East African Community & Codex Trust Fund food safety workshop builds collaboration with food business operators
By Maryann Kindiki
Codex Contact Point, Kenya (pictured left)
The Codex Contact Point in Kenya in collaboration with the FAO Country Office held a national food safety workshop in Nairobi, Kenya on 20 July 2022 with the objective of building a solid collaboration between public and private sector towards achieving food safety at national level. The workshop was graced by the presence of FAO Country Representative for Kenya, Carla Mucavi (pictured second left).
The engagements at the workshop were through panel discussions comprising both the private and public sector. This mode was appropriate to encourage free discussions between the audience and the panellists. Conclusively the participants accepted the fact that “Food safety is everyone’s business” and expressed the willingness to entrench the culture of food safety at all levels of the food value chain.
Food Business Operators are responsible for ensuring compliance in their operations with food safety legislation and for the safety of the food they produce. Compliance with food safety legislation is verified by food safety authorities through inspections. Several occasions have however shown that non-compliance is common in food premises and is recurrent. The question we ask ourselves then is who is wholly responsible for this? The answer lies in our actions as food business operators, consumers, competent authorities, and our efforts as individuals not only to be in business but also produce safe food sustainably.
At the workshop presenters discussed food safety and considered how best to enhance collaboration towards a harmonized regulatory environment. They debated issues such as trade interventions and the need for “Growing the culture for Safer Food, Better Health”.
At the regional workshop to launch the East African Community Codex Trust Fund group project, held from 3 to 6 May 2022 in Nairobi, Kenya, individual countries developed a programme of activities at national level to be undertaken under the project. One of the Kenya’s proposed activities was to hold a national workshop on awareness of Codex and Food safety with the objective of increasing effective participation in Codex work.
Learn more
Photo credit © Kebs
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
East African Community & Codex Trust Fund food safety workshop builds collaboration with food business operators
By Maryann Kindiki
Codex Contact Point, Kenya (pictured left)
The Codex Contact Point in Kenya in collaboration with the FAO Country Office held a national food safety workshop in Nairobi, Kenya on 20 July 2022 with the objective of building a solid collaboration between public and private sector towards achieving food safety at national level. The workshop was graced by the presence of FAO Country Representative for Kenya, Carla Mucavi (pictured second left).
The engagements at the workshop were through panel discussions comprising both the private and public sector. This mode was appropriate to encourage free discussions between the audience and the panellists. Conclusively the participants accepted the fact that “Food safety is everyone’s business” and expressed the willingness to entrench the culture of food safety at all levels of the food value chain.
Food Business Operators are responsible for ensuring compliance in their operations with food safety legislation and for the safety of the food they produce. Compliance with food safety legislation is verified by food safety authorities through inspections. Several occasions have however shown that non-compliance is common in food premises and is recurrent. The question we ask ourselves then is who is wholly responsible for this? The answer lies in our actions as food business operators, consumers, competent authorities, and our efforts as individuals not only to be in business but also produce safe food sustainably.
At the workshop presenters discussed food safety and considered how best to enhance collaboration towards a harmonized regulatory environment. They debated issues such as trade interventions and the need for “Growing the culture for Safer Food, Better Health”.
At the regional workshop to launch the East African Community Codex Trust Fund group project, held from 3 to 6 May 2022 in Nairobi, Kenya, individual countries developed a programme of activities at national level to be undertaken under the project. One of the Kenya’s proposed activities was to hold a national workshop on awareness of Codex and Food safety with the objective of increasing effective participation in Codex work.
Learn more
Photo credit © Kebs
Codex and Observer
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.
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