Kenya will from Monday host the FAO/WHO Codex Coordinating Committee for Africa (CCAfrica) meeting which brings together representatives from 49 African countries.
The conference is very significant in the realm of food safety and fair trade practices in food.
The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) is the joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme, whose mandate is to develop standards aimed at safeguarding the health of consumers and fair trade practices in food.
Speaking about the meeting, Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) Managing Director, Charles Ongwae, said the conference is important not only to Kenya but also Africa and a step aimed at information sharing on food standards.
“Kenya being the coordinating country, our goal is to ensure we harmonise our standards as a continent while benchmarking or aligning with food standards developed by the Codex Alimentarius Commission – which are recognised by the World Trade Organisation (WTO),” said Ongwae.
CAC has 189 members with Africa Region Codex Coordinating Committee (CCAFRICA) accounting for 49 member countries.
Kenya has been a member of CAC and CCAFRICA since 1969. In July 2015, Kenya was appointed as the CCAfrica coordinator for Africa whose mandate is to come up with regional Codex Food Standards for African countries with a goal to facilitate trade in the continent.
The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), is the Codex Contact Point and consequently links CAC Secretariat in Rome with Kenya in regard to any CAC activities, such as drafting Codex food standards and related text development.
“The country first served as CCAFRICA Coordinator from 1983 to 1985. Its recent election as the regional coordinator once again, requires that it plays a frontline role in promoting food standards and any other food safety measures of safeguarding consumer health and fair food trade practices across the continent,” said Moses Gathura Coordinator FAO/WHO Codex Coordinating Committee for Africa,
As a coordinator for Africa, Kenya, is responsible for defining problems and needs concerning food standards and food control of all Codex member countries in the continent.
According to Ongwae, KEBS adopts Codex standards and they are implemented as national standards to ensure safety of food for consumers.
“The success story of Kenya’s export industry illustrates how adopting international standards on all our produce can serve as a catalyst for trade and an opportunity to redefine the industry’s comparative advantage,” noted Ongwae.
Food products are tested and inspected for contaminants such as microbiological parameters, chemical contaminants, heavy metals, storage instructions and expiry dates.
KEBS has adopted over 200 Codex Food Standards and several codes of practice to protect the health of consumers and facilitate trade. Codex Food standards are also used when harmonising EAC-COMESA standards and whenever there is dispute in EAC trading within the region.
CAC is recognized as the biggest intergovernmental organisation body which takes into account concerns while ensuring fair practices in the food trade thus preventing fraud, deceptive practices, avoiding unjustified barriers to food trade.
The Commission’s mandate is to ensure that food standards developed are science-based, with a goal to protect the health of consumers and also in facilitating fair food trade. The Commission also works with three FAO/WHO independent Scientific Expert committees.