The 28th session of the Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods made advances related to maximum residue limits (MRLs), extrapolation approaches, and risk management guidance, with several measures forwarded to the Codex Alimentarius Commission for adoption.
A JEMRA meeting was convened to help inform discussions about potential updates to Codex Alimentarius guidance, reflecting how scientific advances could strengthen microbiological risk assessments for food safety.
WHO assessed the overall public health risk as “moderate,” citing the vulnerability of infants, uncertainty around the extent of contamination, and gaps in surveillance and traceability.
The information gathered will be used to support FAO/WHO scientific advice intended to inform future Codex Alimentarius discussions on frozen food handling guidance.
The theme, “From Burden to Solutions—Safe Food Everywhere,” stresses the role of evidence-based action, promoting the forthcoming updated WHO global foodborne disease estimates as a data source to inform targeted food safety and public health interventions.
Based on the largest database of detection rates yet compiled, new global foodborne diarrheal disease burden estimates will serve as inputs for WHO’s forthcoming updated, broader estimates on the global burden of foodborne diseases.
In the wake of a high-profile safety incidents involving powdered infant formula, FAO/WHO have issued a call for experts and data to support JEMRA in conducting a risk assessment that will help the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene update the Codex Alimentarius standards for powdered formula.
The FAO/WHO Joint Expert Meeting on Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA) has published a report on prevention and intervention measures for foodborne virus–commodity pairs of concern.
The Technical University of Denmark (DTU) National Food Institute is home to the new WHO Collaborating Center for Risk and Benefits of Foods and Diets.
WHO has released a set of updated manuals to help national authorities strengthen foodborne illness outbreak surveillance and response, contributing to faster and more reliable communication and response internationally (i.e., through INFOSAN).
