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20.06.2008 Business & Finance

Africa opts for fair practices in food trade…with launch of Codex Alimentarius

20.06.2008 LISTEN
By Phyllis D. Osabutey - Ghanaian Chronicle

CODEX ALIMENTARIUS, a collection of international food standards, guidelines and codes of practice has been launched to protect the health of consumers and ensure fair practices in food trade in Africa.

The project is under the Codex Coordinating Committee for Africa (CCAfrica) and is a joint venture between the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Speaking at the launch on the theme, “Codex Alimentarius: Promoting Food Safety, Quality and Fair Trade” in Accra on Thursday, the CCAfrica Chairman, Professor Sefa-Dedeh said Codex Alimentarius promotes safer food and makes world food trade run smoothly by harmonizing standards, stressing that “since 1995, Codex standards have become international benchmarks under the trade Organization's Agreement on the application of sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures, stricter measures at the national level have to be scientifically justified”.

Codex Alimentarius, among other things, aims at ensuring that all food standards undertaken by international, governmental and non-governmental organizations work to determine priorities and initiating and guiding the preparation of draft standards.

Prof. Dedeh believes this would benefit consumers who enjoy a variety of food from all over the world and are also at the risk of food contamination.

For this reason, he noted that Codex Alimentarius will be applied in rules for food labelling, food additives, pesticide residues, contaminants and food hygiene to make consumers more confident about the safety and quality of food.

That notwithstanding, it will also be beneficial to food-exporters in an ever-expanding global market, since according to Prof. Dedeh “exporters have eagerly embraced universal and uniform Codex Alimentarius food standards”, stressing that more and more Countries have adopted the standards on food production and processing.

Food producers including farmers and fishers also stand to benefit from the project since the Commission has opted to assist them by developing standards that cover various types of food such as milk and milk products, fats and oil, fish and fishery products, and fruits and vegetables among others.

According to Professor Dedeh, who is also the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering Sciences, University of Ghana, Codex Alimentarius includes standards for all principal products whether processed, semi-processed or raw for distribution to the consumer.

The CCAfrica is one of seven regional coordinating committees under Codex on the globe and has the mandate to improve the participation of African countries in the work of the broader Codex Alimentarius Commission.

Its objectives include, fostering effective communication amongst CCAfrica members, other regions, Codex Secretariat and relevant organizations, identifying and prioritising regional needs in matters of food safety and taking advantage of available technical and scientific expertise in member countries.

A solidarity message from the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) urged CCAfrica to make Codex known to local industries since they have suffered for long from being sidelined in international and local trade.

It said the Codex Alimentarius would help project local industries image, raise quality both internally and internationally, and called for collaboration between the Committee, regulatory agencies and industry associations. This, it noted would help transform the local industry, improve products and become competitive in the world trade.

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