WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/GEN/29 
22 December 2005 
 
 (05-6243) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
 
  
REPORT PROVIDED BY THE FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION AND THE 
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION AT THE TBT COMMITTEE MEETING OF 
2 NOVEMBER 2005 
 
Agenda item 7: Updating by Observers
 
 
 
 The following report, dated 2 November 2005, is being circulated at the request of the 
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)  and the World Health Organization (WHO) . 
 
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I. INFORMATION ON CAPACITY BUILDING IN FOOD SAFETY AND QUALITY 
 
1. In the past year, a number of initiatives have been taken or continued by FAO and WHO, in 
collaboration with relevant partner organizations a nd institutions, to (1) further enhance the respective 
roles of the agriculture and health sectors in ensuring  the quality and safety of the food supply;  (2) to 
strengthen FAO and WHO's role as neutral fora fo r negotiation and for exch ange of information and 
experiences in the field of food safety and quality; (3) to further strengthen cooperation and 
collaboration between the two organizations and with other partners in the field of food safety and 
quality; and (4) to upgrade the capacity of developing member countries in food safety and food quality assurance and support their effe ctive participation in Codex work.  
2. Information on FAO and WHO's main capacity building activities in food safety and quality 
at the international level is provided below, with  more detailed information on all the FAO and WHO 
activities related to capacity building availabl e as an information document (CAC/28 INF.5). 
II. FAO'S STRATEGY FOR A SAFE AND NUTRITIOUS FOOD SUPPLY  
3. At its 19
th Session (April 2005), FAO's Committee on Agriculture (COAG) considered a 
document prepared by the Secretariat (www.fao.o rg/unfao/bodies/coag/coag19/coag19_en.htm) on the 
above subject.  The Committee supported FAO's proposed strategy, which stresses the need for 
addressing food safety issues along the food chain.   It recommended that co untries apply a stepwise 
and sequential approach to implementation of the food chain approach and that special attention 
should be paid to the needs of small-scale farmers in developing countries to assist them in integrating into international food markets.   
III. GLOBAL AND REGIONAL FORA OF FOOD SAFETY REGULATORS 
4. As a follow-up to the successful first Global Forum of Food Safety Regulators and with the 
support and approval of the FAO and WHO member countries, FAO and WHO held the Second 
Global Forum of Food Safety Regulators (GF-2) in Bangkok, Thailand on 12-14 October 2004, under the main theme of:  "Building Effective Food Safety Systems".  The delegates at GF-2 were generally 
supportive of holding a Third Global Forum (GF-3), but proposed that further discussion should be 
held on the objective, format, themes, and timefram e/location of a GF3.  Ac cordingly, the FAO/WHO G/TBT/GEN/29 
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Secretariat convened an e-forum from 4 April to 13 May 2005 to further solicit the views of the 
Member countries and all interested parties on th e subject.  Detailed results of the e-forum are 
presented as an information document (CAC/28 INF.13). 
5. In an effort to facilitate the discussion  of practical actions and capacity building 
recommendations to promote food safety in the countries of the Near East region, FAO and WHO 
convened a Regional Meeting on Food Safety for the Near East  in Amman, Jordan 
from 5 to 6 March 2005, immediately prior to the 3
rd session of the Codex Coordinating Committee 
for the Near East (7-10 March 2005).  A full report of the outcome of the Near East Meeting is being 
made available to the Commission. 
6. This Meeting was the third in a series of re gional events that FAO and WHO are convening at 
the request of member countries to meet their need s for policy guidance and capacity building in food 
safety.  The Regional Food Safety Conference  for Africa was held in Harare, Zimbabwe, 
3-6 October 2005 and the Regional Food Safety Conference for the Americas and the Caribbean will 
be held in San Jose, Costa Rica, 6-9 December 2005.  On the occasion of the 28th session of the 
Commission, a briefing meeting  was held with the delegates from the Americas and the Caribbean as 
well as the permanent representatives of the countries of the region to FAO.  
IV. FUNDING MECHANISMS TO IMPROVE FOOD SAFETY AND QUALITY 
7. FAO, WHO, OIE, WTO, and the World Bank  have established a Standards and Trade 
Development Facility (STDF) to coordinate the capacity building ef forts of these organizations in the 
areas of food safety, plant, and animal health and to provide a funding mechanism for countries and 
