On World Water Day, we turned to an expert to better understand the scientific guidance on safely using and reusing this precious resource in food production and processing. Leon Gorris has taken part in Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meetings on Microbiological Risk Assessment, also known as JEMRA, dedicated to several different topics. Here is what he had to say. Why is JEMRA’s work on the use and reuse of water for food production and processing important? To produce and process food that is safe for consumers, it is essential to use clean water from production to consumption. But what constitutes clean water...

Representatives from various government institutions in Eswatini are gathering and collecting data as part of a 5-million-euro project run by a team of FAO experts and funded by the European Union to improve the food control system in the country.  The two-year project, "Strengthening of Capacities and Governance in Food and Phytosanitary Control,” is providing technical support and working with national Competent Authorities and other leading institutions in 12 Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Member Countries to build capabilities, strengthen governance and improve strategic planning around two main components: food safety and plant health.   As part of the food...

Water used in food production and processing must be of sufficient quality that it does not make the food unsafe. This begins in primary production and continues during food processing through to consumption. Water can be unfit for its intended purpose if it is contaminated with chemical or microbiological hazards that enter the food supply. This can occur directly, when water contacts food, but also indirectly, when unfit water contaminates food contact surfaces. Water is a diminishing resource globally and not all food producers and processors have access to sufficient fresh potable water and the cost of access to water may...

Last week FAO began a project to improve the food control system in Mauritius. A 5-million-euro project funded by the European Union, "Strengthening of Capacities and Governance in Food and Phytosanitary Control,” which began last year, is set to provide technical support and work with Competent Authorities and other leading institutions in 12 Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Member Countries to build up capabilities, strengthen governance and improve strategic planning around two main components: food safety and plant health. As part of the food safety component, an assessment of the national food control system will be carried out...

The World Food Safety Day 2023 theme was unveiled today, together with the launch of this year’s guide. The theme, “Food standards save lives” is aimed at recognizing the importance of food standards across the world in keeping consumers safe, and in underpinning an equitable trade in food. Corinna Hawkes, Director of the FAO Food Systems and Food Safety Division, invites participation in World Food Safety Day this year in a dedicated video message. “FAO supports countries to transform agrifood systems so that they benefit people and the planet,” she says in the video, noting that policymakers, practitioners and investors...

Food safety authorities interested in cell-based foods and their production processes are invited to participate in the webinar organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) on 5 April 2023. During the session, the milestone publication titled "The safety aspect of cell-based food" will be presented, and participants will receive a link to download it. The publication includes a literature synthesis of relevant terminology issues, principles of cell-based food production processes and the global landscape of regulatory frameworks for cell-based food production. Case studies from Israel, Qatar and Singapore have been...

Last week FAO began a project to improve the food control system in Kenya. A 5-million-euro project funded by the European Union, "Strengthening of Capacities and Governance in Food and Phytosanitary Control,” which was launched in November 2022, is set to provide technical support and work with Competent Authorities and other leading institutions in 12 Common Markets for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Member Countries to build capabilities, strengthen governance and improve strategic planning around two main components: food safety and plant health. As part of the food safety component, an assessment of the national food control system will be carried...

Based on the recommendations put forth at the 26th meeting of the Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods (CCRVDF), FAO and WHO have launched a call for data for a number of veterinary drugs. The call for data can be found at: https://www.fao.org/3/cc4430en/cc4430en.pdf The document includes a list of veterinary drugs which will be considered at the 98th meeting of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meeting on Food Additives (JECFA) in February 2024. Governments, interested organizations, producers of these compounds and individuals are all invited to submit data for the toxicological and residue evaluations, as well as for the estimation...

FAO has developed a lexicon of commonly used words on the topic of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to better align technical internal communications and materials for external audiences. The terms are now available in all six official UN languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish), as well as other languages.  ”Having a clear and precise definitions of words, and using them carefully, is particularly important when diverse stakeholders engage in discussion so that everyone has the same understanding of the intended message,” said Jeffrey LeJeune, FAO Food Safety Officer, who led the working group to define the terms.     “Words...

Narayan Paudyal from the National Animal Health Research Centre of Nepal Agricultural Research Council presented in January his recent research on antibiotic use in poultry in relation to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of Salmonella. Paudyal introduced the first research of such kind in Nepal indicating that Salmonella and E. coli showed a high level of resistance to the most common antibiotics used to treat these pathogens. He noted that farming and