Food quality and security as well as parity in international trade were major concerns at a workshop in Hanoi on Sept. 14 as flows of food trade are surging sharply in Asia and the world.

The workshop, co-sponsored by the Vietnam Codex Committee (Codex Vietnam ), Codex Office and the US Department of Agriculture, aimed to provide basic knowledge on the functions, obligations and operational methods of national codex agencies.

It was the first time that codex experts from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia had met to share experiences and boost cooperation in this field.

Deputy Health Minister Trinh Quan Huan emphasised the importance of these issues in the interest of customers’ health.

The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) was founded by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1962, and will work with ISO to build and issue international standards on food. The organisation now has 184 members.

Codex Vietnam was established on April 14, 2010 as a leader in coordinating action for making national standards of food quality and security.

The agency is also responsible for providing documents for the work of compiling national quality and technical codex, and consultancy for ministries and industries in solving international trade disputes in food such as food stamping, gene modification and mineral water quality./.