WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/855 
20 June 2008 
 (08-2940) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2007 
 
Communication by the World Health Organization (WHO) –
 
Department of Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases1 
 
 
 The following communication, received on 19 June 2008, is being circulated at the request of the WHO
. 
 
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1. The Beijing Declaration on Food Safety  was adopted at the conclusion of the High-level 
International Forum on Food Safety that was held in  Beijing, 26 and 27 November 2007.  The forum 
brought together senior officials from more than 50 countries and international organizations to review the major issues related to food safety.  By adopting the  Beijing Declaration, the meeting 
participants demonstrated the high-level political  commitment of WHO Member States to resolving 
food safety problems through positive international co llaboration rather than inefficient bilateral 
measures.  The declaration urges all countries to develop comprehensiv e capacities to protect 
consumers from foodborne hazards from production to consumption, from routine to emergency, and 
from domestic to international. Among other reco mmendations, the declaration urges all countries to 
actively participate in the WHO/FAO Internationa l Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN) to 
share information on emerging food safety issues and e xperience about best practices.  Also important 
is rapid exchange of information on food safety incide nts and emergencies,  especially those that fall 
under the International Health Regulations.  IN FOSAN presently counts 165 Member States and 
continues to build linkages with other networks , such as the OIE/FAO/WHO Global Early Warning 
System for Major Animal Diseases (GLEWS).  In a ddition, the declaration urged countries to assess 
exposure of their populations to potentially toxic chemicals in their food supplies, especially by 
undertaking Total Diet Studies.  The forum was cosponsored by WHO in collaboration with the 
Chinese Ministry of Health (MOH) and State Admi nistration for Quality Supervision and Inspection 
and Quarantine. 
2. The Global Burden of Foodborne Disease  is a WHO initiative that began in 2006, but has 
now seen the first major endeavour involving a large nu mber of international and national partners.  In 
2007, the first formal meeting of the Foodborne  Disease Burden Epidemio logy Reference Group 
(FERG) took place in November in Geneva to exec ute the strategic recommendations of a previous 
consultation.  As a result, extensive work plans covering three major areas (enteric, parasitic and 
chemical causes) have now been agreed, together w ith a priority list for investigative work to be 
commissioned in both the short- and long-term.  The work to describe the burden covers all types of 
hazards from bacteria and virus to chemicals, as well as disease outcomes from acute to chronic, 
including long-term complications and mortality.  The burden assessment will attempt to attribute 
disease to individual commodities and food sources.  The results of this initiative will provide the 
scientific evidence for policy-makers at national and in ternational levels.  These may also be used as 
                                                     
