A meeting of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) was held on a virtual online platform on 7–18 June 2021. The purpose of the meeting was to evaluate the safety of certain food additives and flavourings. The present meeting was the 92nd in a series of similar meetings. The tasks before the Committee were (a) to further elaborate principles governing the evaluation of food additives, (b) to undertake safety evaluations of certain food additives, (c) to review and prepare specifications for certain food additives and (d) to establish specifications for certain flavouring agents.

With the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) has proven once again to be an efficient tool for outbreak investigations. The first sequence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was published on January 10, 2020.1 WGS was continuously used to investigate the virus’s genetic variants and their spread, to understand the impacts of mutations, and to monitor emerging lineages.2 The sequenced data and relevant information have been made available on open-source platforms, leading to scientific collaboration and accelerating research on the virus. A prominent example of such collaboration is the “Nextstrain” project3 with its online platform, which has enabled scientists to upload real-time data and facilitated further scientific analyses. While interpretations of the information on such...

The Microbiological Risk Assessment Guidance for Food (FAO/WHO, 2021) provides a structured framework for assessing the risk of microbiological hazards in food. It was developed for the global community of scientists and risk assessors, both experienced and inexperienced in risk assessment, and the risk managers or others responsible for risk decision-making and/or communication. This brochure is for anyone looking to learn more about microbiological risk assessment and the FAO/WHO Joint Scientific Advice Programme.

This document provides guidance on undertaking risk assessment of all microbial hazards which may adversely affect human health in foods along a food chain. This document is also intended to provide practical guidance on a structured framework for carrying out risk assessment of microbiological hazards in foods, focussing on the four components including hazard identification, hazard characterization, exposure assessment and risk characterization. These guidelines therefore represent the best practice at the time of their preparation, and it is hoped that they will help stimulate further developments and disseminate the current knowledge.

In Singapore during 2015, Group B Streptococcus (GBS) sequence type 283 (ST283) caused the only reported foodborne outbreak of invasive GBS disease. Over 20 percent of cases were healthy adults without comorbidities, which is unusual for GBS. The outbreak was linked to the consumption of raw freshwater fish. Subsequent investigations found that ST283 GBS has been common among GBS causing disease in humans and in tilapia across Southeast Asia for at least 20 years, whereas it was almost non-existent outside this region. Given the novelty of the outbreak, this risk profile consolidates the current knowledge to identify data gaps about GBS ST283 along the freshwater fish supply chain in Southeast Asia. Although GBS fish infection can present with few clinical signs of...

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations newly published a document entitled "Risk profile - Group B Streptococcus (GBS) Streptococcus agalactiae sequence type (ST) 283 in freshwater fish". The 70-page document illustrates all the currently available information of this newly emerging food safety problem. The present factsheet concisely summarizes the key scientific information and practical recommendations for food safety competent authorities as well as the QR code link to download the main document. The factsheet primarily targets government officials in both policy making and technical food safety areas, but it is also useful for the general public to understand the food safety issues related to the consumption of raw freshwater fish.

In 2019, FAO and WHO jointly developed a comprehensive tool to assist Member states in assessing the effectiveness of national food control systems.The main objective of the tool is to propose a harmonized, objective and consensual basis to analyse the performance of a national food control system. It is intended to be used by countries to identify priority areas of improvement and plan sequential and coordinated activities to reach expected outcomes.The Tool is based on Codex principles and Guidelines for National Food Control Systems, as well as other relevant Codex guidance for food control systems, and its scope is given by the dual objectives quoted in Codex guidance for these systems: protect health of consumers and ensure fair practices in the...

This volume of FAO JECFA Monographs contains specifications of identity and purity of steviol glycosides prepared at the 91st meeting of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), held virtually, 1 – 12 February 2021. The specifications monographs are one of the key outputs of JECFA’s risk assessment of food additives, and should be read in conjunction with the safety evaluation, reference to which is made in the section at the head of each specifications monograph. Further information on the meeting discussions can be found in the summary report of the meeting, and in the full report which will be published in the WHO Technical Report series. Toxicological monographs of the substances considered at the meeting will be...

The first in a series of three meetings of an ad hoc Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Risk Assessment of Food Allergens was held from 30 November to 11 December 2020, with an additional two days for the report finalization and adoption on 28 January and 8 February 2021. The main purpose of this first meeting was to validate and, if necessary, update the list of foods and ingredients listed in section 4.2.1.4 of the General Standard for the Labelling of Packaged Foods (GSLPF) based on risk assessment.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) can be described as the quintessential One Health issue: it involves humans, animals and the environment. It is also a multisectoral food safety problem whose effects transcend borders. With such an interlinked context, legislation that has an impact on AMR is crucial to combat the issue, and to establish linkages among the various sectors and activities. As AMR is a holistic problem, the connections between AMR and its implications in the different areas of law need to be considered.   This document presents in detail the connection between food safety legislation and AMR. It discusses how the maximum residue limits of pesticides and antimicrobials can directly impact AMR. While some aspects of this connection are already established enough to...