Codex participates in high-level meeting on Sustainable Development Goals

The Ministerial segment of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) meets this week, to review progress on a cluster of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) was one of the entities invited by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to submit information for this review, in an indication of the impact Codex work has at a global level. The request for information underlines the significance of Codex work to the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030.

Due to climate change, known food safety hazards are emerging in areas where governments and producers are not familiar with the challenges these pose. In these instances, Codex has been the source of information and guidance that help governments and producers mitigate the impacts on food safety and trade these crises present. Climate change has also been the driver behind new work, including:

• New Codex Guidelines for the Safe Use and Reuse of Water in Food Production and Processing (adopted in December 2023) 
• A new proposed Code of Practice/Guidelines for the Prevention and Reduction of Ciguatera Poisoning (forwarded to CAC47). This is an issue that is increasingly emerging in previously unaffected areas 
• The agreement to start work on revisions to the Guidelines on the Application of General Principles of Food Hygiene to the Control of Pathogenic Vibrio Species in Seafood. A changing climate is blamed for the emergence of highly pathogenic strains of Vibrio spp. And for the predicted expansion of at-risk areas and at-risk populations in the coming decades 
• The new Code of Practice for the Prevention and Reduction of Mycotoxins Contamination in Cassava and Cassava-based Products (adopted in December 2023). The nature and occurrence of mycotoxins in food are shifting in tandem with changes in climate. Countries rely on Codex texts to address this challenge, which is of particular concern across Africa.

Codex work is integral to achieving an equitable, fair and harmonized framework for the global trade in safe food – and, as such, is vital to the success of the SDGs.             

For further information (in English), click on the Link