The ‘Coordinating Committee for Africa’ was established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission in 1972 with a mandate to “exercise general coordination in the preparation of standards relating to the region of Africa”. The committee held its first meeting at FAO in 1974, with 19 countries in attendance.
As the new regional coordinator begins their term, the Agreement of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which came into effect in May 2020, has reinforced the need for an efficient and effective system for managing sanitary and phytosanitary measures, in particular food safety, across the continent as its borders open for trade.
The regional coordinator is based in the Uganda National Bureau of Standards, a statutory body under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Co-operatives which oversees, as part of its mandate, the promotion and use of standards.
As regional coordinator, Uganda intends to engage closely with countries via surveys, webinars and workshops to identify needs and emerging issues, create awareness of priority food safety issues and of Codex standards. A pilot study will also explore the food safety situation in broader terms across the region. By strengthening engagement with regional bodies such as the African Union, the African Organisation for Standardisation and the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat, Uganda also aims to enhance advocacy work in the region.
Lusubilo Mwamakamba (WHO AFRO), Hakim Mufumbiro (CCAFRICA), Sansan Kambire (FAO RAF)
To mark World Food Safety Day 2025, the Regional Offices for Africa of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO RAF), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Food Programme (WFP), the African Union–InterAfrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR), and the FAO/WHO Codex Coordinating Committee for Africa (CCAFRICA) jointly hosted a regional webinar on 12 June 2025.
The webinar brought together stakeholders from across Africa’s food sector, including representatives from government competent authorities, academia, research [...]
Lusubilo Mwamakamba (WHO AFRO), Hakim Mufumbiro (CCAFRICA), Sansan Kambire (FAO RAF)
To mark World Food Safety Day 2025, the Regional Offices for Africa of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO RAF), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Food Programme (WFP), the African Union–InterAfrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR), and the FAO/WHO Codex Coordinating Committee for Africa (CCAFRICA) jointly hosted a regional webinar on 12 June 2025.
The webinar brought together stakeholders from across Africa’s food sector, including representatives from government competent authorities, academia, research [...]
As part of World Food Safety Day, celebrated on 7 June 2025, Agro Food Industrie (AFI), a subsidiary of the SONOCO group based in Guinea, shares its participation in this global event.
Through a series of awareness-raising, training, and internal communication activities, the team mobilized around the 2025 theme to strengthen the food quality and safety culture, in accordance with the ISO 9001:2015 and FSSC 22000 V5.1 standards, which the company recently obtained.
These actions were carried out with the aim of:
Promoting [...]
A short video to amplify youth perspectives on the importance of food safety, inspired by this year's theme: 'Food Safety; Science in Action, was created by Iradat Bisola Oladejo, a food scientist from Oyo, Nigeria, on the occasion of World Food Safety Day.
In the video, she interviewed young professionals and students from various parts of the world, including Badiora Olanike, a PhD student at Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria; Vania Kwan, a student at the University of British Columbia in [...]
Nutrition and dietetics and public health department students at the Bayelsa Medical University in Yenagoa, Nigeria, planned a campaign to improve awareness of better hygiene and food safety practices among street food vendors. The campaign included the information on the use of clean water and overall safe handling and preparation of food, targeting street food vendors preparing roasted unripened plantains and fish sauce within the municipality, in particular, within the university environment and the surrounding streets.
The university also held a [...]
A regional webinar has been planned in the Africa region to commemorate World Food Safety Day 2025, titled “The critical role of science in ensuring safe food for all in Africa.”
Date: Thursday 12 JuneTime: 11:00-13:30 Accra & Dakar, 14:00-16:30 Nairobi Time (EAT), 12:00-14:30 Brazzaville, 13:00-15:30 Johannesburg, Geneva & RomeRegister here
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World Food Safety Day 2025 events
In celebration of World Food Safety Day, the Oladayo Oduwole Nutrition Foundation organized a webinar as part of their Nutrition Through the Lifecycle webinar Series. This event provided a valuable opportunity to raise awareness about the importance of food safety and its impact on public health. The guest speaker, Aina Olugbenga Stephen, Director at the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and former President of the Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST), shared [...]
Staff at the Marriott Hotel in Lagos celebrated in a day of food safety awareness raising.
The event started with a welcome note from the General Manager to all attendees. There was a presentation for the day by the Hygiene and Food Safety Manager, Victoria Ofoji Macaulay. This was followed by a discussion session led by various dignitaries spanning the food chain who spoke on their roles in safeguarding food.
There was also an art challenge session, where participants were encouraged to [...]
Djibouti, 1 June, 2025
The Djibouti Agency for Standards and Quality (ADN) organized a training and orientation workshop for members of the Technical Committee for Food Standardization (CTN001) 1–2 June 2025. This training is part of the European Union-funded programme "Promoting Regional Economic Integration in the Horn of Africa through the Development of the Djibouti Corridor," managed by the French Development Agency and implemented by TradeMark Africa.
This strategic workshop, officially inaugurated by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Trade and [...]
As part of the preparations for the World Food Safety Day, Action des Nutritionnistes du Congo (ANUCO) is organizing a workshop on June 7 that will bring together stakeholders from the food sector (farmers, fishermen, merchants, transporters, vendors, NGOs, churches, associations, researchers and nutritionists) to reflect on food management practices to prevent foodborne illnesses. This workshop will be followed by an awareness campaign carried out across the provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
More details here.
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World Food Safety Day [...]
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