 
1 See WHO Food Safety Web site at http://www.who.int/foodsafety/en/  G/SPS/GEN/855 
Page 2  
 
  the scientific basis for the setting of priorities and establishing food standards and guidelines, such as 
those in Codex Alimentarius.  A close collaboratio n with the 151-nation strong WHO Global Salm-
Surv Network will enable capacity building linki ng these epidemiological efforts to lab-based 
surveillance and prospective risk assessment.  Th is network includes more than 1,000 food safety 
experts from around the world.  It has also drawn on the GEMS/Food database in assessing exposure 
of populations to chemicals in the food supply.  All pe rsons with expertise in th is area are encouraged 
to participate in this ongoing activity.
2 
3. Powdered infant formula (PIF)  has been associated with seri ous illness and death in infants 
due to infections with Enterobacter sakazakii a nd other contaminants, in cluding Salmonella.  
Recognizing the need to address such hazards the WHA requested the development of guidelines in 
order to minimize the risk to infants in PIF.  These global guidelines have been finalized in 2007, 
based on specific scientific advice and risk assess ments from the WHO/FAO Joint Expert Meeting on 
Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA).  For th e first time ever, the scientific models underlying 
this work are now also available on the Web to be used for national or regional iterations enabling the 
objective comparison of the efficiency of different risk management options.3  Based on this work the 
FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission has also decided to revise the International Code of 
Hygienic Practice for Foods for Infants and Childre n, including guidelines for the preparation, use and 
handling of PIF.  The next step will be the roll-ou t and dissemination to all Member States of these 
practical guidelines. 
4. Antimicrobial use in food animal production  contributes to the emergence of antimicrobial 
resistance in bacteria causing human disease.  This problem touches the full food production chain 
from the farm to the table. International interd isciplinary cooperation is essential; therefore since 
1997, WHO, FAO and OIE have organized a number of consultations to address the issues related to 
antimicrobial use at the different steps of the food -chain, the emergence of resistant pathogens and the 
associated human public health problems.  Since 2004  additional work has been initiated in the Codex 
system.  This has resulted in two major new ac tivities coming to fruition in 2007:  a Codex Task 
Force on Antimicrobial Resistance held its first meeting in Seoul in October, and a WHO List of 
Critically Important Antimicrobials for Human Hea lth was finalized in Rome with input from OIE 
and FAO experts.  The work will now hopefully con tinue in the Codex Task Force with a view to 
selecting antimicrobial agent - human pathogen - animal species to be considered by risk managers as 
the priority combinations in terms of future co nsideration for control.  In this area, special 
consideration should be given to the following co mbinations: fluroquinolones -Salmonella - poultry, 
3rd and 4th generation cephalos porins - Salmonella – poultry, and macrolides - Campylobacter - 
poultry.  
5. Guidelines for the WHO-Coordinated Global Survey of Human Milk for POPs.4  I n  
2004, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) was ratified by 
governments to decrease environmental and human expos ure to twelve priority substances in this 
class (including dioxins, PCBs and DDT).  To est imate whether the Stockholm agreement is actually 
effective in reducing the release of these chemicals into the environment, provisions to monitor this 
effectiveness have been discussed between the partners (including UNEP and WHO) for some time.  
Based on previous experience and global investigati ons in this area, WHO has issued guidelines to 
assist in developing a national protocol, which is harm onized to the greatest extent with those of other 
countries5.  A number of countries have initiated their surveys in 2007 and about 20 more will be 
performed in a collaborative effort between Me mber States and UNEP, with WHO serving as the 
implementing agency.  The surveys are expected to be  repeated at 4-5 year intervals and will establish 
                                                      
2 http://www.who.int/foodsafety/foodborn e_disease/ferg_advisers/en/index.html  
3 http://www.who.int/foodsafety/ publications/micro/pif2007/en/  
4 http://www.who.int/foodsaf ety/chem/POPprotocol.pdf  
5 http://www.who.int/foodsaf ety/chem/POPprotocol.pdf   G/SPS/GEN/855 
 Page 3 
 
 
  a reliable and comparable monitoring metric to assess contamination of the environment by POPs 
with a direct human health angle.  Given that breastfeeding reduces child mortality and has health 
benefits that extend into adulthood, every effo rt has been made to protect, promote and support 
breastfeeding in the context of these studies. 
6. Guidelines for the Investigation and Control of Foodborne Disease Outbreaks .6  The 
investigation and control of foodborne disease outbreaks are multi-disciplinary tasks requiring skills 
in the areas of clinical medicine, epidemiology, laboratory medicine, food microbiology and chemistry, food safety and food control, and risk  communication and management.  Many outbreaks 
of foodborne disease are poorly investigated, if at all, because these skills are unavailable or because a 
field investigator is expected to master them all single-handedly without having been trained.  These 
guidelines have been written for public health practi tioners, food and health inspectors, district and 
national medical officers, laboratory personnel and ot hers who may undertake or participate in the 
investigation and control of foodborne disease outbreaks. 
7. While the book focuses on practical  aspects of outbreak investigation and control, it also 
provides generic guidance that can be adapted to in dividual countries and local requirements.  At the 
field level it will be valuable in initial epidemiol ogical, environmental and laboratory investigations, 
in implementation of appropriate control measures, and in alerting investigators to the need to seek 
assistance for more complex situations.  At nationa l and regional levels, the guidelines will assist 
decision-makers in identifying and coordinating resources and in crea ting an environment appropriate 
for the successful management of foodborne disease outbreaks.  
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 6 http://www.who.int/foodsaf ety/publications/foodborn e_disease/fdbmanual/en/