Korea recently marked the successful celebration of the 22nd Korean Food Safety Day and on the occasion of this achievement, we had the opportunity to interview Yu-Kyoung Oh, the Minister of Food and Drug Safety of the Republic of Korea. We wanted to delve into the country's accomplishments in the field of food safety management. The minister shared her insights and outlined the plans to ensure that food safety remains a paramount concern in Korea.  Congratulations on the 22nd Korean Food [...]

FAO Nepal in collaboration with the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development conducted a training of trainers on the implementation of Codex standards to contain and reduce foodborne antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Twenty-three government officials from various departments representing food safety, public health, animal, and plant health, as well as the environmental agencies, participated in the training on 8-10 May 2023 in Godavari, Nepal. Opening ceremony (Mr. Shailesh Kumar Jha, Deputy Director General, Department of [...]

A roadmap workshop took place on 27 April 2023 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia bringing together all relevant stakeholders to identify their priorities for addressing foodborne antimicrobial resistance (AMR), as part of the “Action to support implementation of Codex AMR (ACT)” project. Held in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, the workshop was attended by 44 participants from various ministries, associations, institutes, and academia.    “I would like to express the government’s support in the fight against antimicrobial resistance [...]

Three webinars for Latin America and the Caribbean will be held in 2023 to strengthen the implementation of Codex standards.  The webinar on future challenges in food safety will be held in April, followed by the webinar on the application of Codex standards (regional experiences) in July, and the webinar on food safety under the One Health approach will take place in October.  “The growing population worldwide, the increase in food demand, and the consequent growth of the food industry added to [...]

The “Action to support implementation of Codex AMR Texts (ACT)” project was presented at the Herders Forum in Mongolia on 2 March 2023, where more than 400 herders, livestock specialists, and local governors discussed the government's policies for the development of the agricultural sector, livestock production and responsible and prudent use of antimicrobial drugs and food safety. “This was a good opportunity to present the ACT project and discuss the responsible and prudent use of antimicrobial drugs in livestock. Our survey, [...]

Representatives from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety reviewed the progress and priorities of the project “Action to support implementation of Codex AMR Texts (ACT)” at a consultation meeting earlier this March.   Attending the session, Tom Heilandt, Codex Secretary, said: "We are happy to implement the ACT project with the support from the Government of Korea. This year Codex is turning 60. This project is one of the [...]

As part of the “Action to support implementation of Codex AMR Texts (ACT)” project, six countries have finished assessing their antimicrobial resistance (AMR) situation, in particular the status of implementation of measures to minimize and contain foodborne AMR. This was part of capacity building activities to manage the development and transmission of foodborne AMR through the adoption and implementation of relevant Codex standards. To learn more about this process and the expected impact, we talked to Jorge Pinto Ferreira, FAO [...]

As part of the “Action to support implementation of Codex AMR Texts (ACT)” project, FAO Pakistan organized a national workshop on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) on 24-26 October 2022 in Islamabad, Pakistan. More than 50 experts representing different sectors concerned with AMR human health, animal health, agriculture, poultry, dairy and pharmaceutical industry reviewed the key areas of the AMR National Action Plan (NAP).  “We assessed the progress of the implementation, as well as engaged food and agriculture stakeholders, and identified gaps and [...]

WHO roundtable discussion in Croatia Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is not only a human health threat, but also a food safety issue. Antimicrobial use in food animals – for treatment, disease prevention or, in some countries outside the European Union, growth promotion – allows resistant bacteria and resistance genes to emerge and spread from food animals to humans through the food chain. To address this issue, the World Health Organization (WHO) organized a roundtable discussion on 10 November 2022, in close collaboration [...]

The AMR Codex Texts (ACT) project now has national coordinators in Bolivia, Cambodia, Colombia and Nepal. Jorge Berrios (Bolivia), Ana Carrizosa (Colombia) and Sakar Shivakoti (Nepal) are veterinarians with extensive experience in health management and inter-institutional coordination. Pisey Oum (Cambodia) brings his knowledge in biosafety, biotechnology and food assessment from different UN organizations.  “We need to know more in-depth about the current situation of the use of antimicrobials in Bolivia. This will allow us to plan better the actions in reducing [...]