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
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.
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Photo credit © Kebs
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