GENEVA, Switzerland, July 9 (UPI) -- A U.N. commission tasked with developing food safety guidelines says it adopted 44 new and amended food standards at its annual meeting in Rome.
The World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization, the two U.N. agencies that created the Codex Alimentarius Commission in 1963, released a joint statement in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, announcing the new principles.
Methods on how to lower the frequency of salmonella and campylobacter, a diarrhea-causing bacterium found in chicken, and a code that would prevent ochratoxin A, a toxin harmful to kidneys, were adopted. Efforts to prevent antimicrobial resistance in bacteria in food were also undertaken.
"Because governments often adopt Codex standards into their national legislation," said Kazuaki Miyagishima, secretary of the commission, "it is important that the extra safety measures are taken using the same rigorous and internationally recognized principles, not only to protect consumers, but to ensure they are consistent with multilateral trade rules."
Recent food scares in the United States stemming from tainted goods from China include pet food, fish and toothpaste. China's authorities have admitted about one-fifth of their domestic food market does not meet satisfactory hygiene standards.
The Codex Alimentarius Commission set up a comprehensive set of risk analysis principles to help governments establish their own food safety standards, the joint U.N. statement said.
The group hopes efficient ways of dealing with food safety problems will prevent hundreds of thousands of food-borne diseases each year.
