FAO, Codex and other key international initiatives on GM food safety

1. FAO, Codex and other key international initiatives on GM food safety Masami Takeuchi, Ph.D. Food Safety Officer

2. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) FAO Headquarters Rome, Italy

3. FAO’s mandate Food Security

4. Definition of food security “Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe andnutritious food” [FAO World Food Summit, 1996]

5. FoodSafety and Codex Unit • Codex Alimentarius Commission Secretariat • provides technical and operational secretariat assistance to the commission (international risk management) – joint FAO/WHO food standards programme • Provision of Scientific Advice • provides a neutral, international forum for formulating supportive policy and regulatory frameworks (international risk assessment) – mostly done in collaboration with WHO • Capacity Development • supports Member Countries in strengthening their food control programmes and activities • Emergency Prevention (EMPRES Food Safety)

6. Food control and consumer protection • Normative work • Development of training material - guidelines , training kits, manuals • Expert consultations • Capacity building • Awareness seminars • Training courses and workshops • Integrated projects (regional and international) • Direct assistance at country level

7. Foodsafetyassessment • Activities • Joint FAO/WHO Expert meeting on food additives and contaminants (JECFA) • Joint FAO/WHO ad hoc consultations on risk assessment of microbiological hazards in food (JEMRA) • Joint FAO/WHO ad hoc expert consultations on foods derived from biotechnology • Joint FAO/WHO expert consultations and meetings on specific food safety matters, e.g. acrylamide, active chlorine etc.

8. Foodsafetyassessmentoutputs • Advice to Codex and member countries • Guidelines and tools for risk assessment of hazards in foods • Information system of chemical characteristics of food additives • Field studies on exposure assessment of chemical or microbiological hazards in food.

9. Emergency Prevention System for FoodSafety (EMPRES FoodSafety) • Emergencies can quickly spread due to rapid international food trade • FAO focuses on • Early warning • Emergency prevention • (Rapid response) • Tools: • Framework for developing national food safety emergency response plans, • Rapid risk analysis guide, • Food recall guide, etc

11. What’s Codex • Intergovernmental Standards-setting Body established by FAO and WHO in 1961/63 • Approx.190 Member Countries + 1 Member Organization (European Community) • “Harmonization” is key

12. Codex Mandate • Two major objectives: • Protecting the health of consumers • Facilitating fair practices in food trade • Non-mandatory in nature • But Codex standards and related texts have since 1995 become international benchmarks for harmonization under the SPS and TBT Agreements of WTO

13. Codex ad hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on food derived from biotechnology • 2 terms • 2000 – 2003 (4 years, 1st – 4th sessions) • 2005 – 2007 (3 years, 5th – 7th sessions) • 4 key documents • Principles for the risk analysis • Plants guideline (with 3 annexes on 1: allergenicity, 2: nutrition/health aspects and 3: LLP situations) • Microorganisms guideline • Animals guideline (including fish)

14. CAC in Rome

15. Consumers information and fair tradepractices • Standards for specific foodstuffs (safety and essential quality) including foods for special dietary uses • Standards and Guidelines for labelling and claims (including nutrition labelling and nutrition/health claims) • Guidelines on Food Inspection and Certification (including information exchange on rejected imports and other emergency situations) • Methods of analysis and sampling

16. Codex – Science based Risk management • Codex – • FAO/WHO Expert Bodies - • JECFA – food additives, veterinary drug residues, contaminants in food • JMPR – pesticide residues in food • JEMRA – microbiological hazards in food • ad hoc Expert Consultations Liaison and Separation Risk assessment

17. FAO/WHO ScientificAdvice: mechanisms FAO/WHO Scientific advice team Scientific advice Scientific advice Requests, data, expertise Requests Standards guidelines Member countries Codex Alimentarius Requests WTO International trade agreements SPS benchmark

18. GMOs

19. Definition: ModernBiotechnology • The application of: • in vitro nucleic acid techniques, including r-DNA and direct injection of nucleic acid into cells or organelles, or • fusion of cells beyond the taxonomic family, to overcome natural physiological reproductive or recombinant barriers and using techniques not used in traditional breeding and selection (Cartegena Protocol on Biosafety)

20. Modern biotechnology • Should not result in foods that are less safe than those produced by conventional techniques (OECD, 1993) • A new or different standard of safety is not required • Previously established principles for assessing food safety still apply

25. Training Tool • Published in 2008 • Interpretation of Codex documents • 3 case studies • CD with training materials

26. FAO GM FoodsPlatform • Simple online platform for Codex Members to share information on safety assessment of foods derived from recombinant-DNA plants authorized in accordance with the Codex Plant Guideline • Follows the agreement reached at the Commission 33 (2008) on the annex III of the Plant Guideline (LLP annex). • Official launch: 1 July 2013 (replacing the relevant functions of the IPFSAPH)

27. FAO GM FoodsPlatform • Open for the public • Only officially nominated focal points (by Codex Contact Points) are allowed to upload data/information • So far approximately 130 countries have joined the Platform community • Colombia is one of them

28. FAO Technicalanalysis of the LLP issues • LLP of GMOs in internationally traded crops: growing concern • National policies and regulations: vary • Land area under GM cultivation: steadily growing • A number of countries developing GM crops: growing • A number of trade-related problems have been reported due to unintentional mixing of LLP of GMOs in “non-GMO” consingments • Need to better understand the extent of trade-disruption due to LLP

29. FAO Technical analysispapers • To determine the extent of the impact of LLP in internationally traded commodities or trade flows, on food and feed availability, food security • To determine which commodities and which countries are most affected • To determine how the impact of LLP in internationally traded commodities is likely to evolve over the next 5-10 years and how this impact will affect food security and economic development • To investigate how selected regulatory scenarios could affect the movement of commodities with LLP of GMOs. • Available at: http://www.fao.org/food/food-safety-quality/a-z-index/biotechnology/llp/es/

30. FAO International technicalconsultation on the LLP issues • FAO Organized an international technical consultation to discuss the results and findings from the study on 20-21 March 2014 • The technical consultation was useful to identify various options and ways to realize and address the key issues, as well as to identify information and data gaps to fill • FAO technical consultation offered its members a neutral and transparent forum to discuss various issues around LLP of GMOs • Final summary report will be available soon

31. FAO Overviewpaperdevelopment on OMICS • In addition, FAO is currently developing an overview paper on OMICS technologies • The paper covers a variety of topics including OMICS applications in microbiology, food quality and whole food risk assessment (e.g. GM food safety assessment, GMO detection)

32. Questions?