Food Standards officers are recruited globally and come from a  variety of technical backgrounds. This month we introduce you to one of Codex's more recent acquisitions.

What’s your name?

Zhang Lingping

Where are you from?

China

When did you join Codex?

October 2014

What do you do in your job?

As an officer in the Codex Secretariat, assisting the development of Codex standards is my main task. Specifically, my job is related to: • Preparing documents for Codex meetings • Attending Codex meetings and providing Secretariat services • Taking follow-up action as requested by Codex meetings • Communicating with stakeholders in terms of Codex standards and the procedure for the development of standards.

Why did you choose this type of work?

I like eating and have interests to know both the good things and the bad things about food. It thought it would be amazing if I could have the opportunity to be involved in the "rule making" process, by which we determine what kind of food is qualified and what is not qualified. That is the reason why I am working here.

What did you do before Codex?

My work experience is quite straightforward. After graduation, I joined the government and worked in public health administration, including food safety standard setting. In fact, I did a similar job in Beijing and Hong Kong. During that period, both in China and in Hong Kong, Codex standards were an irreplaceable reference for us. And I had to surf the Codex website almost every day and read the meeting reports to follow the discussions and the debates conducted in the meetings.

What do you do in a typical day?

I divide my work into two phases, one is at office, which is a little bit busy; the other is at Codex meetings, which is CRAZY busy. Let me first come to the working day at office. Every food standards officer needs to serve several sub-committees, in addition to the Commission. For each Codex meeting, there are so many documents that need to be prepared and after meetings, a lot of follow-up actions need to be taken. Compared with my colleagues, as a new member, my workload is not as heavy as theirs but I do feel I am indeed fully occupied. I am still learning to find a more efficient way to handle my daily work. Every day, before leaving the office, I write down what I need to complete for the next day.

As an international organization, due to the global time differences, every day in the morning, I have new email to deal with. So in the morning, I quickly go through these emails, then reply to those that require an immediate response, meanwhile, I flag those emails which I could reply to at a later time. After that, I come to my scheduled work while keeping my eye open for the incoming emails. My daily work is, usually, to draft documents for the Codex meetings, to provide comments on the documents prepared by leading countries, to prepare circular letters and kick-off messages, to refine the meeting reports and analyse the evaluation for the meetings. It is quite all-consuming.

Now let me come to the schedule during Codex meeting. Before the beginning of the meetings, after studying the documents, we usually brief the chairperson, summarize the key issues for each agenda item and discuss the possible options. Currently, I am not the first officer for any committees, so my main responsibilities are taking notes and providing assistance to the first officer when they need it. My colleague, as first officer, needs to respond to all the questions that come from delegates. Every night, we need to draft the relevant sections of the meeting report. In order to keep our report as precise as it could be, we draft, review and review. So it is quite often we have to work until midnight. That is "crazy busy".

What have been the highlights of your career so far?

Let me tell you a little story. The first Codex meeting I attended was a physical working group meeting on processed cheese. Originally, since it is a physical working group meeting, the purpose for my attendance was just to understand the key issues regarding the draft standard and learn how to make interventions as the Codex Secretariat. However, suddenly, we heard that the secretariat of the host country could not attend the meeting and I was requested to serve as a secretariat for that meeting! Although I had already read the discussion paper before, I was still scared! Especially as I was totally unfamiliar with those terms for different kinds of cheese and did not know any ingredients about that product, I was concerned about how I would be able to draft the report precisely reflecting the discussion. During that meeting, I was designated to work on revising the draft standard, which was projected onto the screen to facilitate the plenary discussion. And the worse thing was that the keyboard of the computer for projection was in French! Luckily, the chairperson and all the delegates were very nice and patient. And thankfully my colleague from the Codex Secretariat helped me a lot. On the last day, when the meeting report was adopted, I was very happy because I did it!

What are the major challenges in Codex?

Harmonization. Codex standards are set based on scientific evidence but they also need to consider other factors. Different countries have different dietary styles and food import and trade needs, so it can become difficult to harmonize and set the commonly recognized international standards.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to be a Food Standards Officer?

If you want your work to be challenging and stimulating, if you want to keep learning and being exposed to different food safety issues, if you want to improve your communication skills and make more friends with different cultural backgrounds, then applying to become a food standards officer might be the ideal profession for you! Zhang Lingping Food Standards Officer Codex Secretariat