Project Technical Coordination Expert, made the case for media engagement in food safety issues. “You really represent actors who can support the supervising ministry of this project,” he said, “you can pass on information and awareness of these issues and popularize them so that food safety is really a reality in this country.”

Speaking to a television reporter, Dr Bakary Diarra, Head of Nutrition and Food Safety for the National Institute of Public Health (INSP), said the training will equip journalists “with maximum knowledge of Codex so that you can put yourself in the fight, in order to reach the maximum number of people in Mali and thus improve our eating habits.”

Mali’s CTF project started in February 2019 and, after encountering delays caused by COVID-19, has resumed activities.

Watch the news on the journalist training session

Find out more
Codex Trust Fund website

Photo © DNSSA/INSP
Formation des médias sur le Codex Alimentarius à Bamako le 03.08.2023 / Media training on Codex Alkimentarius in Bamako 03.08.2023