The 21st Session of the Codex Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean (CCLAC21) took place this week, 21-25 October, in Santiago, Chile to address the:

– role of science in food safety risk assessment

– food safety and quality situation in the countries of the region

– use of Codex standards in the region

– matters arising from the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) and other Codex Committees

– Codex work relevant to the region

– implementation of the Codex Strategic Plan 2020-2025

– Codex communications work plan

– Nomination of the Coordinator

One of the key goals for this week’s session was to adopt regional positions on issues under discussion at Codex international Committees. However, due to the challenging situation in Chile the meeting had to be adjourned half way through so there was no possibility to complete the discussions on this item, among other items too.

There was time though to appoint Ecuador as the new CCLAC Coordinator. According to the Codex procedure, such appointment needs to be endorsed by the next CAC session which will be held in July 2020. This means that Chile will continue acting as CCLAC Coordinator until July next year. Following the CAC endorsement, Ecuador will take over then the role as the new CCLAC Coordinator for a period of two years.

It is worth highlighting that the Chilean CCLAC Secretariat, led by the Chilean Agency for Food Quality and Safety (ACHIPIA), carried out a great organization of the meeting taking into account the challenges occurring this week, and took care of all delegates in an outstanding manner. This sentiment is shared by everyone who participated at CCLAC21!