To the Eleventh Session of the
JOINT FAO/WHO CODEX ALIMENTARIUS COMMISSION
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you to Rome on behalf of the Director-General of WHO and the Director-General of FAO. I am pleased to be able to say that since your last session nine more countries have become Members of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, bringing the current membership to 114 countries. This is indeed a very reassuring development, which, I believe you will agree, confirms the growing interest of the Member Nations of FAO and WHO in the work of the Commission. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome especially the representatives of the new Members as well as the representatives of observer countries participating for the first time in one of your sessions.
A further encouraging development since your last session has been the growing interest by Member governments in the Recommended Codex International Food Standards and the Recommended Codex International Maximum Limits for Pesticide Residues in Food which have been sent to countries for acceptance. You will see from the documents before you that some 45 countries, including some developed countries, have now communicated their acceptance of a number of International Standards - in several cases a considerable number of them - including International Pesticide Residue Limits, with a view to giving effect to these through their food legislation and regulations. The Code of Principles for Milk and Milk Products has been accepted by 71 countries and there is an increasing number of acceptances of the many standards developed under the Code.
Further progress, however, still needs to be made in this field, and we hope that delegates will be able to provide during the session information on developments in their countries regarding acceptance of the standards, and the International Maximum Limits for Pesticide Residues. Several other standards and additional International Maximum Limits for Pesticide Residues have been developed since your last session for submission to the present session of the Commission. We have every hope that most of these will be adopted for issuance to governments for acceptance and implementation.
While the current work of the Commission has been proceeding satisfactorily, I would like to take this opportunity to indicate some of the thoughts of FAO and WHO on certain aspects of our priorities. In both Organizations, at the request of our governing bodies, increasing emphasis is being placed on what might be described as country-focus activities. This shift in emphasis does not detract from the importance of the work of the Commission. Indeed, it is intended to help in implementing the recommendations of the Commission, particularly in applying its standards to national practices. To this end, higher priority is given by FAO and WHO to collaborating with Member countries in strengthening their capabilities to ensure better food control, quality and safety. Protection of consumers against health hazards and commercial fraud, the ensurance of fair practices in the food trade, the promotion of the food industry and of international trade by removing obstacles to trade in foods and stimulating opportunities to increase earnings from exports, are all matters of great interest to our Member countries which call for the support of our two Organizations. Obviously, the meetings of the Codex Alimentarius Commission and its subsidiary bodies provide worldwide and regional fora for discussion of these matters.
Its international standards are important elements in providing a means of assisting governments to agree upon measures aimed at the improvement of food control, safety and consumer protection, the promotion of trade in food and the development of food industries.
Mr. Chairman, I should like to mention quite briefly two of the major activities of WHO and FAO which complement and forward the work of the Commission. These are the WHO Food Safety Programme and the FAO Programme on Food Control and Consumer Protection.
The WHO Programme is intended to develop and disseminate information as a preventive health measure, to protect the health of the consumer against food hazards, and to assist Member states in the planning and implementation of food safety measures. It aims at reducing human illness caused by microbial contamination and the chemical or physical adulteration of food. Under this Programme WHO will encourage the establishment and development of national food safety policies, programmes and services, so as to make food compatible with international standards and to prevent national and international spread of food-borne diseases.
On the other hand, the objectives of the FAO Programme are to protect consumers against hazards from adulterated, unsafe or contaminated food and to generally assist in the socio-economic development of member countries through national, regional and international programmes in food control, including monitoring and control of contaminants in food. The main thrust of the programme is directed towards the development or strengthening of national food control infrastructures to increase consumer protection against health hazards and commercial fraud, prevention and control of food contamination, development of the food industry, and the promotion of trade in order to earn or save foreign exchange. Advice and technical assistance are given to national authorities on food law and regulations, the setting up of laboratories and the training of food inspectors and analytical staff. In addition, FAO carries out, jointly with WHO, periodic evaluations of food additives and contaminants, and is developing a Joint International Programme for monitoring of contaminants in food.
During this session, you will be hearing more about these and other important activities of the two Organizations which have relevance for the work of the Commission. Here, I think I should mention that WHO has proposed, and FAO has agreed, that an inter-secretariat review would be appropriate at this time of the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme in the context of the related activities in FAO and WHO. The reports you will receive on these activities will enable you to determine the extent to which they are meeting the ultimate objectives to which I referred earlier.
It is gratifying to note that in recent years the Commission has been turning its attention more and more to the needs of developing countries. Since the last session, a Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Regional Conference for Asia was held in Bangkok in December 1975 generously hosted by the government of Thailand. An important step taken by the Asian countries at this Conference, similar to that taken earlier by the African countries, was to approve a draft model food law. This was the second Regional Conference of its type, the first having been held in Nairobi in October 1973. A Regional Conference for Latin America is scheduled to be held in 1977.
Codex Coordinating Committees for Africa and Latin America have already commenced work and I assume that you will be taking a decision to establish a similar committee for Asia, which was agreed to in principle during your last session. All these new developments are meant to provide inter-governmental fora within the framework of the Codex Alimentarius Commission for greater and more active participation by developing countries in the work of the Commission directed principally to food legislation, food control and food safety needs of Africa, Latin America and Asia.
In view of the current financial situation, which has placed restrictions on the work of most UN bodies, FAO and WHO - the two co-sponsoring Organizations of the Codex Alimentarius Commission - have been re-appraising their programmes and priorities within the limits of their budgetary resources. Accordingly, it may become necessary to reduce the number of meetings and the volume of documentation under the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme. It is important, therefore, for the Commission to re-examine its work priorities not only for the current biennium but also for 1978/79.
Turning now to personal matters, I would like to thank the retiring Members of the Executive Committee for the time and effort they have given so generously to promote the aims of the Commission. Their advice has been most valuable. As you may know, Dr. Chapman will be retiring from the Chairmanship at the end of this session. I am sure I speak for all of you in saying how greatly we have benefitted from his service in this office. His long experience in matters relating to food standards, food control and food safety at the national level, and his knowledge of the objectives and the working procedures of FAO and WHO as well as of the Codex Programme, have given a very practical orientation to the deliberations of the Commission. His decision not to stand for re-election you have, of course, respected, but I am sure with deep regret.
I would also like to express the appreciation of WHO and FAO to those governments who have undertaken the task of chairing and hosting meetings of the Commission's subsidiary bodies since the last session of the Commission.
It only remains for me to wish you all who are in attendance at this meeting a pleasant stay in Rome and a successful meeting.
