Technical experts from different parts of the world met virtually for the 92nd meeting of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) on 7-18 June 2021. Various food additives (flavouring agents and enzyme preparations) were evaluated for their safety and recommendations were made for the work of future JECFA meetings. Food additives are substances that are added to food to maintain or improve its safety, taste, texture, freshness, or appearance. They can be derived from plants, animals or minerals or they can be synthesized chemically. Based on their functions food additives are classified into many categories, some examples are:...

Small Island Developing States, or SIDS, (in the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Oceans and the Caribbean) are pursuing innovative ways of overcoming challenges within their food systems. Many SIDS treasure their traditions and uphold the ways of hunting, fishing and gathering food they learned from previous generations, as many islands are rich in tree fruits and wild marine fish. Because of this, systematic farming agriculture was not practiced until some decades ago in many SIDS and, as a result, they can face food-nutrition insecurity situations or largely rely on imported food products. Examples in the Pacific For example, many Pacific Island countries are...

As many as 500 million people around the world have to be careful about what they eat because certain foods can cause a dangerous allergic reaction, and even be life-threatening. But how much of substance is enough to cause a reaction? That was a question for a joint FAO-WHO committee in March 2021, when the second in a series of three meetings was held on foodborne allergens. During their first meeting, which began in December 2020, the Ad hoc Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Risk Assessment of Food Allergens recommended to Codex Alimentarius Commission, the body responsible for establishing international standards...

FAO and WHO have been convening expert meetings and consultations to assess food safety risks for decades – two, to be exact, when it comes to microbiological hazards, such as bacteria, viruses and parasites. Technical experts from different disciplines and different parts of the world gather for the periodic meetings on microbiological risk assessment that are known by the acronym, JEMRA. The meetings are held in response to requests for scientific advice from the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the international food standard-setting body jointly coordinated by FAO and WHO, as well in response to other identified emerging needs. “Last year, when JEMRA...

Consumers may see making sure that food is safe to eat as something that food businesses or governments do, but food safety is really everyone’s business. Regulations only go so far and critical actions remain in the hands of food handlers – including the people who produce, process, store, transport, sell, prepare and consume food. Therefore, it is important for governments to support food producers, industries and consumers to delegate the responsibilities of food safety. Developing a food safety culture is one of the most effective approaches to getting everyone in the food supply chain to fully appreciate applying good food...

FAO led a 3-week training course – with 25 participants gathered in Vientiane, Lao PDR and others on Zoom – in July 2021 to explain how to use dietary data. The attendees, included representatives from the Ministry of Health - the Lao Tropical and Public Health Institute (Lao-TPHI), Nutrition Center, Department of Hygiene and Health Promotion, and the University of Health Sciences, all of whom will be able to use the techniques to support evidence-based policymaking.  The overall purpose of the training was to make the best use of data that had been gathered in a nation-wide food consumption survey conducted in...

FAO has issued a new guidance document to highlight additional measures that food businesses and the authorities regulating the sector can take to protect workers from person-to-person spread of COVID-19. The updated guidelines are to help ensure that the integrity of the food chain is maintained and adequate and safe food supplies are available for consumers. While COVID-19 may pose an occupational safety risk for workers in any type of business or industry where individuals work in close proximity to one another, SARS-CoV-2 itself is not considered a direct food safety hazard. Updated with new evidence, this FAO guidance replaces the...

Today FAO and the Republic of Korea signed a Framework Arrangement to collaborate on food safety, starting with a USD 10 million project that will support the implementation and monitoring of Codex standards aimed at strengthening agri-food systems by reducing foodborne antimicrobial resistance (AMR). A Member of the Codex Alimentarius Commission since 1971, the Republic of Korea has been monitoring foodborne AMR at national level since 2003 and has long held a leading role within Codex on AMR-related work. The Republic of Korea has served as Chair of the Codex ad hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Antimicrobial Resistance (TFAMR) from...

Ahead of the Food Systems Summit, FAO is holding a series of knowledge sessions to facilitate navigating the information resources the Organization makes available. FAO publications are open access, often produced in different languages and formats. The sessions will cover how to find materials, how you can re-use them, sign up for the latest releases and more. The first of the five sessions will focus on food security, food safety and nutrition – in line with Action Track 1 of the Food Systems Summit, which is about ‘Ensuring access to safe and nutritious food for all’. Each session will...

On 7 and 8 July 2021, the National Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Mali launched a new food safety project that will promote the use of Codex Alimentarius standards and codes of practice in the smoked fish sector, in particular, and its potential spillover effects to other value chains, such as grilled/smoked meat and oilseeds will be documented. The three-year project (Promotion of Codex standards and codes of practice in the smoked fish sector and consequences on food safety in other sectors in Mali) will be implemented by FAO starting in 2021. The project - funded by the...