HEALTH: Globalisation Heightens Need for Food Controls

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Jul 2 2001 (IPS) - It is in the best interest of industrialised nations to assist developing countries – their trading partners – in improve food quality and safety, said World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Monday.

The increasing globalisation of the movement of people and of food, including the ingredients for animal fodder, means “it is more and more difficult to solve food safety problems in one country without international collaboration,” said Brundtland.

Multilateral cooperation and the consolidation of a strategy to combat these problems is essential, the WHO official said in a message to the delegates of the 165 countries that make up the Codex Alimentarius Commission, which launched a week-long meeting Monday.

The Codex, the maximum international body for matters of food quality and safety standards – a joint organisation of the WHO and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) – is in session in Geneva to study a number of matters, though consumer fears about food safety is a top agenda item this year.

Hartwig de Haen, assistant director of the FAO, acknowledged that public awareness about food safety has risen dramatically in recent years, particularly in industrialised countries.

Concern was awakened by recent episodes of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or ‘mad cow disease’), the dioxin crisis of 1999, and outbreaks of food-borne diseases.

Reports of genetically modified maize – authorised only for animal feed – found in food intended for human consumption have also had a profound impact on public opinion.

Brundtland said that these episodes had been publicised largely as European phenomena, but stressed that they have undermined the confidence of people everywhere when it comes to the foods they purchase.

Nevertheless, the leading problems in the arena of food security are not the spectacular outbreaks that make headlines, according to the WHO director-general.

“The globalisation of the world’s food supply means the globalisation of public health concerns,” Brundtland said.

“Nearly two million children die every year from diarrhoea in developing countries because of bad food and water,” she said, adding that millions – adults and children – suffer food-borne illnesses each year.

Given this panorama, the WHO and FAO have called upon governments around the world to take consumer concerns seriously and to immediately and effectively implement international food safety norms.

Brundtland announced that the WHO is studying the possibility of establishing a fund to foment greater participation of developing countries and consumers in this process.

There is a need for clear and useful international guidelines about genetically modified foods, she told the Codex Commission, which is to issue a ruling about labelling for transgenic products, as well as for organically grown products.

The Commission is also to debate food hygiene rules for bottled water and establish maximum limits for pesticides and veterinary medicine residues allowed in foods intended for human consumption.

In addition to government delegates, the biannual sessions of the Codex Alimentarius Commission has drawn representatives of associations from the food industry, which sees trade of 400 billion dollars annually.

Also present, though fewer in number, are leaders of non- governmental organisations representing consumers.

The Codex system seeks to protect consumer health through fomenting loyal trade practices and the formulation of and compliance with food safety standards.