Ibrahim Mohamed
Egypt’s representative at the 54th Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) in China, Dr Tareq EL-HOUBY said in his speech to the opening session that Egypt has been and continues to be a strong supporter of the process of establishing international standards and technical rules for foods under the auspices of CAC.
El-Houby noted the importance of Codex as a source of decision-making based on science and evidence and as a reliable reference for all countries.
“In Egypt, we use the codex reference as a source for our decisions on determining the requirements for the use of food additives allowed and available for sale in Egypt, both imported and locally produced,” el-Houby said.
He highlighted that the food and agri-food sectors are important to our economy as they are the country’s main source of employment and a major generator of income, and it is our responsibility, as the Egyptian Food Safety Authority, to make decisions based on science and evidence that are supportive and stimulating to investors.
He noted the commitment of the Egyptian state to provide a regulatory environment for food that supports the protection of our consumers, including providing an enabling environment for investment and the development of Egypt’s food and agricultural industries.
He concluded his speech by thanking China, FAO, WHO, and all Codex members and observers for their effective contribution to the development and support of the global Codex system.
On the margins of the codex meetings currently, it is expected that el-Houby and Yongxiang Fan, Director of the Food Safety Standard Division at the China National Centre for Food Safety Risk Assessment, examine co-operation between the two bodies in risk assessment and the Institute’s mechanism for issuing technical regulations on food safety and inspection methods in China.
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