The Codex Secretariat, in agreement with the respective host secretariats of the Codex Committees on Contaminants in Foods (CCCF), Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS), and Methods of Analysis and Sampling (CCMAS) has announced that the sessions are cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. “Given the increasing gravity of the situation we needed to provide certainty to those preparing to organise and participate in these sessions. We discussed with each host secretariat to find out their national [...]

Codex meetings bring together experts from all over the world and the session calendar for 2020 has 15 committees scheduled in multiple international locations across 5 continents. FAO internal guidance for staff, including the Codex Secretariat, following the COVID-19 outbreak states that travel is to be limited to “critical missions and time-sensitive essential travel”. This means for example that the workshop planned for committee host secretariats in France from 27-29 March 2020 has now been postponed. FAO has also postponed all [...]

Madagascar is continuing its efforts to build the capacity of its members with the support of the Codex Trust Fund. A four-day training workshop in Antananarivo from 24-27 February 2020 set out to integrate new members and provide a refresher for more experienced members. The workshop also dealt with the redefinition of priority committees for Madagascar, the formulation of national positions, preparation for sessions as well as the use of online Codex tools. After this training, Madagascar will further improve [...]

Over 1 000 food safety stakeholders from around the world gathered in Seattle, USA this week for the 2020 Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) Conference, which also marked the 20th anniversary for the GFSI. Action is more urgent than ever. Addressing the conference, Peter Freedman, Managing Director of the Consumer Goods Forum said 2020 marked a moment of change in governance and strategy for GFSI. “Action is more urgent than ever”, he said, citing the climate advocate Greta Thunberg. “Our agenda remains [...]

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 [...]