News and Media

In the Americas and the Caribbean, food exports could double and incidents of foodborne disease halve, with improved food safety mechanisms

WHAT: Exports of food from the Americas and the Caribbean currently generate an estimated $120 billion per year, but that amount could double if exporters could assure uniform quality and safety in their products. By the same token, there are an estimated 57,000 deaths annually from food- and waterborne disease in the Americas. That number could be halved if the safety of food in the region was uniformly high.

To address these twin issues, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) are organizing a Regional Conference on Food Safety for the Americas and the Caribbean.

Meeting in San Jose, Costa Rica, from 6-9 December, over 150 experts from more than 30 countries across the Region will analyse national food systems, and recommend possible means of improving the effectiveness of these systems and of ensuring food safety during the production process.

Successful remedying of these challenges would significantly raise the quality and safety of food available to residents of the Region and increase the ability of exporters to sell their food across the world. Both individuals and their countries' economies stand to reap enormous benefits.

WHEN: 6-9 December 2005. A training course on working within the structures of the Codex Alimentarius (the joint FAO/WHO body which agrees international food standards), sponsored by the FAO/WHO Trust Fund for Participation in Codex, will be held before the Conference on 4-5 December.

WHERE: Corobici Hotel, San Jose, Costa Rica

FOR MEDIA: The meeting is open to journalists. FAO and WHO media officers will be in San Jose the entire week to assist with journalists' needs.

A closing press conference to announce the outcomes of the conference will be held on Friday, 9 December, at 13h00 at the Corobici Hotel.

For more information, journalists can contact Mr Gregory Hartl, Communications Adviser, Sustainable Development and Healthy Environments, World Health Organization (WHO),

Tel +41 22 791 4858; mobile +41 79 203 6715; Fax +41 22 791 4725; Email hartlg@who.int

and Mr. Inigo Alvarez, Information Officer, Food And Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Tel +39 06 570 52518, mobile + 39 346 2454905; Email inigo.alvarez@fao.org

Journalists wishing to attend the conference can contact Mr Hartl or Mr Alvarez either before the conference or at the Hotel Corobici as of the morning of 5 December.
For details of the hotel, see: http://centralamerica.com/cr/hotel/corobici.htm
For more information on the conference, see: http://www.foodsafetyforum.org/americas/index.asp