Tag: WHO

Experts recommend precautionary allergen labelling only under inadvertent circumstances

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GLOBAL – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) experts committee has affirmed that precautionary allergen labelling (PAL) on pre-packaged foods should only be reserved for those situations where inadvertent allergen presence (UAP) cannot be avoided and should not make up for poor allergen management practices or production errors during food manufacturing. This was the final session of a three-part consultation on risk assessment of food allergens to help guide the future work of the Codex Alimentarius Commission. The objective of this…

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WHO launches online forum for global food safety professionals

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GLOBAL – The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced the launch of a new peer-to-peer online forum for global professionals working on and sharing interest in food safety issues known as the Food Safety Community of Practice (COP). who seek to deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area, exchange information and discuss ideas by interacting on an ongoing basis. The COP’s goal is to expand learning potential, share diverse experiences and knowledge, encourage an understanding of new perspectives and stimulate individual and collective learning. This functional and active community…

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FAO/WHO Committee put out threshold levels for food allergens

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GLOBAL – The Food and Agriculture Organization has published the threshold levels in foods of the priority allergens arrived at in the second in a series of three meetings of an ad hoc Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Risk Assessment of Food Allergen. The meeting was held from 15 March to 2 April 2021. An Expert Committee, comprising scientists, regulators, physicians, clinicians and risk managers from academia, government and the food industry were selected to participate in the second meeting of the FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Risk assessment of Food…

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FAO/WHO publishes review of Vibrio risk assessment tools

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GLOBAL – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) have published a review of risk assessment tools for Vibrio in 2020 that covers an expert meeting  held at the Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) in the United Kingdom, in order to provide an update on the state-of-the-art advice regarding risk assessment for Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Vibrio vulnificus in seafood. The discussions on Vibrio in seafood have revealed a number of developments in recent years. Contributors included Erin Stokes, of…

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Codex Trust Fund, CCAFRICA train on use of FAO/WHO Diagnostic Tool

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AFRICA – The Codex Trust Fund (CTF) Secretariat in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)/World Health Organization (WHO) Coordinating Committee for Africa (CCAFRICA) and the FAO and WHO Regional Offices for Africa conducted a virtual training with a focus on the use of the FAO/WHO Diagnostic Tool for assessing status of National Codex Programmes. CCAFRICA 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 tool is key to determining…

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Food safety indicators to be introduced in Sustainable Development Goals

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WORLD – The World Health Organization (WHO) has discussed plans to include food safety indicators in the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to track global and national progress and to reduce the health burden from unsafe food. Food safety Indicators are principles and guidelines for monitoring the performance of national food control systems. They could be introduced during the 2025 SDG review due to the links food safety has with SDGs on zero hunger, good health and wellbeing, and economic growth. Francesco Branca, director of the Department of Nutrition and…

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WHO launches new handbook to help countries enhance effectiveness of their food safety systems

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SWITZERLAND – As the world celebrates the World Food Safety Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) developed a new handbook to help countries address food safety challenges in their respective jurisdictions. According to a statement from the WHO, the new handbook will provide a guideline on how countries can measure their foodborne disease burden. Additionally, the handbooks provide countries with information on how they can identify food safety system needs and data gaps so they can strengthen national infrastructure and better protect people’s health. “Food should sustain and support human…

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