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
In Burkina Faso, school children learn about safe and healthy food on World Food Safety Day
To mark World Food Safety Day this year, young people in Burkina Faso were taught about food hazards, good food hygiene and the “five keys to safer food,” which are promoted by the World Health Organization (WHO). Across the 12 districts of Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou, 16-to-20-year-olds were trained over a period of three days on “awareness sessions on food safety and the means to ensure daily healthy food.”
Between 8 and 10 June, pairs of experts, including food safety experts and food science and technology students, went into 12 different schools to share their knowledge, with the long-term aim of instilling in the younger generations an understanding about nutrition and the need for regular good hygiene practices. The objective is to establish nutritional “clubs” in which students will learn more about food safety and how and why to adopt a healthy and balanced diet.
The sessions were well received, and the youngsters suggested the initiative should be extended so other young people could benefit from it. Training was also given to the women and men food vendors that work in the vicinity of the schools, so they, too, should have an understanding of their responsibilities to the school students.
There was coverage of this initiative in the broadcast and print media.
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