NUTRITION

Food safety. The Codex Alimentarius Commission of the United Nations met from July 8-12 in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss and approve the Commission’s strategic plan for the period 2020-2025. The document contains guidelines that will steer the Commission’s work in the coming years. Plans to implement these guidelines will be discussed at Codex Alimentarius’ regional committees between September and November 2019. In the case of Latin America, this will be between October 21 and 25, 2019 in Santiago, Chile.

With the aim of combating food poisoning, the commission set as a priority the development of measures to reduce the presence of Escherichia coli bacteria in beef, vegetables and milk. The subject will be studied in depth by the Food Hygiene Commission of the Codex Alimentarius.

Another issue set to be focused on in coming years is improving the labelling of foods whose consumption may cause allergies or hypersensitivity. In terms of this, the Commission aims to give to provide the food industry with more detail on how to present allergens on labels to ensure consumer protection and promote the harmonisation of the labelling of these ingredients.

Next steps:

The strategic plan adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission outlines the body’s objectives for the period 2020-2025. Among its priorities will be the fight against food poisoning and improvements in the labelling of foods with allergens. The Latin American regional committee will analyze the Codex plan between October 21 and 25, 2019 in Santiago, Chile.