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FAO/WHO Regional Conference on Food Safety for Asia and the Pacific
FAO Headquarters Rome, Thursday, 3 July 2003
14.30 hours, Malaysia Room (B-227)
ANNEX 1 - LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
The second preparatory meeting for the FAO/WHO Regional Conference on Food Safety for Asia and the Pacific was held at FAO Headquarters on 3 July 2003. The meeting was attended by 26 participants, representing 14 countries of the Asian and Pacific regions (see List of Participants in Annex 1). Mr. Hartwig de Haen, Assistant Director-General, FAO Economic and Social Department, welcomed the delegates on behalf of FAO and WHO.
Mr. de Haen recalled the advice of the 123rd and 124th Sessions of the FAO Council on convening regional food safety conferences and the expression of interest from Malaysia in hosting such Conference. The main outcomes of the first preparatory meeting were highlighted including: general support to convene the proposed Conference; appreciation for the offer of the Government of Malaysia to host it; ideas to contain the cost; and offers of in-kind and budgetary contributions to reduce the overall cost of such Conference. The recommendation of the 124th FAO Council to hold the proposed Conference in the official languages of the region (Chinese and English) was also noted.
The meeting emphasized the importance for the Conference to allow for the exchange of experiences and information among the countries of the region on tangible food safety issues and to lead to the development of a practical action plan for overcoming the actual difficulties and problems that countries of the region are facing in improving their food safety systems. Some delegates noted that themes which result in actions that can be more readily implemented at a lower cost, such as "C) Prioritization and coordination of capacity building activities"; "D) Information exchange, education and communication" and "E) Food-borne disease monitoring and surveillance systems", should be given higher priority than those of a more theoretical nature. It was noted that the envisaged outcomes of each Conference theme should be considered when preparing each paper. In order to contain Conference costs and foster a sense of regional ownership, it was agreed that the countries of the region, rather than outside consultants, should prepare the papers for the Conference. Countries of the region are encouraged to submit Conference Room Documents (CRDs) on specific issues of national interest (for instance the issue raised by the Iranian delegation on the impact of pesticide application equipment on the safety of food crops) that are related to the themes of the Conference. Countries are encouraged to offer to take the lead on document preparation or contribute to any of the themes which are not indicated to have a lead contributor.
It was agreed that issues of consumers' rights, increased consumer awareness, and producer obligations should be explicitly addressed within all of the relevant themes.
Australia agreed to prepare this paper and will lead its presentation at the Conference. This paper will focus on sharing experiences of practical aspects of implementing and enforcing food safety legislation in order to assist other countries in building their own food safety laws. The paper will focus on the importance of harmonizing national legislation, which may eventually lead to regional harmonization and equivalence, all of which are important issues to the region. This paper should also include aspects of consumer's rights and consumer participation. The inclusion of the risk-based aspects of food safety legislation in this paper will complement, but not duplicate the separate paper on the application of risk analysis in food control.
This paper could offer a short review of the status of food safety legislation in other countries of the region, but should not be comprehensive of all national food laws. Countries would be encouraged to share their experiences in this regard through the submission of Conference Room Documents (CRDs).
The economic impact of food safety legislation will be covered briefly in the paper and can be presented in more detail in a separate background document. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has prepared numerous reports on this subject in recent years, some of which could be used for this purpose.
It was suggested that information on the legislation required for products at the food/drug interface could also be addressed in this theme. The Secretariat informed the meeting that pending the approval of the 26th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), FAO/WHO are planning to hold an Expert Consultation on "Functional Foods". The report of such Consultation, which is intended to include legislation aspects of "functional foods", could be used as a background document for the Conference.
Australia agreed to prepare this paper and lead its presentation at the Conference. As the need for risk analysis is well known, this paper should instead focus on the practical actions needed to overcome the problems of applying risk analysis in less developed countries.
India tentatively offered to take the lead in writing this paper, with support from the Conference secretariat. This paper should briefly refer to the benefits and drawbacks of each of the different aspects of food control systems and ways that countries can evaluate their own capacity building needs. FAO has issued a report on a survey conducted to assess countries' capacity building needs, which is included as an annex to paper CAC/26 INF/5. This report could be used as an aid in preparing documentation for this Conference theme. FAO and WHO are considering the convening of a technical consultation on capacity building in response to the request made by the CCASIA at its 13th Session. The results of this consultation could also be used as an input for this paper.
Some countries also mentioned specific aspects of capacity building, such as inspection/ certification of fresh agricultural produce they would like to have addressed in this paper.
The meeting noted that information exchange both within and between countries should be addressed in this paper. It was suggested that the paper should include practical examples of national success stories. The paper could also include practical information on successful education programmes such as food safety for small and medium scale producers and the street foods sector. It was suggested that, as part of the action plan for this Conference, the countries of the region could agree to establish a rapid alert system to notify other countries of food-borne disease outbreaks.
While recognizing that Japan has not offered to prepare a paper, the Secretariat will communicate directly with Japan regarding the possibility that they would write this paper.
The meeting agreed that the WHO Western Pacific and South-East Asia regional offices could jointly prepare this paper with the input of the countries of the region. The paper could focus on the availability and/or the establishment of a regional foodborne disease reporting and statistical information center. As part of the Conference action plan, delegates could commit their countries to disease reporting in order to provide information on the nature and frequency of foodborne disease outbreaks and facilitate control actions. Countries would need to come to the Conference with a commitment to contribute to the reporting efforts if this action item is to be successful. Public health preparedness, as well as surveillance was also noted as an important aspect of this theme.
The themes and sub-points of the Conference were revised as indicated in Annex 2.
The meeting agreed that the Conference should include five plenary presentations by governments on the five main themes including the listed sub-points under each theme. The meeting confirmed its support for convening two concurrent working groups, each with multi-disciplinary representation. In discussing the selection of themes for the working groups, the meeting agreed that such themes should provide opportunity for countries to establish concrete proposals for actions at the national and regional level to improve food safety. The meeting considered that these themes: "C) Prioritization and coordination of capacity building activities" and "D) Information exchange, education and communication" provided such opportunity. However, the themes to be discussed in the working group sessions can be finalized based on the discussions held in the plenary sessions.
The dates of the Conference were confirmed as 24 to 27 May 2004. Malaysia has offered to organize events on the third day of the Conference for those participants not involved in report writing.
Annex 3 provides a revised timetable for the Conference.
Some countries indicated that it would be logistically difficult for them to support the travel of low income countries.
Malaysia agreed that it would pay up to $5000 for printing costs, while the estimated budget for printing is $500. The Secretariat will further discuss local expenses directly with Malaysia.
The costs of the Conference will be relatively low, especially because the countries will be providing the cost of document preparation. FAO/ WHO will provide for direct staffing costs through regular programme funds, but the other costs for an event such as this should be provided by extra-budgetary resources. The Conference Secretariat will determine by September whether adequate financial support has been secured to hold the Conference. Countries are encouraged to share ideas they have for donors as no offers of direct financial support have been made to date.
It was noted that Permanent Representatives with e-mail access would prefer to receive documents by e-mail rather than post to increase the speed at which countries receive documentation for the meetings.
The "Memorandum of Responsibilities" will be forwarded to Malaysia once it has been finalized within FAO, and will indicate that the commencement of the Conference is conditional upon receiving adequate funding for the Conference. The list of countries to be invited to the Conference, which will be included in the Memorandum of Responsibilities, was made available as an informative document at the meeting and is attached as Annex 4.
The meeting confirmed their willingness and political support for this Conference, although additional financial and in-kind support for the Conference is still required.
The meeting was closed at 16:40 hours on 3 July 2003.