stakeholders to improve in these areas.  Interested countries and stakeholders are encouraged to 
propose projects and submit them to the STDF for consideration.  
8. FAO and WHO have implemented a Trust Fund fo r Participation in Codex to increase the 
participation of developing countries and count ries in transition in the vital work of the 
Codex Alimentarius Commission.  The fund provides  financial support to increase their ability to 
participate in the establishment of global food safe ty and quality standards, as well as improve their 
capacity to implement those standards in their own countries. 
V. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND SUPPORTING MATERIAL FOR CAPACITY 
BUILDING 
9. FAO is engaged in an extensive programme of technical assistance activ ities and projects at 
national, regional and international levels, covering areas such as training of food control officials and 
technical staff (food control managers, food inspecto rs, food analysts), enhancement of food control 
laboratory capabilities, implementation of risk an alysis, support in establishing national Codex 
committees, policy advice, establishment of regulatory  frameworks, fresh fruits and vegetables quality 
and safety, mycotoxin prevention and control, HACCP  in aquaculture, traceability of fish and fish 
products, good practices for the feed industry, prevention of BSE and other zoonotic diseases and 
others.  Detailed information on all these ac tivities/projects is available in CAC/28 INF.5. 
10. FAO is presently conducting a programme for impr oving the quality and safety of fresh fruits 
and vegetables, which focuses on the application of  good practices (GAP, GMP, and GHP) to prevent 
hazards at appropriate points in the fresh fruits and vegetable chain (production and post-harvest 
stages - food chain approach ).  Sub-regional workshops have been held in Latin America and the 
Caribbean and in Asia, and are planned for other regions of the world.  Activities for awareness 
raising and training at the national level have also been initiated through the implementation of 
National Action Plans.  Three case studies on the implementation of quality and safety schemes are 
under preparation.  FAO has prepared a Training Package (available in  CD-ROM and printed format), 
providing information that can be used by countri es to develop training programmes and implement  G/TBT/GEN/29 
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safety and quality requirements to suit their specif ic needs and thus enhance their capability to apply 
the Codex guidelines and standards, meet importers'  requirements, as well as improve the quality and 
safety of fresh produce on the domestic market.  An on-line database (also produced as a CD-ROM) 
with over 800 documents related to the safety and quality of fresh fruits and vegetables is also 
available. 
11. FAO is also implementing a large global projec t to enhance coffee quality through prevention 
of mould formation.  This project is being carri ed out in Brazil, Colombia, Ivory Coast, India, 
Indonesia, Kenya and Uganda, with collaboration of  the International Coffee  Organization (ICO), the 
Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee (ISIC) and the Centre de coopération internationale en 
recherche agronomique pour le developpement (CIRAD).  The project has received funding from the 
Common Fund for Commodities and the Go vernment of the Netherlands.   
12. FAO and WHO are currently or ha ve recently been engaged in the development of a number 
of manuals, guidelines and training materials that sh ould facilitate the capacity building effort.  Most 
of these materials are developed jointly except for a few which are prepar ed under specific field 
projects operated either by FAO or WHO.  These materials include the following:  
• Improving the Safety and Quality of Fresh Fru its and Vegetable training manual and resource 
database (available from FAO web pages or as a CD-ROM in English, Spanish, and French - 
see further description above); 
• Food Safety Risk Analysis – A framework ma nual and CD-ROM training pack (a joint 
FAO/WHO publication – undergoing finalization);  
• Evaluation of Capacity Building Needs for Fo od Control (a joint FAO/WHO publication – 
undergoing pilot testing); 
• Improving Participation in the Work of Codex - A Training Pack (undergoing pilot testing); 
• IARC/FAO/WHO Monograph on prevention of mycotoxins (undergoing finalization);  
• FAO/ICD/WHO Basic Awareness Course on Mi crobiological Risk Assessment (undergoing 
pilot testing); 
• Paper on the Application of risk assessment in the fish industry (available as a 2004 FAO 
Fisheries Technical Paper #442);  and 
• Manual on Good Practices for the Meat Industry (Available in English and undergoing 
translation into French, Spanish, Arabic and Chinese). 
 
