40. The Committee was informed of the activities of the Codex Alimentarius Commission concerning risk analysis, in particular the adoption at its 22nd Session of: (1) Statements of Principle Relating to the Role of Food Safety Risk Assessment and the Definitions of Risk Analysis Terms Related to Food Safety for inclusion in Appendix and Definitions Section of the Procedural Manual respectively[12]; and (2) Action Plan for Codex-wide Development and Application of Risk Analysis Principles and Guidelines[13] in which the Commission had commended the recommendation[14] of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Risk Management and Food Safety that FAO and WHO should assist developing countries in their application of risk management in the food safety area.
41. The Representative of FAO reported on the FAO/WHO expert consultations on risk assessment and risk management. An FAO/WHO expert consultation on risk communication was planned to be held in Rome in February 1998. The information provided in the reports of these consultations was intended to be used by governments, industry, consumers and Codex. The Committee was further informed of the FAO efforts to provide guidance and technical assistance to the countries of Asia in implementing risk analysis techniques in national food control infrastructures. Workshop/Seminars had been carried out in Singapore, Thailand, China, Viet Nam, Cambodia, India and Malaysia. An FAO Technical Cooperation Project was currently being carried out with the Thai FDA to implement risk analysis techniques into their food control system. The Committee was also informed of the FAO/ILSI Seminar on Risk Analysis that was held immediately prior to the current Session and where approximately 100 participants from 16 countries attended. FAO, with the help of ILSI and some of its members, had provided assistance to some of the participants to attend the Seminar and most of these participants had then been able to stay on for the Session. The FAO/ILSI Seminar was, in fact, one of the first such seminars on the overall use of risk analysis techniques related to control of food safety to be held in the world.
42. The Delegation of Japan reported on the Expert Meeting on Dietary Intake Survey Method in Asian Regions[15] which had been held as a follow-up action to the recommendations of the previous Session of the Committee and where experts had been invited from several countries in the Region. At that Meeting, discussions had been made on current activities and knowledge in nation-wide dietary intake survey, measures for effective exposure evaluations, and future activities and cooperation. A questionnaire had been sent to about 30 countries in the Region for future analysis and utilization for exposure assessment. The Delegation stated that this activity would continue, possibly with more countries participating. The Delegation of Indonesia expressed their appreciation to Japan and reported on their national dietary intake survey. The Committee commended Japan for taking initiative in dietary intake survey and requested that the project be expanded to include more countries.
43. The Delegation of Thailand stated that having been aware of the importance of risk analysis, it had started implementing risk analysis principles and promoting their importance. The Delegation proposed the exchange of information, experiences and technical assistance in this area among Member countries.
44. The Delegation of the Philippines requested that FAO consider expanding the technical assistance for implementing risk analysis techniques on a regional basis. The Representative of FAO responded favourably to this request and would give consideration to expanding its work in this area within the Region.
45. The Representative of WHO informed of a CD-ROM publication “INCHEM” published by the International Programme on Chemical Safety, which contains a wide rage of documents, evaluations and data in the area of toxicology of chemicals.
46. The Committee appreciated the efforts of FAO and WHO, and ILSI, in this area and requested their continuing assistance.
