On 11–12 November 2024, the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, the Food and Agriculture Organization Regional Office for Near East and North Africa and the International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN) secretariat held the first regional INFOSAN meeting.
Under the theme Strengthening intra-regional collaborative efforts for advanced preparedness and efficient management of food safety incidents, the hybrid format meeting gathered INFOSAN emergency contact points, INFOSAN focal points, International Health Regulation national focal points and Codex contact points (CCP) from across the Region.
The Codex Coordinating Committee for the Near East and the League of Arab States also attended as partners, providing updates on their efforts to harmonize approaches to food safety emergency response and preparedness.
The INFOSAN secretariat provided practical instructions: a simulation exercise elucidated the roles and responsibilities of the different players connected through INFOSAN and other regional networks and illustrated how to best apply the principles of risk communication throughout the evolution of a food safety incident
By demonstrating the flow of information with international stakeholders during a food safety event, the exercise contributed to one of the meeting’s objectives – to strengthen INFOSAN’s networking, reporting and responsiveness on food safety and fraud incidents at both the national and regional level.
During the 2-day workshop, participants were updated on the status of coordination and communication for food safety emergency response at the national and regional levels, and how it can be improved.
The workshop concluded with the identification of priority actions to achieve the global targets for multisectoral collaboration for food safety events set in the WHO global strategy for food safety 2022–2030.
