The CCEURO Region - Regional Coordinator Germany
In 1964, at its second session, the Codex Alimentarius Commission established the Coordinating Committee for Europe to succeed the 'European Council of the Codex Alimentarius' and to replace the 'Advisory Group for Europe' set up at its first session in 1963.
The first meeting of the Coordinating Committee for Europe took place in July 1965 in Berne, Switzerland and was attended by 16 countries from the region.
The current coordinator, Germany, is based in the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL).
Germany’s main priorities as coordinator are to:
- reduce barriers to active participation of Members of the region in Codex work;
- increase the awareness of the role of Codex and food safety in general in the transition towards sustainable food systems; and
- promote the use of Codex standards in priority areas such as antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
In addressing these priorities, the coordinator will use synergies from international and regional level activities of the Codex Secretariat, FAO and WHO as well as Codex Observers.
CCEURO Coordinator
All information on Codex is public and free
For regional enquiries contact:
CCEURO Secretariat
German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture
Wilhelmstrasse 54, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Tel :+49 30 18 529 4065
Email: [email protected]
Efforts to reduce veterinary drug residues in food in East Europe and Central Asia
On 10 August 2020, the WHO Regional Office for Europe in collaboration with the Eurasian Economic Commission organized a webinar on veterinary drug residues in food of animal origin – a public health issue. Dr Igor Gaevskii, Director of the Department for Sanitary, Phytosanitary and Veterinary Measures, Eurasian Economic Commission opened the webinar. He stressed that veterinary drug residues in food is an issue of concern and that the webinar provided an opportunity to share experiences between countries in East Europe and Central Asia and members of the European Union.
“There are several health risks associated with residues of veterinary drugs in food”, said Peter Sousa Hoejskov, WHO Regional Office for Europe outlining the different policy options countries may want to consider.
“The Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods (CCRVDF) recommends maximum residue limits (MRL) of veterinary drugs and risk management options for countries to consider”, said Gracia Brisco, Codex Secretariat, emphasizing that MRLs adopted by Codex fulfil the requirements of the WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement).
The implementation of MRLs for veterinary drugs in food requires effective control mechanisms and monitoring. Bjorn Berendsen, Wageningen Food Safety Research highlighted several options for screening and confirmatory analyses for antibiotics in food. “The approach for monitoring needs to be risk-based and tailored to specific country contexts”, he said.
Helene Rugbjerg, Danish Veterinary and Food Administration said that “Denmark follows EU requirements for the control on the use of veterinary drugs”. This includes monitoring of the use of veterinary drugs, farm inspections and monitoring of residues in raw material. “Joint legislation and consistent monitoring across EU member states helps to identify issues and make recommendations for improvements”, she said.
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