41st meeting of CCMAS held virtually
06/11/2021
The 41st meeting of FAO/WHO Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling (CCMAS) was held virtually from 2021 May 11 to 25 because of the pandemic situation. The Committee has a Hungarian chairmanship since decades. Its chair is dr. Attila Nagy, director of Directorate for Food Chain Laboratory at the National Food Chain Safety Office (Nébih), and the vice-chair is Dr. Zsuzsa Farkas from Digital Food Institute of University of Veterinary Medicine.
The virtual meeting posed new challenges for both the organizers and the participants, but also opened up new opportunities, as this year professionals from all over the world could have joined even from regions where it was not possible in the past to attend the physical meetings and take part in formulating the key achievements of the Commission and consensual finalization of the work carried out previously. In total, there were more than 350 participants in the 41st session.
With the professionalism and flexibility of the participants, the meeting ended successfully even in the new situation, the guideline on measurement uncertainty was finalized, and as a last step, it is only waiting for the adoption of the Codex Alimentarius Commission before publication. Sampling guideline has also been adopted at this stage, and work on finalization will continue next year by an electronic working group. The set of standards for analytical methods is updated on a workable package basis, from which the review of standards for milk and milk products has been completed at this year’s meeting, the work will go on with workable packages on standards for cereals and fats / oils. A new workable package has been formulated for the review of standards for processed fruits by an electronic working group.
Webinar of Codex Comittee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling
12/04/2020
Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling (CCMAS) holds its meetings every year in Budapest, but this year, the meeting was postponed due tot he pandemic situation. In order to continue the work effectively, a webinar was held between 23-25th of November, to provide updated information on the work of the electronic working groups.
With expert presentations from countries leading the work, participants have gained an insight into the status of each issue, the main areas that remain to be resolved and the work that will be undertaken in the electronic working groups before the next plenary session of the committee.
The following topics were covered:
- Revision of the Guidelines on measurement uncertainty (CAC/GL 54-2004)
- Revision of the Guidelines on Sampling (CAC/GL 50-2004)
- Review of of methods in CXS 234 (Recommended Methods of Analysis and Sampling)/ endorsement of methods
Update from the Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) on their latest work in the field of methods development have also been provided.
Although the webinar has been considered as an informal event, it has been conducted by the chair dr. Attila Nagy (NÉBIH) and our colleague at Digital Food Institute, Dr. Zsuzsa Farkas, vice-chair of CCMAS.
The next meeting is scheduled for 17-21 May 2021. The program can be checked here.
Hoodome workshop
09/24/2020
The Digital Food Institute hosted the virtual kick-off workshop of the Hoodome project on 17th September 2020
The workshop was co-organised by the Digital Food Institute, the Institute of Nutrition, University of Debrecen and by
Barabási Lab, Northeastern University, Boston. The aim was to introduce the core concept of Foodome and to start building up a Hungarian Foodome project (hence the name Hoodome). The workshop had the privilege to have Albert-László Barabási, the world-famous network scientist as a speaker and leader of the Foodome project.
World Food Safety Day
06/07/2020
World Food Safety Day is celebrated for the second time on 7 June 2020.
The introduction of this thematic day was first proposed by Awilo Ochieng Pernet, Chair of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, in 2015, which was also voted on by the Committee at its meeting next year as a proposal to the UN. In 2017, the FAO and then the WHO also adopted a resolution in support of the initiative. The UN finally voted in December 2018 to make 7 June World Food Security Day from now on. The issue of food safety is at the forefront of interest worldwide. The WHO estimates that the number of food-related illnesses is steadily rising worldwide, affecting 30% of the population annually in industrialized countries as well. The food safety situation has not improved anywhere in the world in line with the expectations and the level of technical progress, and even opposite trends can be seen.The aim of the World Food Safety Day is to promote awareness and highlight everyone’s resposibility to ensure food safety, including the consumers and the industry as well.
The communication of our Institute on the World Food Safety Day can be followed on our Twitter channel.
The initiative was joined by domestic and international organizations, of which the following would be highlighted:
FAO – WHO
EFSA
NÉBIH