The CCAFRICA Region - Regional Coordinator Uganda
The ‘Coordinating Committee for Africa’ was established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission in 1972 with a mandate to “exercise general coordination in the preparation of standards relating to the region of Africa”. The committee held its first meeting at FAO in 1974, with 19 countries in attendance.
As the new regional coordinator begins their term, the Agreement of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which came into effect in May 2020, has reinforced the need for an efficient and effective system for managing sanitary and phytosanitary measures, in particular food safety, across the continent as its borders open for trade.
The regional coordinator is based in the Uganda National Bureau of Standards, a statutory body under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Co-operatives which oversees, as part of its mandate, the promotion and use of standards.
As regional coordinator, Uganda intends to engage closely with countries via surveys, webinars and workshops to identify needs and emerging issues, create awareness of priority food safety issues and of Codex standards. A pilot study will also explore the food safety situation in broader terms across the region. By strengthening engagement with regional bodies such as the African Union, the African Organisation for Standardisation and the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat, Uganda also aims to enhance advocacy work in the region.
CCAFRICA Coordinator
All information on Codex is public and free.
For regional enquiries contact:
CCAFRICA Secretariat
Uganda National Bureau of Standards Plot 2 - 12, Bypass Link, Industrial
& Business park, Kyaliwajala road,
P.O Box 6329 Kampala, Uganda
Tel: +256 (041) 7333250 / 0417333251 / 0417333252
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.unbs.go.ug
Codex team in Burkina Faso taking the lead on World Food Safety Day preparations
A team in Burkina Faso dedicated to organizing activities for World Food Safety Day, met in Ouagadougou on 7 May 2021 to set out a plan for the 7 June celebration and the key messages to disseminate nationally.
Some of the major food safety concerns in the country include the misuse of pesticides in agriculture on fruits, vegetables and cereals and the use of veterinary drugs. Sales of street food without adequate food safety checks are also on the rise, as are small informal food processing units which lack the appropriate official food safety checks.
“The message we need to get out in the run up to World Food Safety Day is of the importance of increased government action to protect the health of populations and tackle the incidence of fatalities from food poisoning,” said Cyrille Kambire, Codex Contact Point in the Ministry of Agriculture. “We urgently need to improve our food safety control system and improve knowledge of good practices in food production, processing and marketing.
The WFSD team is made up of government officials, food industry, consumer groups and non-governmental organizations.
Learn more
Follow all the events planned around the world on the official WFSD website.
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