Assessing the risk of veterinary drug residues in food in Latin America

FAO, with the kind financial support of the Government of France, is currently convening a regional workshop on food safety risk assessment of residues of veterinary drugs in food in Santiago, Chile on 15 - 17 November 2022.  The workshop is the result of close collaboration between the FAO Food Systems and Food Safety Division and the FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean. 

This subject is of great importance for the region, as countries in this area are key producers and exporters of meat. In this regard, FAO’s Food Safety Officer, Vittorio Fattori, pointed out that “it is critical that participants gain practical knowledge of risk assessment of veterinary drugs residues to select compounds that are relevant for their production systems and that could be suitable for JECFA evaluation, eventually leading to Codex maximum residue levels (MRLs)”.

The workshop completes a series of nine training webinars, held virtually during the Covid-19 pandemic, over the last 18 months to help participants understand how residues of veterinary drugs are assessed by JECFA, how these assessments contribute to setting Codex MRLs and recognize the critical data required to be submitted for assessment by JECFA.

The final face-to-face workshop provides “hands-on” training on the JECFA evaluation process and allows the participants to share their experiences and work together on specific issues on veterinary drug risk assessment.

Read more about:

FAO’s work in Latin America and the Caribbean
Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA)