FAO/WHO expert meeting on viruses in food
Date: 21-24 May 2007
Place: Bilthoven, The Netherlands
The Codex Alimentarius Commission is considering the types of risk management tools that can be developed to assist countries in their efforts to protect consumer health from food-borne viral illness. WHO and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) are organizing this expert meeting at the request of the Codex Committee for Food Hygiene.
The objectives of the meeting are to:
- review the current state of knowledge on viruses in food and their public health and trade impact;
- review availability and feasibility and the practical consequences of using analytical methods for detecting viruses; and
- review existing risk profiles (including the state of knowledge on current or future risk management options) and other relevant information pertinent to the evaluation of risks associated with viruses in food.
The output of the meeting will be presented to the committee for consideration at its 39th session in 2007. The committee will use the meeting’s output to gain better insight into this subject and to decide on the priority product-virus combinations on which future work should focus.
FAO and WHO are organizing the meeting in collaboration with RIVM and VWA in the Netherlands.