The Codex Trust Fund project, including the Codex Mauritius website, was launched, on Thursday, by the Attorney General, Minister of Agro-Industry and Food Security, Mr Maneesh Gobin, in the presence of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Representative to Mauritius, Dr Anne Ancia, at an event organised at the Caudan Arts Centre in Port Louis.
The Codex Alimentarius is a set of internationally recognised standards and guidelines aimed at protecting consumer health and ensuring fair practices in food trade.
Speaking at the event, Minister Gobin highlighted the importance of ensuring food safety from the level of primary production, supply chain till the consumer. He observed that the Codex standards were used to harmonise national food safety regulations.
The Minister dwelt on the imperative for food producers and traders to comply with Codex standards so that consumers could trust the safety and quality of food products. He called upon the Codex Committee to work together so as to collectively apply Codex standards in Mauritius for food safety.
The WHO Representative, for her part, elaborated on the problematic of unsafe food consumption. To this end, she stated that an estimated 600 million people, almost 1 in 10, fell ill after eating contaminated food and 420,000 died every year. She mentioned that food safety issues could significantly affect the socio-economic development of a country. “Hence, the need for regular inspection is primordial”, she said. Dr Ancia reiterated the commitment of the WHO in ensuring food safety globally.
Codex Trust Fund
The Codex Trust Fund supports countries to build strong, solid and sustainable national capacity to engage in Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC). To further consolidate the Codex structures locally and to increase its participation in international food standards drafting at the level of the CAC, Mauritius has been filing for assistance from the Codex Trust Fund since 2012.
In 2020, Mauritius was the only country to be selected in the African region to receive funding to run activities geared towards building strong and sustainable national Codex systems with the ultimate aim of increasing its participation in the work of Codex.
