It is a meeting of delegations of food and nutrition policy-makers and specialists from European member countries of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), including the European Community, along with international organizations. The Conference is being held to identify and discuss ways to strengthen consumer confidence in food products.

The entire chain of food production activities, from the farm to the table, needs to be transparent and reliable, both to assure the safety and quality of food and to maximize customer confidence.

The Conference goals are to:

• offer an opportunity for participants to identify and discuss food safety and quality issues of specific importance to the region;
• assess prospects for cooperation and networking within the region in areas of policy and science advancement;
• develop recommendations to improve information and communication systems and to harmonize policies on food safety and quality across the region.

• Food safety policy-makers and specialists from the 43 governments of the region.
• Representatives of international food trade, industry and consumer groups.
• Representatives of intergovernmental organizations.

This is the first conference at which such a broad array of government and industry professionals from the entire European region will have the opportunity to exchange ideas about vital issues of food safety and quality and customer confidence. Similar conferences are planned for other regions throughout the world.

The Minister of Agriculture and Regional Development of Hungary, Mr András Vonza, will open the Conference. This will be followed by the keynote address, "Strengthening consumer confidence in food products by improving transparency and reliability of European food chains", by the Minister of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries of the Netherlands, Mr Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst. Participants will then divide into two working groups:

Issues to be discussed include:

• food safety and quality in Europe - emerging issues, unresolved problems and prospects for change;
• comprehensive and integrated approaches to risk analysis in the food chain - experiences and lessons learned;
• a model for research cooperation and networking in Europe.

Issues to be discussed include:

• the Rapid Alert System in the European Union (EU) and its possible application to non-EU countries;
• a model for risk identification and communication in Europe;
• a mechanism for information exchange about food safety and animal and plant health throughout Europe, including interactive communication with consumers on food safety risks and food quality.

The Conference will offer recommendations and proposals to further enhance food safety and quality. These will be included in a report to be submitted to the 23rd FAO Regional Conference for Europe (Cyprus, 27-31 May 2002) and to the 52nd Meeting of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe (Copenhagen, Denmark, 16-19 September 2002) for consideration of possible follow-up activities.

The Government of Hungary will host the Conference at the Thermal Hotel Hélia in Budapest, Hungary, from 25 to 28 February 2002.

To learn more about this Conference and its preparations, please see the Conference Web site:

http://www.foodsafetyforum.org/paneuropean/

Inquiries should be sent to:

The Joint FAO/WHO Secretariat of
the Pan-European Conference on Food Safety and Quality

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Viale delle Terme di Caracalla
00100 Rome
Italy

pan-european@fao.org