The Codex Alimentarius is an international food standards development program sponsored by the FAO and the WHO. It allows the development and harmonization of food standards deemed essential to protect the health of consumers and facilitate international trade in foodstuffs.
Thus, the Bohicon meeting is an opportunity to better understand the mechanisms for generating scientific data to support the work of developing codex standards and the related constraints. It will improve understanding of the work of the Codex Alimentarius and discuss the best approaches to enable data from Beninese scientific work to be taken into account by the joint FAO/WHO groups of the Codex Alimentarius.
Since 1974, Benin has been a member of the Codex Alimentarius Commission which coordinates the joint FAO/WHO food standards program.
Dr Sonia Kossou Bédié, representing the WHO Resident Representative in Benin, explains that the Codex system offers all countries a unique opportunity to participate in the formulation and harmonization of food standards.
Compliance with the Codex Alimentarius provides assurance that food is produced in accordance with standards aimed at ensuring safety, nutritional adequacy and the protection of human health.
The standards, guidelines and codes of practice of the Codex Alimentarius are based on the best available scientific knowledge, attested by independent international risk assessment bodies and by ad hoc consultations organized by FAO and WHO.
While welcoming the holding of this meeting, Françoise Assogba Komlan, representing the Minister of Agriculture, notes that to meet national, regional and international requirements relating to standards in the field of trade in good quality food and protection of consumer health, the national committee of the Codex Alimentarius is energized to accomplish its mission which is to give useful opinions and recommendations concerning the definition, adoption and application on the national territory, of standards, directives, codes of use and other tools developed by the joint FAO/WHO commission of the Alimentarius codex.
This means that it is important that all countries engage effectively in the work of Codex to ensure that its texts take into account global needs, perspectives and data. Countries are encouraged to contribute to the work of Codex by providing and sharing data that can strengthen global risk assessment work and then adopting Codex standards into national policy and legislation