Page 4 - The 13th Session Codex Committee on Contaminants in Foods (CCCF)

The legitimacy and rationale for action on this awareness and access to reliable information

front was laid down when UN member states — at the center of food safety.
adopted the Rome Declaration on Nutrition at
The Codex Alimentarius, the body created by
the second International Conference on
the UN’s FAO and the WHO, is the premier
Nutrition held at FAO headquarters in 2014,
venue for setting standards to address food-
and again last December, when the UN
safety risks.
General Assembly adopted a resolution on

global health and foreign policy, indicating the Protecting consumer health is a core mandate.
progress of food systems as a global health It can help set effective standards and labeling
criteria that can boost awareness of where the
issue.
real food-safety risks are.
The UN Resolution calls upon countries to
promote healthy diets and lifestyles through With so many changes underway in our global
action and policies, including the food systems, due to urbanization, economic

implementation of all nutrition-related growth, climate change, e-commerce and new

commitments. It is the first step of a long way technologies allowing rapid genetic screening,
forward in establishing international the time for bolder decisions is now.

regulation for healthy diets based on the fact *
that obesity is a public health issue and not
The writer is director-general of the Food and
merely a consequence of individual choices.
Agriculture Organization.
International trade is an important and

essential tool for the pledge to eradicate

hunger and all forms of malnutrition. Many
countries, depend heavily on food imports to
guarantee food is available for their people.

Unfortunately, ultra-processed food, thanks in
part to long shelf life, tends to fare better in

international trade than its fresher relatives.

Governments have to create conditions for

people to eat healthy food, and a broader set
of rules will be needed. They should not only

foster fair and efficient trading practices, but
consider nutrition and health — and consumer