Tom Heilandt, Codex Secretary, and Professor Yong Ho Park, Chairperson of the Codex Task Force on Antimicrobial Resistance, highlighted Codex food standards as panellists in two different sessions of the 2018 International Dairy Federation (IDF) World Dairy Summit in Daejeon, Korea, this week. “Food is more than just eating, but comfort,” Heilandt said in the keynote speech of the session on food safety. “We tend to take its safety for granted. Food is fragile. That’s why we need to work together to [...]

Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), expressed support for creating a World Food Safety Day on the margins of this year’s International Dairy Federation World Dairy Summit in Daejeon, Korea, where he gave the keynote address on 15 October. “The development of a World Food Safety Day in the UN is good idea,” he said, recalling that the process to establish UN observances is driven by Member States. In a meeting with Tom Heilandt, Codex Secretary, and Professor [...]

Earlier this year, the Codex Secretariat launched a series of workshops  in the six Codex regions that are having a direct impact on the operational capacity of countries to engage in the standard-setting process. More participants are now expressing national positions via the Online Commenting System (OCS) and the Digital platform for Electronic Working Groups. Linked to the workshops, the Codex Secretariat is currently holding a series of follow-up webinars  tailored to users’ requests and may include the use of the OCS and [...]

Policymakers, practitioners and researchers gathered at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva for non-tariff measures week 2018 - Shaping Sustainable Trade amid Protectionism, to discuss issues surrounding the impact of non-tariff measures (NTMs). NTMs are policy measures - other than ordinary customs tariffs - that can potentially have an economic effect on international trade in goods, changing quantities traded, or prices or both. Examples include Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures; Technical Barriers to Trade and Contingent Trade-protective [...]

Ahead of developing new international guidance for the control of histamine in fish and fishery products, the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene requested FAO and WHO to provide scientific information to consider whether salmonids, which have an extensive global market, should be included in this new guidance. The literature review developed by FAO and WHO on the risk of histamine development in fish of the Salmonidae family and the potential impact on human health, is now available online. Histamine is a naturally [...]

The FAO/WHO Codex Trust Fund has just issued “Top Tips for Smart Applications”. The three questions and seven “tips” help countries understand what to emphasize in their applications and what to avoid.  The Codex Trust Fund supports individual or group projects for a maximum period of three years. These projects are meant to address key weaknesses in national Codex structures and build the basis for effective and sustained engagement in the Codex process.  “It is important that applicant countries really identify a [...]

Staying abreast of the evolving regulatory landscape affecting the food trade can be a challenge. Yet it is vital for both public and private sector stakeholders to find out in a timely manner when changes are on their way. This is where ePing can help. ePing is of potential interest to Codex Members and Observers -government agencies, standardizing bodies, producers, exporters, importers, service providers, international organizations, research institutes and NGOs. World Trade Organization (WTO) member governments are required to notify other [...]

A workshop organised by the European Union "Better Training for Safer Food" initiative took place in September 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa, for the Codex members of the African Region. The aim of the workshop was to provide the necessary tools to be effective delegates in Codex. In line with the strong and positive message of Jean-Claude Juncker President of the European Commission, Barbara Moretti, of the EU Codex Team, said that this was also an excellent opportunity to reinforce cooperation and [...]

The FAO/WHO Joint Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR) is currently underway at the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment in Berlin, Germany. Dr Roland Solecki, Head of the Department of Pesticides Safety of the Federal Institute hosting the event, highlighted the importance of JMPR’s work in supporting the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (CCPR) with scientific advice. He also noted its valuable contribution to enhancing collaboration between national and international organizations to assess the risk of pesticide residues in foods. This is [...]

The two-day training workshop held in Delhi earlier this month focussed on enhancing the ability of 17 Asian countries to operate successfully in the Codex Alimentarius international standard-setting environment. Led by the Codex Alimentarius Secretariat, the sessions focussed on the electronic systems and tools including: the new Codex website; Online Commenting System (OCS); Digital platform for Electronic Working Groups (EWG) and other web-based tools, such as the platform to collect information on Member countries’ food safety control systems. 30 participants from [...]