12. The Committee had before it document CX/EURO 98/3, presenting the activities of FAO and WHO in the area of food safety and food control within the last two years.
A) JOINT FAO/WHO ACTIVITIES
13. The Secretariat informed the Committee of a number of Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultations that had taken place since 1996, the recommendations of which had been used in the discussion of essential Codex issues, especially risk assessment, risk management and biotechnology.
14. The Committee expressed its appreciation for the work of FAO and WHO in organizing expert consultations on various important issues whose recommendations could be used by Codex committees. However, it recalled that more transparency should be given to the ways such expert consultations were established and conducted, as it was fundamental to create confidence in the work of these expert meetings. The Delegation of Spain expressed the view that geographical representation should be better taken into account in the selection of experts. The Delegation also expressed its concern that the recommendations could be directly incorporated into Codex documents although they were of an advisory nature and were not part of the standard-setting process, with specific reference to the discussion of the recommendations of the Expert Consultation on Risk Management at the Commission. The Committee however noted as an example that the recommendations arising from the Consultations on risk assessment and risk management had been discussed extensively in concerned Codex Committees and that this process was ongoing.
15. The Representatives of FAO and WHO recalled that the working procedures of expert consultations were governed by the General Rules of FAO and WHO, experts were selected on the basis of their competence but did not represent their government, and geographical distribution was carefully taken into account as a major concern of the parent organizations was to ensure adequate representation of developing countries.
B) FAO ACTIVITIES
1) World Food Summit
16. The Committee was informed of the outcome and follow-up activities of the World Food Summit which was held in Rome in November 1996 with the objective of renewing the commitment of world leaders at the highest level to the eradication of hunger and malnutrition and the achievement of food security for all.
2) Expert Consultations
17. The Committee was also informed of a number of Expert Consultations held in the course of the last year, including a FAO Expert Consultation on Animal Feeding and Food Safety (Rome, March 1997), which had made a proposal for a Code of Practice for Good Animal Feeding, currently under consideration by concerned Codex Committees, and a Joint FAO/IAEA Expert Consultation on Validation of Analytical Methods for Food Control (Vienna, December 1997).
18. The Committee noted that a series of Training of Trainers Course - Quality and Safety based on GMPs and HACCP System was being developed by the Food Quality and Standards Service, Food and Nutrition Division of FAO, aimed at promoting a common approach to the application of HACCP based on the Codex Guidelines. Following pilot training courses in other regions, and in response to requests from Central and Eastern Europe countries, two TOT Courses for 8 countries in the sub-region would be held in May 1998.
3) Regional FAO Activities
19. The Committee was informed of FAO activities in Central and Eastern Europe as related to food control and risk assessment, and of specific action intended to promote and facilitate Codex work in the region: FAO Meeting on the Work of Codex in Central and Eastern Europe, held in Budapest, Hungary, in March 1997; a National Workshop on Codex Work held in Skopje, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, in April 1997. A Regional Workshop on the Establishment and Administration of Codex Contact Points and National Codex Committees was currently being organized for the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Community of Independent States and was to be held in Vilnius, Lithuania, at the end of June 1998.
20. The Committee also noted that FAO Technical Cooperation Programmes (TCP) had been carried out to assist countries of Central and Eastern Europe in modernizing and updating their food control systems in Bulgaria, Czech and Slovak Republics, Slovenia, Hungary, Poland and the three Baltic countries, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
21. With regard to the Technical Cooperation Programmes, the Delegations of Norway and Sweden pointed out the close cooperation existing between Nordic countries in the area of food control and safety, and the cooperation of the Nordic Council with neighbouring countries such as the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), the Western areas of Russia, etc. The Delegations also expressed the willingness of the Nordic countries to continue their close cooperation with FAO in the organization of activities leading to the strengthening of the food control system in these countries. In this respect, the Committee noted that technical cooperation work had already been carried out jointly between the Nordic Council and FAO and agreed that it would be useful to pursue such cooperation in the future.
C) WHO ACTIVITIES
22. The Representative of WHO highlighted some of the major WHO activities described in document CX/EURO 98/3. He presented a note-verbale of the Director-General of the WHO on cholera and international food trade. The note-verbale stated that the placing of embargoes on the importation of food from cholera affected countries was not the appropriate course of action to prevent the risk of potential contamination. He also introduced a recent WHO publication entitled: “Food Safety and Globalization of Trade in Food” which explains the implications of the WTO Agreements to the public health sector.
23. Regarding the activities of the WHO Regional Office for Europe, the Representative of the WHO reported that the WHO EURO Programme on Food Safety had not been operating for about 3 years, but it would commence its activities from June 1998 with the appointment of a new Food Safety Scientist. The major work of the Programme would be the consideration of existing surveillance systems including review of reporting methodology. Emphasis would be given to the microbiological contamination of food including risk analysis. Special attention would be paid to Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathies (BSE) and related human diseases.
