The FAO/WHO Coordinating Committee for Africa Food Standards (CCAFRICA) held its 21st Session in Yaoundé from January 27 to 30, 2015. Nearly 130 delegates representing thirty national Codex Alimentarius Committees in Africa, the Codex representatives from Europe, the United States and Asia, representatives of international organizations and consumer groups participated in the meeting. The Committee where 48 African countries are members is responsible for strengthening food safety through the smooth and effective use of Codex standards.

Under the High patronage of the President of the Republic of Cameroon, the meeting was opened in the name of the Prime Minister, Head of Government, by the Cameroonian Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development, Mr Emmanuel Bonde. He was surrounded by Madam WHO Representative, Dr. Charlotte Faty Ndiaye, acting on behalf of the WHO Regional Director for Africa; the Chairperson of the International Codex Alimentarius Commission Ms. Awilo Ochieng Pernet, the FAO Representative for Central Africa Mr Dan Rugabira and the CCAFRICA outgoing Coordinator, Mr. Charles Booto a Ngon.

In his opening speech, the Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development, Mr Emmanuel Bonde noted the timeliness of the theme for World Health Day 2015 "Food safety" on the impact of unsafe food on health, but also on the economy.

Hence, the need for increased consideration of food safety issues, and a high level of commitments to strengthen national food control systems and the application of best practices in prevention at the food processing chain.

On behalf of the WHO Regional Director for Africa, WHO Representative in Cameroon Dr Charlotte Faty Ndiaye,, reiterated the availability of the Organization to provide its technical and scientific contributions to promote and facilitate Codex activities in the region of Africa and the world in general, before recalling that the World Health Day 2015 highlights the importance of global food safety in a context marked by challenges such as risk arising from the presence of pathogens, additives, pesticides and veterinary drug residues in food. In this regard, the developed tool, the "Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point", sets the acceptable upper levels for thousands of food additives. Finally, she emphasized the role increasingly important of the Codex Alimentarius as a guarantor for standards and Food Safety.

After four days of CCAFRICA meeting, several positive results were obtained, among which, the adoption of its 2015-2019 Regional Strategic Plan, the adoption of 04 projects to be submitted to the Codex International Commission for the development of regional standards on certain foods commonly used in Africa, namely dried meat or "kilichi" cassava stick, shea butter and leaves of Gnetum also called "okok or eru" and the validation of proposals for the revitalization of the coordinating "Trust Funds FAO/WHO" and the nomination of Kenya as new coordinating country as from July 2015.

Cameroon, for its part, has pledged to speed up the process of developing the national policy and strategy for food security. During the workshop to gather inputs from other countries for improving food safety in Cameroon, Dr. Mohamed Sherrif from WHO/AFRO has advised African countries to rely on simple and effective strategies, like the "SFBBA: Safer Food Better Business for Africa" which has enabled more than 250,000 small and medium enterprises, the United Kingdom and elsewhere, to produce food that meet the criteria of the Codex International.

WHO team in this meeting also included Ms Catherine Mulholland, Coordinator of the "Trust Funds FAO/WHO" in Geneva, Dr. Mohamed Sherrif, Regional Adviser Food Safety, WHO/AFRO and Mr Etienne Kembou, Focal Point Nutrition and Food Safety, Cameroon office

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Contacts:

Dr Charlotte Faty Ndiaye, WR
E-mail: wcoafcm [at] who.int (wcoafcm[at]who[dot]int)
Dr Mohamed Sherrif, Regional Advisor Food Safety, WHO/AFRO
E-mail: sheriffm [at] who.int (sheriffm[at]who[dot]int)
Ms Catherine Mulholland, Coordinator FAO/WHO Codex Trust Funds, Geneva, 
E-mail: mulhollandc [at] who.int (mulhollandc[at]who[dot]int)
Mr Etienne Kembou, NPO/HIV-NUT
E-mail: kemboue [at] who.int (kemboue[at]who[dot]int)
Mme Barbara Etoa, NPO/HIP
E-Mail: etoankonob [at] who.int (etoankonob[at]who[dot]int)
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1. At Front Row, 6 members of the Government

2. Bilateral and multilateral partners in large numbers during the opening ceremony

3. Madam Representative of WHO World Health Organization is ready to provide technical and scientific contributions to promote and facilitate the work of Codex in the African Region.

4. The Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development (2nd from right), the WHO Representative (2nd from left), the Africa Director of FAO (standing) the Chairperson of the CODEX World

5. The Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development during his speech the government will ensure that the norms and standards of the Codex Alimentarius then binding on all in Cameroon.

6. The WHO team to work around Madam WHO Representative Ms Catherine Mulholland, Coordinator of the Trust Funds FAO  WHO in Geneva (in white), Dr Mohamed Sherrif, Regional Adviser Health Safety of food