Egypt’s
representative at the 54th Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC)
in China, Dr Tareq EL-HOUBY said in his speech to the opening session that
Egypt has been and continues to be a strong supporter of the process of
establishing international standards and technical rules for foods under the
auspices of CAC.
El-Houby noted
the importance of Codex as a source of decision-making based on science and
evidence and as a reliable reference for all countries.
“In Egypt, we
use the codex reference as a source for our decisions on determining the
requirements for the use of food additives allowed and available for sale in
Egypt, both imported and locally produced,” el-Houby said.
He highlighted
that the food and agri-food sectors are important to our economy as they are
the country’s main source of employment and a major generator of income, and it
is our responsibility, as the Egyptian Food Safety Authority, to make decisions
based on science and evidence that are supportive and stimulating to investors.
He noted the
commitment of the Egyptian state to provide a regulatory environment for food
that supports the protection of our consumers, including providing an enabling
environment for investment and the development of Egypt’s food and agricultural
industries.
He concluded
his speech by thanking China, FAO, WHO, and all Codex members and observers for
their effective contribution to the development and support of the global Codex
system.
On the margins
of the codex meetings currently, it is expected that el-Houby and Yongxiang
Fan, Director of the Food Safety Standard Division at the China National Centre
for Food Safety Risk Assessment, examine co-operation between the two bodies in
risk assessment and the Institute’s mechanism for issuing technical regulations
on food safety and inspection methods in China.
Source: Egyptian
Gazette
