The Government of Suriname is planning to run a food safety awareness campaign, calling upon decision makers, the private sector, civil society, and consumers to take action to keep food safe. The campaign will highlight the benefits of strengthening its food control system, in particular areas related to coverage of oversight and coordination. This initiative links up to the ongoing EU-funded FAO project called Suriname Agriculture Market Access Project. The campaign will start on 1 June and end on 7 June 2020, which is World Food [...]

For World Food Safety Day 2020, the Aftropic Cocoa Processing Company will highlight the importance of food safety among staff with a series of initiatives. The facility, based in Accra, Ghana, will: Launch 10 golden rules on food safety; Feature a pep talk at the beginning of every shift of workers (12 max), who will observe social distancing and wear masks; Post the WHO/FAO World Food Safety Day posters on the facility to create more awareness; and Share chocolate with every worker at lunch.     [...]

For the celebration of this second World Food Safety Day, FAO and WHO have decided to raise awareness about the importance of the provision of safe food in markets through the International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN). In this context, the INFOSAN Secretariat organized in May three webinars (English, French and Spanish) for the members of the network to present the topic detailing what everyone can do to improve food safety in markets. The webinars were attended by 245 INFOSAN members and [...]

China National Centre for Food Safety Risk Assessment (CFSA) will celebrate the second World Food Safety Day (WFSD) in various publicity campaigns on 7 June 2020. The major initiatives planned for the Day include online interactive games, popular science animation videos, popular science lecture videos, popular science picture books and flyers that depict a food safety topic or issue. These initiatives will focus on raising awareness towards food safety among consumers and implementing "food safety, everybody’s business" as the theme of [...]

The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) is in full gear, promoting this year's World Food Safety Day campaign among its community as a key moment to raise awareness and urge action. GFSI’s own plans to observe World Food Safety Day: 5 days, 5 videos, 5 calls to action!  In the week leading up to 7 June, GFSI will post a brief video every day, each addressing one of  the 5  calls to action. They invite your engagement throughout the campaign for World Food Safety Day [...]

Prepared by the Chairperson of Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS) in cooperation with Australia, Canada, the European Union, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States of America. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to threaten food security due to its impact on global food supply chains. Whilst the pandemic does not create new problems, it can exacerbate existing challenges as a result of changes to food supply. The importance of the global food trade and [...]

The Chairperson of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, Guilherme da Costa, Brazil, has written to FAO suggesting the cancellation of the 43rd Codex Alimentarius Commission session planned for July 2020 in Rome and to explore the opportunity to hold an online Executive Committee session to ensure that standard setting work can continue. In the communication, Da Costa expresses his concern that expert delegations will not be able to gather in Rome for the Commission not only due to global travel restrictions currently [...]

Anyone in the region under 30 years old can enter the contest called ‘Be young, be food-safe, be heard’. The FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific is calling for submissions of photos or posters that depict a food safety topic or issue that occurs at any point in the food supply chain. Video entries should address a food safety issue that participants face in their daily lives, revealing the habits, practices, behaviours or norms that cause the issue [...]

Members of the Codex Executive Committee met up via online video conferencing technology for an informal meeting on 2 April 2020. Discussions revolved around the subsidiary body meetings that have either been cancelled or postponed and how to maintain the momentum of standards development work that is already underway. The Chairperson of the Codex Alimentarius Commission Guilherme da Costa, Brazil, said: “This is a completely unexpected situation for us when we take a look at our field of work. Producers, transporters, [...]

In times of self-isolation and quarantine we all rely more than ever on a safe and efficient food supply chain to ensure that food is readily available in every home.  As food shopping in stores and markets becomes more difficult for consumers because of the measures to reduce contact and avoid the person-to-person spread of coronavirus, governments are doing all they can to keep food available on the shelves. To ensure this, the food itself and the people working hard to [...]