In 1962, the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) was born. Its purpose was to be the body responsible for implementing the Joint Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) / World Health Organisation (WHO) Food Standards Programme. At a Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Conference in Geneva, Codex was established as the framework for cooperation between the two agencies. All work of FAO/WHO and other regional and international bodies dealing with food standards were gradually incorporated into the Codex programme.
The Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) is the Codex Contact Point for Guyana and acts as the Secretariat for the Codex Alimentarius Commission. The GNBS is the major communication link between the CAC and Guyana and acts as the coordinating body for all Codex activities locally.
To effectively coordinate the activities of Codex in Guyana, the National Codex Committee (NCC) was resuscitated in March 2014. This Committee’s basic function is to advise the Government of Guyana on the implications of various food standards and food safety issues which have arisen in the overall context of the work undertaken by the CAC and its subsidiary bodies. The NCC presently comprises of sixteen members from governmental organisations, non-governmental organisations, consumer bodies, academia and the private sector who work dynamically in ensuring that Guyana participates in Codex Committee meetings that are of priority to the country.
Guyana’s capacity to actively participate in Codex discussions is being developed under the South-south project initiated by Chile. The South-south project is an integrated effort between the Chilean Food Safety and Quality Agency through the Chilean Agency for International Cooperation Development (AGCID) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA). The project aims to assist the Caribbean Region through capacity building to improve their national technical capacities to effectively participate in Codex activities. This will aid the Caribbean Region to align with Latin America. Five countries were selected to benefit from the project; namely, Guyana, Suriname, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica. The expected outcome of the project is that the five selected countries would establish sound National Codex Committees; or strengthen the capability of their existing National Codex Committees. Strengthening the National Codex Committees would aid these countries in improving their participations and their ability to discuss topics of interest at different international Codex Committee meetings and the Codex Alimentarius Commission.
Over the years, Codex has facilitated the development of standards relating to food hygiene, fresh fruits and vegetables, pesticide residues, food additives and contaminants, etc; all of which have helped to improve many of our local sectors.
