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Food Focus August 2007

Market access gains for Pacific Islanders from improved food safety

A workshop to be held in Wellington later this year will offer Pacific island nations practical support to help meet Codex standards and improve their trade prospects.

NZFSA is running a workshop, which is partly funded through a grant from NZAID, as one aspect of an ongoing initiative to help developing countries influence, and make use of, international standards for food safety and trade. The initiative is part of the Codex Regional Strategic Plan for North America and the South West Pacific.

The workshop will be attended by food safety professionals from the South West Pacific region and will be held concurrently with the NZFSA conference in Wellington on 26–27 September. “The conference will be a great opportunity to interact with leading New Zealand and international food safety professionals and add to the guidance they will receive from the workshop”, says Raj Rajasekar, NZFSA Programme Manager (Codex).

“Many of the Island nations are looking for guidance on how to improve their food laws and learn how to go about applying international standards at the national level. The workshop will use practical examples and a field trip to help illustrate the issues covered, such as legislation, market access, imports, exports and nutrition.

“Armed with practical ideas to improve their food legislation and a greater understanding of Codex, these smaller nations will be able to better comply with importing countries’ needs for food safety and quality”, he explains.

“Knowing how to prepare for and interact at the Codex meetings will help Pacific island nations participate more effectively in the development of international standards particularly those that are relevant to them.

“For example, Tonga found it had a problem with the existing Codex standard relating to cassava, as it did not cover many of the varieties grown in the South Pacific. Through participation in the relevant Codex committee, Tonga and other Pacific island nations were able to gain support for developing a separate standard covering the varieties common in this part of the world. This is a good example of how participation in Codex can help the Pacific island nations address potential trade problems through international standards”, says Raj.