Poland has been actively involved in the work of the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) since its very beginning. In 1963 and 1964, the Vice-Chairperson of the first two CAC sessions was Zenon Zaczkiewicz, the then-Deputy Director of the Polish Committee for Standardization. Professor Stanislaw Krauze, co-founder of the European Council of the Codex Alimentarius, also participated in the meetings of the first CAC sessions in the period 1962–1965. It should not be omitted that from 2009 to 2013, i.e. for two terms, Poland took the reins of the FAO/WHO Coordinating Committee for Europe (CCEURO), as Regional Coordinator. During this busy period for Codex, Poland was responsible for coordinating the positions of more than 50 countries in the region. The 26th and the 27th sessions of CCEURO, with accompanying Codex seminars, were held in Warsaw. Poland as the Regional Coordinator for Europe organized the 28thCCEURO session and thematic workshops for countries in transition, in close collaboration with Georgia. That meeting was held in Batumi, Georgia.

Thus, 60 years of the Codex Alimentarius Commission is also 60 years of Poland's presence in this largest intergovernmental organization dealing with the issue of food and fair practices in the international food trade.

On this occasion and wishing to celebrate this round anniversary, Poland has launched #Codex@60 posts for the 60th anniversary series. The initiator and executor of this project was the Codex Contact Point for Poland, which is located in the Agricultural and Food Quality Inspection department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland. For almost a whole year, Polish members of the worldwide Codex Family have been sharing interesting facts and information about the pre-eminent global food standard setting organization, posting on Facebook on average twice a week. These posts have included basic information on the history, organization and work procedures of Codex, and they have also concentrated on particularly important standards, emerging issues related to food and trade, as well as the latest work of the subsidiary committees of the Commission. We can proudly say that our collection of posts is a true treasure chamber of knowledge and trivia about Codex on its 60th birthday!

The Polish Codex Contact Point also asked public viewers what information they would like to read about Codex, wanting to involve readers in the process of creating the series. Moreover, Poland has informed and encouraged people to read the #Codex@60 series in many events, which members of Codex Contact Point for Poland participated in - such as World Food Safety Day and World Food Day. Both of these occasions were also an excellent opportunity to remind people of CAC’s important role in ensuring food safety and quality and fairness in the international food trade. Every opportunity was a good one!

In anticipation of the festive celebration of 60 years of CAC at the end of the year in Rome, the last three posts #Codex@60 remain to be published to reach exactly 60. Soon, there will be a great summary of this series joined with other global events related to the Codex anniversary celebrations at the FAO headquarters.

We invite you to visit Facebook page of Agricultural and Food Quality Inspection and see it for yourself.

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Codex@60

Photo ©Agricultural and Food Quality Inspection, International Cooperation Department of Poland