 All these materials, once finalized, will be issued in multi-lingual form for wider use by 
member countries.    
VI. INFORMATION EXCHANGE MECHANISMS 
13. During its first year of activity, the Interna tional Portal on Food Safety, Animal and Plant 
Health (www.ipfsaph.org
) - a joint initiative with IPPC, OIE, Codex and WTO - has handled 
over 2 million page requests and built up a regular user  base of over 5,000 users.  In addition to the 
international standards, notifications, and other o fficial information from the partner international 
agencies, the portal also provides a view on national legislation and related texts from the EU, USA, 
and smaller data sets from a pi lot group of developing countries (21,000 records in May 2005). 
14. The latest version includes up-to-date information on the Codex-established maximum 
residue limits (MRLs) for veterinary drugs and pesticides, as well as the JECFA and JMPR 
evaluations of these substances;  navigation in English, French and Spanish;  and a "help desk" for any questions users may have regarding the portal. G/TBT/GEN/29 
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15. With funding from the Standards and Trade De velopment Facility, work is now proceeding 
with partners in developing countrie s to exploit the work undertaken on the portal project so far.  This 
includes activities with in-country data owners ( government departments responsible for food safety, 
animal or plant health regulation) looking at in formation management and metadata standards, and 
with national users of portal information (producer associations, export promotion agencies, etc).  The 
first regional demonstration workshops will be later th is year.  More information on the portal project 
is available in CAC/28 INF.4. 
16. INFOSAN, the International Food Safety  Authorities Network,  was inaugurated 
on 13 October 2004 at the 2
nd FAO/WHO Global Forum of Food Safety Regulators held in Bangkok, 
Thailand and has received support from Member States.  As of 13 May 2005, 138 Member States are members of the network.  The initiative of developi ng an international food safety authorities network 
was undertaken in response to the WHO World Health Assembly Resolution on Food Safety 
(WHA53.15, May 2000) calling on WHO to assist Memb er States in strengthening their food  safety  
programmes.  In addition, the Codex Alimentarius Commission adopted a text that requested WHO to 
facilitate communication during food  safety emergencies.  INFOSAN is an information network for 
the dissemination of important global food safety in formation and serves as a vehicle for food safety 
authorities and other relevant agencies to exchange  food safety information and improve collaboration 
among them.  INFOSAN EMERGENCY, the emergency arm of the network is intended to 
complement and support the existing WHO Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) 
which includes a Chemical Alert and Response comp onent.  INFOSAN is developed and maintained 
by WHO in collaboration with FAO.  
17. In 2004, WHO inaugurated its new Strategic Hea lth Operation Centre (SHOC).  The SHOC is 
a shared information and commun ications centre designed to fa cilitate collaboration and problem 
solving in order to better improve health outcomes in countries.  The SHOC both virtually and physically supports WHO Operations at HQ, Regi onal and Country Office levels in responding to 
crises in public health.  INFOSAN EMERGENCY is  part of the operational support structure of 
SHOC. 
18. FAO also supports the development and main tenance of FishPort, web-based system for 
dissemination of scientific and technical  information on fish safety and quality. 
 
VII. PREPAREDNESS FOR RESPONSE TO NUCLEAR EMERGENCIES 
19. FAO has established a network of technical experts on preparedness for response to nuclear 
emergencies in relation to food and agriculture.  This group is charged with implementation of the 
cooperative arrangements between IAEA and FAO.  Ongoing activities include the development of an 
on-line information system (including data on soil ty pes, nutrition patterns, la nd use etc.), setting up 
an internal crisis management team to deal w ith nuclear emergencies affecting agriculture, and 
strengthening working relations  with IAEA on this issue. 
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