The Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU) will meet in Berlin, Germany on 26-30 November 2018. A new team has been appointed by the host government, Germany, and the session will be chaired by Anja Brönstrup (top left), who has a background in nutrition. Prior to joining the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture in 2016, Anja worked for national and international scientific authorities, including the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Hilke Thordsen is the [...]

The Second Committee of the United Nations General Assembly has adopted the resolution submitted by Costa Rica to declare June 7 World Food Safety Day (WFSD). For the Day to officially proclaimed the resolution must be passed by the United nations General Assembly, a which is expected to take place 20 December 2018. The former Chairperson of the Codex Alimentarius Commission Awilo Ochieng Pernet, Switzerland, put forward the original proposal for the declaration of a WFSD at the FERG Symposium in [...]

Today the work of the Codex Task Force on Antimicrobial Resistance (TFAMR) was presented at the Second OIE Global Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance and Prudent Use of Antimicrobial Agents in Animals, which is taking place in Marrakesh, Morocco on 29-31 October 2018. The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) is focusing on ‘putting standards into practice’ at this year’s meeting. Speaking in the session on Surveillance and Monitoring towards Effective Management of Antimicrobial Resistance, Sarah Cahill, Senior Food Standards Officer with [...]

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is holding a webinar called “Medicated feed - an overview of regulations in the major animal source food markets of the world” on Monday, 5 November 2018 at 13:30–15:00 (GMT +2). Medicated feed is produced and used globally under various different regulatory frameworks. The seminar will be opened by Juan Lubroth, FAO Chief Veterinary Officer, and will feature a presentation by George Tice of Health for Animals, a Codex Observer and global federation representing manufacturers [...]

This week Brisbane, Australia, is playing host to the 24th session of the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS), discussing the latest technical aspects of international guidance to protect consumers and ensure fair practices in the international food trade. The meeting got under way on Monday with an aboriginal smoke-signal ceremony, a traditional Queensland custom granting permission to travelers seeking to cross its boundaries—a reminder that people have sought reciprocal understandings to protect their [...]

Ahead of the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS) meeting that opens next week in Brisbane, Australia, new Chair Fran Freeman spoke to Codex. Q. Many in the Codex world may not know you as you lead the upcoming CCFICS session for the first time. Can you tell us something about you? Having spent most of my career working on domestic and international issues affecting Australian agriculture, I am acutely aware how important it is for international [...]

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), is holding a webinar on “Food Safety in a Nuclear or Radiological Emergency” on 23 October 2018 at 11:00-14:30 UTC. The web-based discussion aims to help national experts be prepared in case of an emergency involving a significant release of radioactive material into the environment that makes water, local produce, milk from grazing animals and other foods unsafe for consumption. The IAEA safety standards call for [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]