The Executive Committee of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CCEXEC) brings together strategists and technical experts from Codex Member Countries who are meeting this week at World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Kazuaki Miyagishima, Director of the Department of Food Safety and Zoonoses in WHO, speaking on behalf of Naoko Yamamoto, Assistant Director-General, Head of the newly created Universal Health Coverage/Healthier Populations Division, welcoming delegates, said “Codex standards and guidelines have critical roles to play in ensuring people have healthy [...]

The first ever World Food Safety Day was celebrated on Friday, 7 June 2019, a partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization. With two major initiatives planned for the day, the team of Renata Clarke, FAO Sub-regional Coordinator along with Karen Polson-Edwards Advisor, Climate Change and Environmental Determinants of Health - PAHO/WHO Office for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean started early with a 7:30AM journey to the Starcom Network studios for two [...]

On the first ever World Food Safety Day, the FAO Liaison Office with the European Union and Belgium (FAOLOB) partnered with the local non-profit, Cultureghem. The European Regional Development Fund co-financed project is located in the area of Kuregem in Anderlecht, Brussels, next to the 40 000 square meter central marketplace of Abattoir which attracts over 100 000 visitors every week. The market is one of the biggest in Belgium. Each week, Cultureghem organizes different workshops such as cooking meals [...]

Following the International Forum on Food Safety and Trade, held at the WTO, in Geneva, Switzerland, on 23-24 April 2019, with the support of FAO and WHO, a joint statement from the three organizations has highlighted the valuable work of the Codex Alimentarius. As global trade in food products expands and value chains become more complex, the development of international food safety standards for application at domestic levels and in international trade has become more important than ever before.  Consumers have [...]

Friday 7 June 2019 saw countries all over the world come out in support of safe food. From the islands of the South West Pacific to the heart of Europe, from all over Asia to North and South America and all countries in between, governments, producers, food processors and consumers underlined that food safety is everyone’s business. Prime Minister Modi, India offered his support and described the day “of prime importance for … well-being and health”, especially of women and children [...]

Representatives of government, food safety experts, industry and UN specialized agencies gathered in Rome on 7 June 2019 to ramp up efforts to combat foodborne illness and reaffirm that food safety “is everyone’s business” on the inaugural World Food Safety Day. Carlos Mora Gómez, Vice-Minister of Economy, Industry and Commerce, Costa Rica Carlos Mora Gómez, the Vice-Minister of Economy Industry and Commerce from Costa Rica underlined how national governments, as decision-makers and policy-makers, have the challenge of guaranteeing access to safe [...]

7 June 2019 is the first World Food Safety Day and later today at the United Nations in New York Codex Chairperson Guilherme da Costa will reinforce how Codex standards are a blueprint for safe food, highlighting how the international standard setting body - the Codex Alimentarius Commission - contributes to food safety and builds engagement in food safety, to protect consumer health and facilitate trade. The inaugural World Food Safety Day will call on all those who produce, supply, process, [...]

The Chilean Codex Alimentarius Secretariat, ACHIPIA, organized a seminar on 5 June 2019 entitled “Codex Alimentarius: Strengthening food safety in trade”. The aim was to attract and increase the participation of different sectors of the food industry in the national sub-committees. Speakers from the food industry association explained to participants how Codex standards and their application in production processes, help them in complying with national and international regulations on food safety and facilitating food trade, using concrete examples in which [...]

As Europe goes to bed and the Americas think about finishing work for the day, in Samoa it is already the first #WorldFoodSafetyDay. As part of this celebration, FAO is highlighting its work in Samoa with partners in promoting food safety. This week, FAO and the Samoa Ministry of Commerce Industry and Labour are launching a Technical Cooperation Programme project. The objective of the project is to address the technical capacity challenges facing the Samoa National Codex Committee and relevant stakeholders. The [...]

The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) has recently launched a new project, the OIE Observatory, to strengthen the implementation of OIE International Standards by Member Countries. The OIE Observatory is an ambitious project still at the concept level and with a multi-phased approach. OIE is currently collaborating with The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to develop the design of the Observatory. The project has a Reference Group, in which the Codex Secretariat participates. At the OIE 87th [...]