The 23rd session of the Coordinating Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean (CCLAC) has opened in a virtual session hosted by the Regional Coordinator, Ecuador.

Opening remarks were offered by guests Patricio Almeida, executive director of Ecuador’s Phyto and Zoosanitary Regulation and Control Agency (Agrocalidad), Gherda Barreto, FAO representative in Ecuador and Sonia Quezada, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) representative in Ecuador. Almeida highlighted the importance Ecuador attaches to its role as Regional Coordinator, listing the ways in which Codex is important to the countries of the region, to the international community and to consumers. Barreto thanked Ecuador as host, the agencies in attendance and those attending the meeting for their “commitment to food safety and quality in the region”.  “CCLAC is a platform that is crucial for promoting food safety in our region,” said Quezada “and CCLAC23 is a reflection of the work and collaboration of Member Countries to improve food safety and nutrition.”

Alvaro Esteban del Hierro Paredes, Deputy Minister for Productive Agricultural Development welcomed delegates and dignitaries and applauded the efforts made by delegates to attend the meeting “to address a vital agenda for the region and the world.” He reminded attendees of Ecuador’s leadership role in and scientific contribution to the development of maximum levels for cadmium in cocoa and encouraged CCLAC Members “to strengthen their analytical capacity, generate scientific information, and make it available to global databases.” He also invited CCLAC Member Countries “to create synergies in our work to strengthen national food safety systems.”

The opening session of the meeting heard from Professor Luis Ramos Guerrero University of the Americas (UDLA) UDLA, Quito-Ecuador, who gave a keynote speech on the subject of “Prevention and reduction of contamination in food.” While cadmium in cocoa is one example of a regionally important contaminant, the subject generally is an important one in the CCLAC region. In this context, Guerrero said: “Food production must remain under constant observation and implementation of actions to ensure the provision of healthy and safe food to consumers.” He proposed three axes “to achieve this challenging but indispensable objective.” These were: the prevention of food contamination; the reduction of contamination; and the coordination and synergy of food chain actors.

Contaminants are also the subject of the Codex “use and impact” case study carried out in Brazil this year, which will be discussed at CCLAC23 later this week. The case study examines how authorities in Brazil have used Codex texts to guide their successes in reducing fumonisins in maize.

Two side events are planned, one on food fraud management and one on the implementation of the Codex Trust Fund (CTF) in the region.

Read more

CCLAC23 webpage

Photo © FAO/Giuseppe Di Chiera