Safer Food, Better Health: Making Food Safety Ambassadors

Jun 13, 2022, 13:28 PM by System

For World Food Safety Day, the Food Safety Ambassadors’ Network (FOSAN) organized the 8th Regional Food Science and Technology Summit at the Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology, the University of Ibadan. FOSAN coordinator, Professor Folake O. Henshaw was the event speaker.

The audience was made up of stakeholders in the food and agricultural industry, food scientists, food manufacturers and other stakeholders in the food chain. Henshaw gave some background to how World Food Safety Day was established by the United Nations. This the 4th anniversary of World Food Safety Day and, according to Henshaw, the impact of the campaigns on making food safer from farm to fork, is beginning to spread as more groups are coming on board to raise awareness by organizing different activities to mark the day.

This upbeat tempo needs to be sustained, she said. The call was to inspire more people to team up for food safety by becoming a food safety ambassador. The mission of the Food Safety Ambassadors Network is the dissemination of science-based food safety knowledge to stakeholders in order to achieve enhanced awareness and increased adoption of food safety practices from farm to fork.

Food safety education should be in formats and modes that are suited to targeted sectors of the food chain. The highlight of the session was the distribution of posters of WHO’s 5 Keys to Safer Foods, translated into Yoruba, one of the local languages in Nigeria. This will act as a tool to educate the informal food sector of the food chain and bridge the knowledge gap, thereby enhancing safer food handling practices.

At the heart of the Codex mandate are the core values of collaboration, inclusiveness, consensus building and transparency. Governmental and non-governmental, public and private organizations alike play a vital role in ensuring Codex texts are of the highest quality and based on sound science.

Codex would have little authority in the field of international standard setting if it did not welcome and acknowledge the valuable contributions made by observers. Expert technical bodies, industry and consumer associations contribute to the standard-setting process in a spirit of openness, collaboration and transparency.

Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can apply for observer status in Codex in order to attend and put forward their views at every stage of the standard-setting process.

Current Codex Alimentarius Commission

240
Codex Observers
60
IGOs
164
NGOs
16
UN

Safer Food, Better Health: Making Food Safety Ambassadors

Jun 13, 2022, 13:28 PM by System

For World Food Safety Day, the Food Safety Ambassadors’ Network (FOSAN) organized the 8th Regional Food Science and Technology Summit at the Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology, the University of Ibadan. FOSAN coordinator, Professor Folake O. Henshaw was the event speaker.

The audience was made up of stakeholders in the food and agricultural industry, food scientists, food manufacturers and other stakeholders in the food chain. Henshaw gave some background to how World Food Safety Day was established by the United Nations. This the 4th anniversary of World Food Safety Day and, according to Henshaw, the impact of the campaigns on making food safer from farm to fork, is beginning to spread as more groups are coming on board to raise awareness by organizing different activities to mark the day.

This upbeat tempo needs to be sustained, she said. The call was to inspire more people to team up for food safety by becoming a food safety ambassador. The mission of the Food Safety Ambassadors Network is the dissemination of science-based food safety knowledge to stakeholders in order to achieve enhanced awareness and increased adoption of food safety practices from farm to fork.

Food safety education should be in formats and modes that are suited to targeted sectors of the food chain. The highlight of the session was the distribution of posters of WHO’s 5 Keys to Safer Foods, translated into Yoruba, one of the local languages in Nigeria. This will act as a tool to educate the informal food sector of the food chain and bridge the knowledge gap, thereby enhancing safer food handling practices.

Codex and Observer

Food is a sensitive commodity, which has travelled
around the world since ancient times.
We might not always know where it comes from,
but we expect it to be available, safe and of good quality.